Nashville SC begin their 2026 season on the road, taking on Atlético Ottawa in the Concacaf Champions Cup on Tuesday night.
To get more information on the Canadian Premier Leauge champions, we reached out to John Jacques, who covers Ottawa and all things Canadian soccer for the Northern Tribune.
Canadian soccer news by Canadian soccer fans
Ben Wright (SixOneFive Soccer): For our readers who may not be super familiar with the Canadian Premier League, could you give a quick history of Ottawa and their profile as a club? What was their path to Concacaf Champions Cup?
John Jacques (Northern Tribune): Much like Nashville, Atlético Ottawa is a young team with its age still in the single digits. Launched during the COVID pandemic season and owned by Atlético Madrid, the team benefits from some La Liga-powered scouting but operates on a relatively small CPL budget (read: $1.28 million maximum for the playing squad salary cap, with some wiggle room for Atlético-sourced loans that don't count towards that).
In their six seasons, Atlético Ottawa have had some hot and cold seasons, reaching two playoff finals and earning its first continental berth with a club-first playoff championship win last November. That match took place in the nation's capital during a record snowstorm - you might have seen the 'Icycle Kick' that was viewed over one billion times.
WHAT. A. GOAL. 🤯
— TSN (@TSN_Sports) November 9, 2025
ATLETICO OTTAWA TIE THE GAME ON AN ABSOLUTELY INSANE BICYCLE KICK IN THE SNOW ❄️😱#CPL pic.twitter.com/A4lZW15ENb
As the playoff champions, Atlético Ottawa are one of three CPL teams in the Champions Cup this year, with Forge FC (regular season champions) and Vancouver FC (domestic cup runners-up) being the others. Ottawa are already the last club standing of the bunch.
BW: How has Ottawa been preparing for CCC? What's the state of their roster?
JJ: It's a roster in a lot of flux right now.
The biggest roster questions for Ottawa will come at the front: David Rodríguez, who scored the Icycle Kick and was a key creator last year, is back to playing in Mexico. The league's golden boot winner, Samuel Salter, was a clinical target man for Ottawa, but he was good enough to earn a move to the Swedish top flight. In his stead, Ottawa just recruited a certain Norwegian striker named Erling...though his last name is Myklebust. He's available to feature, but there are still several more signings to come.
Still, you can't sleep on former FC Barcelona prospect Ballou Tabla, and young prospect Ralph Khoury is having a strong preseason but will be under most radars given his age.
While the weather in Hamilton, Ontario, won't be as frigid as it was for the -13ºC Forge vs Tigres match earlier this month, it'll still be quite cool compared to Nashville. To that end, Atlético Ottawa has had a few friendlies on Canadian soil to acclimatize the squad to the cooler weather, so expect them to come out strong and try to take advantage of the climate.
BW: How would you describe their tactical identity, and what are you expecting their approach to be against Nashville?
JJ: Atlético Ottawa are enjoying a nice transition to their identity - in their first few seasons, the club would "embrace suffering" out of possession and try to pounce on the counter.
Now, however, Ottawa are more comfortable keeping possession and pushing forward with a lot of dynamic movement up top. In fact, they led the league for possession and average pass completion (58% and 88.7%, respectively), setting a club record for goals in 2025. That's a large credit to head coach Diego Mejia, who was considered for the Queretaro post in Liga MX after the title win, so the big question will be whether Ottawa sticks to their modern identity or reverts to soaking up pressure against an opponent like Nashville in the hopes of catching the MLS club off-guard.
Either way, you can expect a side confident in both possession and passing that enjoy probing all around the final third with the help of some adventurous wing-backs like the speedy Antinoro.
BW: Who are some standout players to keep an eye on? Which players are Ottawa especially dependent on?
JJ: A lot of the key players have moved on! Of the returning lot, 21-year-old centre-back Noah Abatneh has been a big rock at the back and just made his debut for Canada last month.
Midfielder Manny Aparicio is a spicy, fast-footed type who knows how to feed the attackers in front of him - though he's got some absolute rockets ready in those laces, too. They both led the league in passes last season and will be integral to Atlético Ottawa's fortunes on the pitch against Nashville.
BW: What are some key matchups you're looking for?
JJ: Trust me when I say all Atletico Ottawa fans are heartbroken that Jacob Shaffelburg was traded, and we would've loved to see former CPL-er Lukas MacNaughton, too.
Without a doubt, seeing how a young defensive line led by Noah Abatneh deals with an attacker like Hany Muktar will be thrilling. Bilateral winger Ballou Tabla will probably be squaring up against his old CF Montreal teammate Daniel Lovitz, and I don't know about you, but I love to see when former teammates clash against one another. They have a history and know how their counterpart operates, and that adds a nice mental element to things.
BW: Do you have a lineup/score prediction?
JJ: I've heard Ottawa will still be announcing players in the days ahead of the Champions Cup tilt – and afterwards, given the CPL doesn't kick off until April – so I couldn't fathom a line-up.
I'd guess Ottawa sticks with their 3-4-2-1, as I've heard the new signings have adapted quickly to how the club wants to play, but we'll see if they've cooked up any surprises against a Major League Soccer side with a much higher budget.
Hamilton Stadium already saw a nil-nil this month between Tigres and Forge, so let's hope for some goals this time around. I'll go 0-2 in Nashville's favour (sorry, Ottawa... but I'm open to surprises!).
Thanks so much to John for chatting with us. Check out his coverage of Ottawa and Canadian Soccer at the Northern Tribune.
