Above-average coaching

MISE À DAY

OTTAWA | Atlético Ottawa plays in the Canadian Premier League and offers salaries to match, but the coaching the players have is worthy of the great Spanish club that oversees the Canadian operation.

“ We are in a good mood, insists Maxim Tissot. We have a lot of staff. For example, we have two full-time physios and one part-time. When I was with the Forge, and it's like that in many teams, there [was] only one physio. 

” We have a lot of < em>staffto help us and that brings results in the longer term. We have a very competent coaching staff and the performances are starting to show it. 

The players seem delighted with the work of head coach Carlos Gonzalez Juárez, a 36-year-old Spaniard.

In Madrid

A sign that Atlético Madrid is supporting the Ottawa club well, the players have spent part of their preparation there this winter.

” We went to Madrid for the pre-season for a month and we had access to high quality facilities, it was a great experience”, says Tissot.

” He there is a pressure that comes with that, there is an expectation of results, but the fact that they put us in a favorable position to have these results, it is appreciated by the players. »

< p>Strange

Ballou had a bit of a strange moment during the trip to Madrid.

“It's funny because in pre-season we went to see an Atlético Madrid match and it was the first time for me, I was more of a regular at Camp Nou when I was at Barça.  »

This visit to the home of Atlético Madrid marked him and made him understand the importance given to training in the national capital.

«  That's when I realized there was something to this project. if the team has been in the nation's capital for two years, it's a bit like a first season.

In 2020, the season came down to a tournament at the Prince Edward Island, and last year wasn't quite like this year.

The team currently sits third in the Canadian Premier League, just two head points.

“It's going very well. We are trying to erase the last two years which were below expectations, in a difficult context.  »