Atlético Ottawa’s debut in the Concacaf Champions Cup ended in defeat on Tuesday night at Hamilton Stadium, as they fell 2-0 to Major League Soccer side Nashville SC.
After playing this opening ‘home’ leg of the first-round tie in Hamilton due to renovations at TD Place, Atleti will now head to Tennessee for next week’s second leg hoping to turn things around.
One hundred days after winning the North Star Cup, Atlético Ottawa fielded a starting XI with just five starters from the CPL Final. Club newcomers Jonantan Villal and Garissone Innocent made their debuts up front and in goal, respectively, and 18-year-old Ralph Khoury got his first start at centre-forward.
Meanwhile, Nashville — who, like Ottawa, hadn’t yet played a game this year — went with a rotated team featuring a mix of youth and experience. Six of their 11 had fewer than 10 games of MLS experience, while veterans like Alex Muyl, Bryan Acosta and Jack Maher all have more than 100.
With both teams playing their first competitive half of 2026, the opening 45 minutes were somewhat sluggish. Both sides were keen to build slowly from the back; centre-backs holding the ball waited to draw pressure and open up space, but opposing attackers were hesitant to step forward too aggressively.
So, the game became something of a chess match; the two teams tried to find avenues to break through their opponents’ defensive shape, but each of them remained vigilantly organized.
Nashville, for their part, generated a few more chances than Atleti as the half wore on as their quicker ball movement opened up areas in the attacking half. They pounced on a few misplaced Ottawa passes to open up the final third, but their finishing let them down repeatedly.
The sides went into halftime knotted at 0-0, but neither manager was likely happy with the first-half performance; Ottawa had struggled to impose their attacking style the way they’d like, and the visitors had missed several clear-cut chances, including one near the penalty spot that Ahmed Qasem blasted well over the bar.
Nashville began the second half much more firmly in control. They pushed more numbers forward and swarmed the penalty area, creating more opportunities to test the defence, although Atleti did become more discerning on the counter-attack.
Unfortunately for the CPL side, their timing wasn’t in mid-season form; a few too many passes went astray in the build-up, which broke up momentum and prevented them from getting up the pitch quickly enough.
Nashville, for their past, were extremely well-organized, tracking Ottawa’s attacks well and refusing to fall into traps.
Ottawa’s backline could only stand firm for so long. In the 66th minute — not long after both sides had made their first substitutions — the ball came in the box to Woobens Pacius.
The former Forge FC striker, making his first-team debut for Nashville in his former stomping grounds, sidestepped Atleti’s first defender and fired into the net. With his 19th career goal at Hamilton Stadium, Pacius made it 1-0 for the visitors.
Despite taking the lead, Nashville coach B.J. Callaghan still chose to bring his more high-profile attackers on for the final 20 minutes, as Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge both checked into the game. Meanwhile, Atleti boss Diego Mejía likewise tried to wake up his attack as club newcomers Emiliano Garcia, Erling Myklebust and Kamron Habibullah came in to play as a new-look front three.
Ottawa did generate one exceptional chance late in the match, as the ball came to Habibullah in the penalty area during a scramble. Habibullah directed it on frame, but his own teammate Myklebust was down on the goal line, and inadvertently blocked the shot.
Moments later, with one of the final actions of the game, Nashville tore Atleti apart on the counter attack. Mukhtar sliced through midfield and found Cristian Espinoza at the edge of the box. With Ottawa goalkeeper Garissone Innocent charging off his line, Espinoza squared it across to Sam Surridge, who slotted into the open net to make it 2-0 for the visitors.
Now, Ottawa will head into the second leg in Nashville looking to bank their first Concacaf goal, and perhaps give themselves a chance to overturn the two-goal deficit in this tie.
