| Atlético Ottawa vs. Inter Toronto July 17 at 7 p.m. ET / 4 p.m. PT TD Place in Ottawa, Ont. Watch Live: OneSoccer, TSN Tickets available here |
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Another Ontario battle headlines Friday night's Canadian Premier League action, as Atlético Ottawa welcome Inter Toronto to TD Place for the first time this year.
This renewal of hostilities comes at a key point in the campaign, with both sides needing to shake off recent results.
Hosts Ottawa last played on July 8, when they were soundly beaten by FC Supra du Québec in the first leg of the TELUS Canadian Championship quarterfinal. Four days before that, they suffered their first home defeat in almost two years as Cavalry FC beat them 3-0.
The good news for Atleti? They're still third in the league table. They have 17 points after 12 games, but their cushion over the fourth-place Halifax Wanderers is just two points.
Not too far behind are Inter Toronto, who remain in sixth place with 12 points. They've only played 10 matches, though, which means they have at least two games in hand on all the teams they're chasing from third to fifth.
That said, they've struggled to keep pace in their last few outings. Most recently, Toronto lost 4-0 to Vancouver FC — all four goals coming in the first half — to extend their losing streak to four games.
In that stretch, they've conceded 16 goals and scored just three; Inter Toronto's last win was on May 17, when they beat Pacific FC 1-0.
So, head coach Mauro Eustáquio is calling for more from his team, particularly in defence; recently, individual errors have proved extremely costly.
The good news for Eustáquio and co. is that last time they saw Ottawa, they delivered one of their best performances of the year. Toronto beat Atleti 4-1 at York Lions Stadium that day, as Tomasz Skublak scored a brace in an all-around dominant showing.
However, Atlético Ottawa haven't lost at home to Toronto since June 2024, and they're extra motivated to restore their home advantage after losing to Cavalry.
One other key storyline that could play a role in this match Ollie Bassett's return to Ottawa.
The Inter Toronto midfielder is a familiar face in the capital, having played three seasons for Atleti before a brief stint down in the United States. He was one of the best players in the CPL in that stretch, winning the Player of the Year award in 2022 and the Golden Boot in 2023. He won a regular season title with Ottawa and played for them in a CPL Final, having also won a championship with Pacific FC in 2021.
Although Bassett hasn't yet had as much of an impact in Toronto as he would've liked, he is a key figure in the history of the league.
"Those memories are special for this club, and he had some great seasons here," said Atleti interim head coach Drew Beckie, who was Bassett's teammate in Ottawa.
"It'll be great to see him back here. Hopefully he won't play as well as he did in those years. It'll be good for the fans to give him a salute, and for him to be back on the field where he did so many nice things."
Beckie and Atleti will nonetheless be hoping to keep Bassett and the rest of Toronto quiet in what should be a hard-fought fixture.
This fixture has offered up plenty of goals in the past; could more be on the docket on Friday night?
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
Atlético Ottawa: Kalongo; Mbomio, Cloutier, Kozlovskiy, Timoteo; Aparicio, Aguilar, Castro; Antinoro, Tabla, Villal
Inter Toronto: Urtiaga; Sturing, Guzmán, López; Ferrari, Kibato, Yeates, Jimoh; Bassett, Skublak, Altobelli
