Inter Toronto continued their unbeaten start to 2026 in stylish fashion on Friday night, beating defending champions Atlético Ottawa 4-1 at York Lions Stadium.
A cagey first half gave way to an explosive second, as Tomasz Skublak scored a brace to lift the home side to their most convincing win of the season.
In a departure from recent matches, Atlético didn't have a commanding possession advantage in the opening stages, with the teams splitting the ball roughly 50-50 in the first half.
Toronto were were aggressive off the ball, pressing Ottawa's attempts to play out of the back. In response, Atleti were more direct than usual in the first half hour, playing down the wings and trying to engage Emiliano García in the number nine role.
"They had the ball, but you've got to force some errors," Toronto coach Mauro Eustáquio explained of his team's game plan. "That was the scouting report that we had, and what we wanted to do, and obviously we took space and we took time away from them, and it worked out."
After the first half ended 0-0, Inter Toronto came out of the gates with much more intent than the visitors, breathing down Ottawa's necks from kickoff. Shola Jimoh hit the post with an effort just a minute into the second half, setting an aggressive tone for what would turn into a lopsided half.
Five minutes after the restart, Juan Cordova launched a ball from the back that carried over both sides, dropping perfectly just behind Ottawa's defensive line. Tomasz Skublak, having timed his run well, got to the well-placed ball and stroked a shot across goal to skip off the left post and in.
Skublak followed that opening goal up with another five minutes later. He pounced on a hesitant Atleti pass out of the back to double the lead with a straightforward finish.
Toronto's third goal was another gift from Atleti, as Ottawa defender Loïc Cloutier mishandled a bouncing ball in the penalty area and knocked it back into his own goal.
Finally, the fourth arrived thanks to a well-struck finish from Julian Altobelli, who capped off another aggressive burst forward from Inter Toronto to put it well out of reach at 4-0.
Ottawa added a consolation goal toward the end — a well-placed strike by Wesley Timoteo — but that was all they could salvage from a frustrating night for the Rojiblancos.
"This game is my fault; it's always going to be my fault," Ottawa head coach Diego Mejía said postmatch. "I want this team playing this way, and we never change our identity."
He went on to add: "The identity we have, we're going to play the same way against Real Madrid, against Chelsea, against Toronto, against everyone. If we need to lose the match 10-0, we're going to lose the match 10-0, but we're never going to change our identity."
Inter Toronto were the convincingly better side on the night, out-shooting Ottawa 18 to seven (10 to four on target). They were also far more efficient with their attacking opportunities, turning 20 touches in the box to the four goals while Ottawa's 18 touches netted them just one.
Eustáquio's tactical plan worked well; he directed his side to go hunting for the ball, and they routinely managed to win it. They won possession in the attacking third seven times, and forced Ottawa into several critical errors at the back.
The three added points moved Toronto up to eight on the season, and into second place briefly (before any other games in Matchweek 5).
NEWS & NOTES
- Two Inter Toronto players made club debuts, as Raul López started and Sebastian Gonzáles came off the bench. Both international players recently arrived in Canada after visa issues.
- With three goals each, Toronto pair Tomasz Skublak and Julian Altobelli are tied for the CPL's Golden Boot lead.
BOX SCORE
Lineups
Inter Toronto: Urtiaga; Ferrari, Guzmán, R. López, Singh, Cordova; Yeates, Accettola (Costa 68'); Jimoh (Bassett 73'), Skublak (Gonzáles 68'), Altobelli (Bitar 73')
Atlético Ottawa: Innocent; Mbomio, Abatneh, Cloutier (Kozlovskiy 70'); Coulanges (Antinoro 58'), Castro (Aguilar 65'), Aparicio, Timteo; Villal (Khoury 65'), Garcia (Habibullah 70'), Tabla
Goals
50' — Tomasz Skublak (Inter Toronto)
55' — Tomasz Skublak (Inter Toronto)
61' — Loïc Cloutier (Atlético Ottawa) (Own Goal)
63' — Julian Altobelli (Inter Toronto)
84' — Wesley Timoteo (Atlético Ottawa)
Discipline
27' — Yellow: Luke Singh (Inter Toronto)
80' — Yellow: Manny Aparicio (Atlético Ottawa)
89' — Yellow: Daniel Aguilar (Atlético Ottawa)
90+2' — Yellow: Gabriel Antinoro (Atlético Ottawa)
90+5' — Yellow: Sergei Kozlovskiy (Atlético Ottawa)
CPLSoccer.com Player of the Match
Tomasz Skublak, Inter Toronto
The Toronto striker found the breakthrough with a great finish to open the scoring, and showed good instincts to pounce on a mistake for the second. He was key to Inter's pressing all night, and continues his excellent start to the campaign.
What’s next?
These teams now turn their attention to the TELUS Canadian Championship, which kicks off next week. Ottawa will be in action soon, as they take on MLS side Toronto FC at BMO Field on Tuesday, May 5 (7:30 p.m. ET). Inter Toronto will wait a little longer, but they host Ligue1 Québec foe CS Saint-Laurent on Sunday, May 10 (3 p.m. ET).
For broadcast details of the 2026 CPL season, go to cplsoccer.com/watch.