With the CPL resuming this week, Ballou Tabla wasted no time getting back to business.
Less than three minutes into Atlético Ottawa's Canada Day clash against the Halifax Wanderers on Wednesday, he unleashed a curling strike that beat Marco Carducci to open the scoring.
Twenty minutes later, he carried the ball up the pitch on a counterattack and picked out Gabriel Antinoro, who smashed it into the top corner. In the 36th minute, he stepped up to the penalty spot and slotted home his second of the day, and Atléti's third, during an incredible first half at the Wanderers Grounds.
With the two goals and an assist, Tabla was the clear choice for Matchweek 11's Maple Lodge CPL Player of the Week.
The stunning performance was the latest in an outstanding run of form for the Atlético Ottawa attacker, who has five goals and two assists in his past five CPL matches. He now has eight goals on the season in all competitions, including a stunning hat-trick he scored against Toronto FC in the TELUS Canadian Championship.
Tabla currently sits tied with Halifax's Isaiah Johnston and Cavalry's Tobias Warschewski for the league's Golden Boot race, and that duo plus Supra's Sean Rea for the most goal contributions in the CPL this season, with seven.
On Saturday, Tabla looks to continue his strong run of form against a familiar foe as Atlético Ottawa host Cavalry FC at TD Place (4 p.m. ET, 1 p.m. PM on OneSoccer, tickets available here). Some of Tabla's brightest moments in an Atleti shirt have come against the Cavs, and he will be looking to add more in this clash.
Previous POTW Winners:
- Matchweek 1: Marco Carducci (Halifax Wanderers)
- Matchweek 2: Harry Paton (Cavalry FC)
- Matchweek 3: Garissone Innocent (Atlético Ottawa)
- Matchweek 4: Sean Rea (FC Supra du Québec)
- Matchweek 5: Tomasz Skublak (Inter Toronto)
- Matchweek 6: Diego Urtiaga (Inter Toronto)
- Matchweek 7: Tobias Warschewski (Cavalry FC)
- Matchweek 8: Ronan Kratt (Pacific FC)
- Matchweek 9: Tristan Borges (Forge FC)
- Matchweek 10: Goteh Ntignee (Cavalry FC)
- Matchweek 11: Ballou Tabla (Atlético Ottawa)
