Ottawa loses 4-0 to Valour FC in P.E.I.

VALOUR FC (WINNIPEG) 4, ATLETICO OTTAWA 0

Atletico Ottawa coach Mista wasn’t in any mood to talk about the misfortune of being short-handed in the second half for the second straight game.

Instead, he ripped into his squad following Wednesday’s 4-0 loss to the Winnipeg-based Valour FC at the Canadian Premier League’s Island Games.

“Going back to the beginning of the game, the team didn’t have any intensity. We lacked intensity tremendously,” said Mista, speaking through a translator during a postgame Zoom call. “I don’t think we represented (the uniform) properly. This is a collective. Some players don’t understand what it is to represent that. It’s a sentiment. It’s an attitude.”

Mista said Valour’s eight firsthalf corner kicks provides the evidence of how much they were dominated at the outset.

If the attitude and approach doesn’t change, Mista said Atletico will have difficulty winning any contests at the Island Games.

For all that, though, the game was still deadlocked 0-0 in the 65th minute.

The contest turned when Ottawa’s Milovan Kapar received his second yellow card of the game for hauling down Fraser Aird. That prompted an automatic red card, leaving Atletico down to 10 men for the remainder of the contest.

In the franchise-opening 2-2 draw to York9 FC on Saturday, Atletico also lost full back Vashon Neufville to a red card in the second half, finishing the game on fumes, clinging to the draw.

There was no such luck this time around.

Aird scored on the resulting penalty kick and Valour controlled the game. It got lopsided in a hurry. In the final minutes, they ran up the score.

In the 78th minute, Andrew Jean Baptiste scored off a penalty kick to make it 2-0. At that point, the victory wasn’t in doubt, but the scoring wasn’t finished yet.

With time ticking away, Valour’s Dylan Carreiro and Jose Galan padded the lead, finally ending Atletico’s long afternoon.

“I don’t want to make it a custom to play with 10 men,” Mista said. “I have nothing more to add.”

As a result of his red card, Kapar will be suspended for Sunday’s game against Edmonton. Neufville is expected back for that contest.

Atletico started slowly Wednesday, on its heels as Valour took the game to them, controlling possession. Atletico goalkeeper Nacho Zabal was sharp and fortunate. Twenty-five minutes into the game, he used his fingertips to deflect a Brett Levis shot off the post.

Midfielder Viti Martinez had Atletico’s best chance in the opening half, but his free kick from the 25yard mark, 41 minutes into the game, sailed over the Valour net.

Valour was credited with eight shots toward the net, with Zabal stopping three. Valour also owned a 56.1 per cent possession rate, completing 87.2 per cent of passes. Atletico’s passing conversion rate in the opening 45 minutes was 81 per cent.