Atletico Ottawa’s Head Coach, Mista, gave an update on injuries and his thoughts on the competition so far in his pre-match conference as they prepare to face Forge FC.
“We’re growing as a club, as a team and that‘s what we want, to continue growth in the right direction” Mista said speaking through his translator Saturday morning. As Atletico Ottawa prepare to take on last year’s champions, Forge FC, the Ontarian side will be beaming with confidence coming off the back of an impressive victory against the team who are sitting at the top of this season’s table, Cavalry FC. “We are happy for the win but there are three big games to come” Mista said, though there is no denying the visible improvements that Atletico Ottawa have made since the start of the ‘Island Games’. In a season that has been strikingly different for the 7 Canadian Premier League sides who competed for the North Star Shield last year, it’s simply been a season of firsts for the Ontarian outlet and not much was expected from Ottawa’s new football team. Speaking of the format this year, Mista was quick to praise, “the effort from the league and clubs to get the tournament going for 2020 has been extreme. “Of course, if this had been our 10th game because we had had 5 pre-season games, maybe we would’ve been more comfortable and known each other more. “Let’s be honest, these are brand new players playing together for the first time.” The lack of chemistry within the side was exposed in the first three games as Atletico squandered multiple two goal leads, received a couple of red cards, shipped four goals to Valour only to bounce back and beat Cavalry FC in an impressive performance which played a back seat to the fight against systemic racism. “It was necessary for us to turn around quickly and ask more from our players,” the head coach said. “In the end what we think is we learn a lot more when we’re defeated and comeback stronger and we're extremely happy with our response.”
A stand out performer down the left flank has been Neufville who, despite his red card in the opening fixture, has shown a lot of talent a promise, especially going forward.
The youngster was subbed off holding his hamstring in the 2-0 victory against Cavalry but Mista downplayed the seriousness of the injury.
“He will not likely be involved against Forge but, based on the conversations we’ve had he should be good for the rest of the games.” Mista said, though he addmitted that injuries could be an issue with so many games in such a short period.
“If we had 2 or 3 more players it would’ve been a little different in managing that workload.
“What everyone has done [physios and strength and conditioning coaches] is fantastic and keeping everyone healthy is key.”
Atletico Ottawa head into Sunday’s fixture on 5 points - anything they can pick up against Forge FC will be a bonus and a great lift in their chances of a playoff spot.
“They have been consistent and good, they have very good players and a good collective game,” Mista said speaking of their next opponents.
“It is going to be a complicated game for us, what we must do is compete with them in every play and hopefully we can have a good game.
“They’re a great team so we’re going to give them all the respect they deserve but we're going to follow our game plan and hopefully that’ll be fruitful.”