{"id":31081,"date":"2026-05-04T12:18:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T12:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/31081\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T12:18:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T12:18:18","slug":"toronto-fc-open-canadian-championship-against-reigning-cpl-champions-atletico-ottawa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/31081\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto FC open Canadian Championship against reigning CPL champions Atl\u00e9tico Ottawa"},"content":{"rendered":"

If Toronto FC are to claw back to the stature they once held, a successful Canadian Championship this year is very important.<\/p>\n

The tournament was once TFC\u2019s playground, and they still have the most Voyageurs Cup wins with eight. However, it\u2019s the Vancouver Whitecaps who hold the reputation as Canada\u2019s undisputed kings, as they have rattled off four straight Cups, including two over the Reds.<\/p>\n

It would instill a great deal of pride for TFC to summit Canada\u2019s mountain again, and a CONCACAF berth could accelerate the championship window Robin Fraser hopes to create with Josh Sargent and Djordje Mihailovic. The squad is getting a crash course in how to win without them as TFC welcomes Atl\u00e9tico Ottawa, the reigning Canadian Premier League champions, to BMO Field on Tuesday night for the preliminary round.<\/p>\n

Ottawa reeling to open the season<\/p>\n

TFC have played the extremes of the Canadian pyramid in the past two Canadian Championships: semi-pro sides in 2024, which they comfortably dismantled, and CF Montr\u00e9al last year, where they bowed out on penalties. Ottawa is somewhere in between. Yet, TFC is still lucky with this matchup: while formidable when the draw happened, Ottleti has stumbled out of the gate, yielding four points from five games in the CPL.<\/p>\n

On Friday night, Ottawa were battered 4-1 by Inter Toronto<\/a>, their weaknesses exposed during a second-half capitulation. Ottawa requires stability to generate offensive chances, stability that frequently comes by playing the ball between centre-backs Noah Abatneh, Sergei Kozlovskiy, and Tyr Duhaney-Walker for long stretches at a time. Of those three, Diego Mej\u00eda only started Abatneh against Inter, but the speedy high press prevented Ottawa\u2019s entire team from making the slow, calculated passes that pave the way to their success. Are the tactics exposable? Yes. Will Mej\u00eda change it? No.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis team never, never changes the identity that we have,\u201d Mej\u00eda said on Friday. \u201cWe\u2019re gonna play the same game against Real Madrid, against Chelsea, against Toronto, against everyone. If we need to lose the match 10-0, we\u2019re gonna lose a match 10-0. But we\u2019re never gonna change our identity. So, we will come back in a few days, and we\u2019re going to try to build the game, and we\u2019re going to try to create chances with the ball, and then we\u2019ll see.\u201d<\/p>\n

The loss to Inter was far from Ottawa\u2019s best offering. Their attacks weren\u2019t stellar, but watch for Ballou Tabla as a false nine and promising young attacking midfielder Emiliano Garc\u00eda to at least challenge TFC\u2019s backline. Ottleti has a stud between the sticks in Paris Saint-Germain academy graduate Garissone Innocent, who can be remarkably challenging to beat. Just ask FC Supra, who peppered Innocent with ten shots two weeks ago and were shut out.<\/p>\n

A talent that TFC will not have to contend with is Santiago L\u00f3pez. The Canadian-Mexican dual national was picked up from Pumas on-loan, but after two so-so performances, he went down injured. Even if L\u00f3pez\u2019s form wasn\u2019t stellar \u2014 he even had a penalty shot saved \u2014 he can carve up a defender.<\/p>\n

Mej\u00eda continues to have faith in his team. And that Ottawa has nothing to lose could spell trouble for TFC. This type of match can be the banana peel for a big club, and Ottawa is more than happy for TFC to slip on them.<\/p>\n

Toronto FC in search of elusive win<\/p>\n

TFC have a knack for wild endings, but none were quite as gut-punching as the conclusion to their 1-1 draw with the San Jose Earthquakes<\/a>. Daniel Sall\u00f3i charging forward to meet a long ball and perfectly chipping the goalkeeper, only for Reid Roberts to make a miracle clearance on the goal line.<\/p>\n

That clearance extended TFC\u2019s winless run to five games. They\u2019ve kept it close and, fortunately, are salvaging points on most occasions. But a victory could be the needed boon for the Reds, allowing them to make up ground before the World Cup break. With Inter Miami, Charlotte FC, and the Chicago Fire waiting in the wings, Ottawa is the most feasible win.<\/p>\n

\"\"Courtesy: Shaun McLeod\/Waking The Red<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see how TFC lines up. Fraser\u2019s squad is stretched thin with an injury crisis that has particularly ravaged the defence. As such, Fraser\u2019s hand will likely be forced to run back a similar XI to the one that drew the Earthquakes. The blessing in disguise is that the Reds won\u2019t worry about heavy rotation to hit the required number of Canadians on the pitch. They might be able to add another in Deandre Kerr, who returned to the fold as a substitute on Saturday and won the CanChamp Golden Boot in 2024.<\/p>\n

TFC\u2019s stronghold over the Canadian Championship in the late 2010s still shows on stat sheets: Jonathan Osorio is the tournament\u2019s all-time appearance and scoring leader. Yet, that legacy is beginning to falter. TFC has a very real path to the semifinals with Ottawa on Tuesday and a two-legged bout with either CPL newcomers Supra or Ontario Premier League (formerly League1 Ontario) champions Woodbridge Strikers. CF Montr\u00e9al isn\u2019t on TFC\u2019s side of the bracket.<\/p>\n

The time has never been better for TFC to return to Canada\u2019s peak.<\/p>\n

\"\"Courtesy: Shaun McLeod\/Waking The Red<\/p>\n

How To Watch<\/p>\n

Tune in on OneSoccer. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. ET.<\/p>\n

Projected Lineups<\/p>\n

Toronto FC: Gavran; Franklin, Monlouis, Zimmerman, Edwards; Osorio, Coello; Sall\u00f3i; Etienne Jr.; Kerr; Henry<\/p>\n

Atl\u00e9tico Ottawa: Innocent; Kozlovskiy, Abatneh, Duhaney-Walker; Timoteo, Aparicio, Castro, Coulanges; Tabla, Garc\u00eda, Villal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If Toronto FC are to claw back to the stature they once held, a successful Canadian Championship this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":31082,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[14250,14251,5310,14252,14253,14254,61,8453,5312,330],"class_list":{"0":"post-31081","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ottawa","8":"tag-atleti-ottawa","9":"tag-atletico-ottawa","10":"tag-bmo-field","11":"tag-canadian-championship","12":"tag-canchamp","13":"tag-diego-mejia","14":"tag-ottawa","15":"tag-robin-fraser","16":"tag-tfc","17":"tag-toronto-fc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31081","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31081"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31081\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31082"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31081"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31081"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31081"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}