PREVIEW: Inter Toronto vs. Atlético Ottawa | May 1, 2026

York Lions Stadium will play host to an all-Ontario battle under the lights on Friday night, when Inter Toronto take on Atlético Ottawa.

The two sides will square off for the first time in 2026 (and the first time in the Inter Toronto era), in a renewal of one of the Canadian Premier League's most boisterous rivalries.

They met six times last year, including a two-legged quarterfinal tie in the TELUS Canadian Championship. Each of those contests proved there's no love lost between these clubs, dating back to a war of words that developed in 2024.

Ottawa had the upper hand in 2025, winning the CanChamp tie plus one of four CPL meetings; the other three finished as draws.

Those clashes were regularly among the most feisty in the CPL; the six games featured 34 total yellow cards, and 177 fouls. Both teams did get a lot of animosity out of their system in their first matchup of 2025 — a 3-2 Atleti win in April that set a new CPL record with 47 fouls in one match.

Things remained intense after that, but both sides did then aim to settle differences with the ball. Two of their meetings last year were way the league's average fouls per game (26.28), but their final four actually came in below the mean.

Now, Inter Toronto will try to beat the Atlético for the first time in over a year. Fortunately for them, their confidence is fairly high at the moment; Toronto are one of three undefeated teams in the CPL still standing.

They've just got the one win (a 1-0 over Vancouver FC two weeks ago) and two draws, but early signs are positive for a team that made a lot of changes to its attack.

Atlético Ottawa haven't had the smoothest start to their championship defence, with a 1-1-2 record, but things are trending upward after a win at FC Supra and a home opener draw against Vancouver last weekend.

The main challenge coach Diego Mejía will put in front of his players is creating more scoring chances. Atleti have controlled a massive share of possession in every game this year, but they've generated the fewest chances and shots per 90 in the league. Still, Mejía has explained he expects that to come later, as his largely brand-new attack gets used to his system.

In fact, Mejía said Thursday that he believes opposing teams have been playing defensively against his side deliberately:

"The league progressed a lot from last season to this season," he said. "Now, all the teams around the league accept that we are better than them, that we are going to have the ball more time. They're going to rest in defence all the time, and now it's hard, we need to create patterns to break these low blocks."

One key name to watch in this matchup will be Inter Toronto's Ollie Bassett. The midfielder spent three seasons with Atlético Ottawa, winning a CPL Player of the Year and Golden Boot award with the club. He spent a year outside the league but has now returned with Toronto; he could be in line for his first start of the season on Friday.

On the Atleti side, Santiago López continues to settle in after arriving on loan from Pumas UNAM just under two weeks ago. He has two starts under his belt, and the Canadian international has shown flashes of his quality, but had a frustrating moment last week when his missed penalty was followed seconds later by a Vancouver goal.

For López, it'll be a special moment playing in Toronto, not far from where he grew up in Oakville.

After this game, Atleti will have their signs set on the 6ix once more, but in a different competition as they play Toronto FC at BMO Field in the CanChamp on Tuesday.

There's no way they'll take this game Friday for granted, though.

NEWS & NOTES

• Inter Toronto made a new addition this week, signing 15-year-old Chimaobim Onyeocha to a Development Contract, as well as a pro deal through 2029.
• Atlético Ottawa announced this week that forward Richie Ennin will miss the rest of the season with an ACL injury. He has been placed on the Inactive List.
• Ottawa striker Erling Myklebust also continues to deal with an injury and is considered questionable, but Santiago López will be available after suffering a knock last week.
• Inter Toronto remain without midfielder Kembo Kibato as well as several international players dealing with visa issues, and Oswaldo Leon (suspended for one more game). Ollie Bassett has progressed and will be available.

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

Inter Toronto: Urtiaga; Sturing, Guzman, Singh; Ferrari, Bassett, Yeates, Jimoh; Bitar, Altobelli, Badibanga

Atlético Ottawa: Innocent; Kozlovskiy, Abatneh, Cloutier; Assi, Castro, Aparicio, Coulanges; Habibullah, López, Tabla

KEY QUOTES

"Diego [Mejía] hasn't changed much in what he wants from his team, in the way they're playing. They're a confident team. We can't forget that they're the champions going into this season, and they do have a lot of quality. They're probably not going through their best moment, but the individuals are there. ... We're going to want to have more possession, take the ball away from them. We want to be a high-tempo team and put them under pressure when we have the opportunity." — Inter Toronto head coach Mauro Eustáquio

"They tried to do similar things that we did last season; they tried to copy a little bit the model. They have good players, I think last season they were one of the teams that played better against us. I expect they're going to have the same behaviours, they're going to try to press high, they're going to try to play long balls and try to attack the back of the defensive line. I think it's going to be a good match to watch." — Atlético Ottawa head coach Diego Mejía