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Atletico Ottawa - 2024 Season Thread


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6 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Wrong thread obviously but suspect they'll also miss having Easton Ongaro available as an option up front. Reon Moore is listed as 5 ft 9 and Zanatta usually plays out wide so neither is likely to replace what he provided.

Ongaro just didn't work our last season. Adonijah Reid at 5 ft 4 was far more effective holding the ball up than 6 ft 6 Ongaro, and several other players were much more dangerous in the air. Didic and Aparicio are big losses but Merriman has dealt with a lot more turnover in past seasons, and I like the experience we've brought in to replace those two. I'm excited for the season 

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Agreed. The implication in referring to Moore’s height is that Ongaro used his to his advantage, when even at his best he didn’t. It was never his game. His best attributes with Edmonton were soft feet and getting into good positions in the box at the right time. It’s too bad but @Aird25 is right, for what he was signed to do Reid did better and hopefully Moore will as well. Tricoveanu looks like he might be a good Aparicio replacement (at least going forward in attack, if not the shuttler/quarterback role) and hopefully Ndom is a decent enough Didic replacement with room and a path for Amedume to grow as well. Happy to have people write Pacific off. I think they will do so at their peril. 

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57 minutes ago, shorty said:

Agreed. The implication in referring to Moore’s height is that Ongaro used his to his advantage, when even at his best he didn’t. It was never his game. His best attributes with Edmonton were soft feet and getting into good positions in the box at the right time. It’s too bad but @Aird25 is right, for what he was signed to do Reid did better and hopefully Moore will as well. Tricoveanu looks like he might be a good Aparicio replacement (at least going forward in attack, if not the shuttler/quarterback role) and hopefully Ndom is a decent enough Didic replacement with room and a path for Amedume to grow as well. Happy to have people write Pacific off. I think they will do so at their peril. 

We had to replace more than  half our roster after winning it all. Losing two starters, for which we have already signed promising replacements for, does not scream end of the world to me. The claim that ownership isn't willing to spend has absolutely no basis from what I can tell 

Edited by Aird25
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27 minutes ago, Aird25 said:

We had to replacd more than  half our roster after winning it all. Two starters, for which we have already signed promising replacements for, does not scream end of the world to me. The claim that ownership isn't willing to spend has absolutely no basis from what I can tell 

Well, and also — as sad as it is to see players like Didic and Aparicio move on — I love and respect that the club sells where it can and doesn’t obstruct a player who wants to move on for whatever reason. At least from my outside the window perspective that’s how it seems the club is run. 

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10 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

Wrong thread obviously but suspect they'll also miss having Easton Ongaro available as an option up front. Reon Moore is listed as 5 ft 9 and Zanatta usually plays out wide so neither is likely to replace what he provided.

Oops, sorry about that.  My bad.

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I like it, it definitely does feel like Atletico Madrid is investing to build ATO into the league's flagship club and give the tools to at least try for upset in CONCACAF and CanChamp and that's good to see.

Obviously, I am biased as an ATO fan but I'd also argue that any news of more ressources from outside of the country going into the CPL is inherently good news.

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53 minutes ago, phil03 said:

I like it, it definitely does feel like Atletico Madrid is investing to build ATO into the league's flagship club and give the tools to at least try for upset in CONCACAF and CanChamp and that's good to see.

Obviously, I am biased as an ATO fan but I'd also argue that any news of more ressources from outside of the country going into the CPL is inherently good news.

There's nothing quite like a 6/8th place finish.

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3 hours ago, Aird25 said:

There's nothing quite like a 6/8th place finish.

Yes, except for 2022 ATO's results weren't super great. With its current investment in ATO Atletico Madrid seem to be to change that though.

EDIT: I am not averse to some banter between rival clubs but I honestly don't see what ATO not having the best past results has to as to whether Atletico Madrid is indeed now deciding to invest more in ATO and whether its good thing that they do...

Edited by phil03
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13 hours ago, phil03 said:

I like it, it definitely does feel like Atletico Madrid is investing to build ATO into the league's flagship club and give the tools to at least try for upset in CONCACAF and CanChamp and that's good to see.

Obviously, I am biased as an ATO fan but I'd also argue that any news of more ressources from outside of the country going into the CPL is inherently good news.

You would think with Atlético resources, ATO would do better, there even could have been a thought about dominating the league.

But then, the fact they would come in and not dominate is a sign the rest of the teams are competitive and just having a major club as a backer is not enough. 

It is clear, however, that you have to show well, because doing poorly does not just reflect badly on the ATO and the players, the organisation, but on Atlético de Madrid as well. I just took a quick look at Atlético San Luis Apertura results (as a sample) they were in 2nd tier when AtM bought them, they had a season they came last in Apertura, then a couple in mid table or lower mid table, last Apertura they were 7th overall. 

Edited by Unnamed Trialist
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16 hours ago, phil03 said:

I like it, it definitely does feel like Atletico Madrid is investing to build ATO into the league's flagship club and give the tools to at least try for upset in CONCACAF and CanChamp and that's good to see...

They had their Ottawa team over in Madrid previously for training camps so I'm not sure this trip to Mexico proves much. Even the Valour are spending a bit of cash to head to Portugal for preseason training this year, for example. Think it's also important to bear in mind that CanPL is a salary cap league and that means ATO would be playing against clubs with 10 or 20 times the salary budget where the likelihood of upsets in the CONCACAF Champions Cup is concerned.

Having got all that out of the way I think it is clear though that Atletico are spending at close to the cap rather than the floor judging from how they have been able to attract players in from elsewhere in the league and that should translate to a playoff spot. After that anything can happen...

Edited by Ozzie_the_parrot
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9 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

You would think with Atlético resources, ATO would do better, there even could have been a thought about dominating the league.

But then, the fact they would come in and not dominate is a sign the rest of the teams are competitive and just having a major club as a backer is not enough. 

It is clear, however, that you have to show well, because doing poorly does not just reflect badly on the ATO and the players, the organisation, but on Atlético de Madrid as well. I just took a quick look at Atlético San Luis Apertura results (as a sample) they were in 2nd tier when AtM bought them, they had a season they came last in Apertura, then a couple in mid table or lower mid table, last Apertura they were 7th overall. 

That's fair, altough I would also had that having a backer with deep pockets doesn't mean that the club necessarily has deep resources, as for that you need the backer to actively decide to use their deep pockets for your benefit, and I'd argue their hasn't been any evidence Atletico Madrid had really decided to do so before this season. 

After all, 2021 was their first real season as an expansion club (IMO the Island Games where too much of an odd duck to count) and that was always likely to be a year to find their footing on and off the pitch rather then get results, even in a league as young as CPL. Then in 2022 they won the regular season and made it to the final, so seen from Madrid things were probably looking like they were going in a pretty good direction. After all, that's how it was looking from Ottawa too...

Of course, last year was a disappointment for everyone around the club, which probably played a key role in Atletico Madrid deciding to expand the budget somewhat in the hope it would produce better results on the pitch.

6 hours ago, Ozzie_the_parrot said:

They had their Ottawa team over in Madrid previously for training camps so I'm not sure this trip to Mexico proves much. Even the Valour are spending a bit of cash to head to Portugal for preseason training this year, for example. Think it's also important to bear in mind that CanPL is a salary cap league and that means ATO would be playing against clubs with 10 or 20 times the salary budget where the likelihood of upsets in the CONCACAF Champions Cup is concerned.

Having got all that out of the way I think it is clear though that Atletico are spending at close to the cap rather than the floor judging from how they have been able to attract players in from elsewhere in the league and that should translate to a playoff spot. After that anything can happen...

For the pre-season camp I was thinking more of Atletico Madrid, directly and/or through Atletico San Luis, working to get them solid friendlies, including some that would give them experience against tier I clubs in CONCACAF. You are correct regarding the cap, of course, but, even if we do not know all the minutias of the CPL's rules in that regard yet it does appear that there is at least some flexibility to give things to players that sweethen the deal financially and not count toward the cap. Forge has been noted to have some of its players work for Sigma as coaches for example. I wouldn't be surprised if ATO found a similar way to sweethen some of its contract offers...

You are also correct when it come to upset but nonetheless, it can happen. Pacific and Cavalry have done and more recently Herediano has beaten a LigaMx club in CONCACAF (I know, the Costa Rican league is better then the CPL but IMO the gap between them is a hell of a lot smaller then between the Costa Rican league and MLS as well as LigaMx).

I don't expect ATO to pull of upsets against MLS and LigaMx clubs but I do expect to do everything to try.

Edited by phil03
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20 minutes ago, jdheid said:

Anyone know if this was Queretaro's first team or a reserve side? Either way, respectable result IMO.

I'd say probably some experimental combo of both but as you said, its a respectable result by any means.

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