| Halifax Wanderers FC vs. Atlético Ottawa Sept. 26 at 4 p.m. ET / 1 p.m. PT Wanderers Grounds in Halifax, N.S. Watch Live: OneSoccer, TSN Tickets available here |
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For what feels like the first time this season, the Halifax Wanderers roll into this weekend's home clash in high spirits.
They'll host Atlético Ottawa at the Wanderers Grounds looking for a third straight win, which would certainly keep the playoff race interesting in the final month of the regular season.
Entering Matchweek 23, Halifax are the first team below the playoff line in the Canadian Premier League. They have 26 points, which is six behind fourth-place Vancouver FC and eight back of Ottawa.
Including Saturday, the Wanderers have just five games left to make up that ground, which is a tremendous mountain to climb, but certainly not impossible given the form they've been in lately.
Last weekend, Halifax routed Inter Toronto 4-1 at home, which was an outstanding follow-up to their 2-0 win over FC Supra du Québec in Laval the week before.
That was the Wanderers' first set of back-to-back wins since last August.
Ottawa, meanwhile, will come into this game hoping to give themselves a little more breathing room. They've been comfortably in a playoff spot for some time now, but haven't scored in three straight matches (a 0-0 draw with Pacific, followed by losses to Forge and Supra).
That form has given Gustavo Leal and co. reason to sweat as teams below them clamber for a postseason berth, but Atleti still have firm control over their destiny.
Among the priorities for Ottawa will be kickstarting the attack this weekend. Striker Nicolas Fleuriau Chateau arrived at the club in explosive form, with seven goals in his first eight games, but hasn't managed quite the same impact the last three games as opposing defenders begin to give him special attention.
In order to free up more space for Fleuriau Chateau, Ottawa may need other attackers — like Ballou Tabla, or recent newcomer Amaury Escoto — to find the net first.
Meanwhile in Halifax, the Wanderers' attack is on an opposite trajectory right now. They've scored 10 in their last four games, which has actually put them third in the league in total goals.
Part of that rise has been down to Isaiah Johnston, who's enjoying the best attacking season of his career; he has 11 goals, including four in his last three games, which puts him tied for the CPL's Golden Boot lead. Also fuelling Halifax's attacking outbreak is Jason Bahamboula, who didn't score until Aug. 22 but now has three goals in five games.
Halifax boss Vanni Sartini said on Friday that they're finally seeing "the real Jason" playing, joking that it had been his brother in the first few months of the campaign. Sartini added that Bahamboula's confidence has been growing since his recovery from a broken ankle late last season.
"The first four, five months of the season were really hard for him, he was struggling," Sartini said. "He wasn't winning any 1v1s, he wasn't as fast and quick like he normally is. Luckily, he was very focused. He did everything, and it also paid off that we believed in him. We gave him minutes, even maybe when he wasn't ready to have those kind of minutes. And now, in the second part of the season it's changed completely."
Both Halifax and Ottawa will have some interesting lineup decisions to make this week, with each team missing several core pieces due to international duty. The Wanderers could turn to some of their midseason newcomers like Nelson Pierre or Liam MacKenzie for more minutes in the absence of Ryan Telfer and Andre Rampersad. Meanwhile, Ottawa have to find defensive cover for Roni Mbomio, who has been playing well at right-back the last few weeks.
NEWS & NOTES
- International duty: Ryan Telfer and Andre Rampersad (Trinidad and Tobago) are absent for Halifax, as is Ilan Ahmed (Canada U-17). For Ottawa, Roni Mbomio (Equatorial Guinea) and Ralph Khoury (Lebanon) are away.
- Atlético Ottawa's only significant injury concern this week is Daniel Aguilar, who is expected to miss several weeks and might not appear again this season as he determines whether he needs surgery, per Gustavo Leal.
- The good news for Ottawa is that captain Manny Aparicio is available again, after sitting out last week with a yellow card accumulation suspension.
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
Halifax Wanderers: Carducci; Alphonse, Meilleur-Giguère, Linder; Arilla, Callegari, Olguin, Sow; Johnston, Bahamboula, Pierre
Atlético Ottawa: Kalongo; Assi, Cloutier, Kozlovskiy, Coulanges; Gutiérrez, Aparicio; Antinoro, Tabla, Garcia; Fleuriau Chateau
KEY QUOTES
"Everything is lighter and everything is easy to put on the training sheet when everybody is in a good mood after two convincing wins, playing very well, finally translating the quality of our game into points. We are at that point of the season where we can really work on details, because now the big picture has been assimilated by the entire team." - Halifax Wanderers head coach Vanni Sartini
"Everybody knows that the next game will be so important for our goals in the [season], we need to get back to winning. We have eight points of distance from Halifax, but it's so important we win this game because we can increase this distance to 11 points the last four rounds, and I think that's enough distance to confirm our qualifying. After that we can go to the second goal, to finish third place in the table." - Atlético Ottawa head coach Gustavo Leal
