Atletico Ottawa defeated Pacific F.C. 1-0 in CPL action. Pacific dominated much of the game but an error at the back allowed Ollie Basset to score and then Pacific was not able to beat Nathan Ingham.
Ratings:
- A1 – Very good, could play higher
- A2 – Strong potential to play higher
- B1 – Good, strong player at level
- B2 – Potential to be a strong player at level
- C – Average for the level, rewatch
- D – Below average in this match
Ayman Sellouf
- Nationality: Dutch
- Age: 22
- Date of Birth: 25/08/2001
- Current club: Pacific FC
- Career: NEC Nijmegen, Utrecht (Y)
- Position: Winger
- Preferred foot: Right
Ayman Sellouf played as a winger for Pacific in this match, beginning on the left before switching to the right in the second half. Regardless of which side he is on, Sellouf likes to cut into central areas and look to play balls in behind or over the top of the defence. Sellouf is a technically gifted player with strong first touch and good close control. He attempts a lot of dribbles with a middling success rate. He is also quite limited by his extremely weak left foot. There was one moment in particular where he cut inside from the right wing, and created some space for himself with his dribbling, but refused to shoot with his left and the chance was gone. But his right foot is very good.
His deliveries are very dangerous and he has good vision to pick out players making runs in behind. Sellouf currently leads the CPL in goal contributions and a big reason for that is how good his delivery from set pieces is. Sellouf can put a lot of bend and power on the ball and that allows him to cause some real damage from corners and free kicks. Of course, this does mean that his goal and assist totals are a bit of a paper tiger as a lot of it is coming from dead ball situations. But he’s no slouch from open play either. We have already discussed his ball delivery and his dribbling but he is also quite good at combining with teammates with short-range passes to unlock defences. He has good off-the-ball movement which helps with 1-2s.
Rating: A1
It’s perhaps a bit of a soft A1 but I think Sellouf could play at a higher level. He has limitations and that might hold him back from the top European leagues or MLS. But he could certainly be effective in a European league ranked somewhere in the 20s or a mid-sized Asian league like the A-League or Indian Super League. He has a Moroccan passport so a move to their domestic league could be a good option for him as well.
Adonijah Reid
- Nationality: Canadian
- Age: 24
- Date of birth: 13/08/1999
- Current club: Pacific F.C
- Career: F.C Dallas, Ottawa Fury, Le Havre (Y)
- Position: Striker
- Secondary position: Winger
- Preferred foot: Right
Adonijah Reid started the match as a striker before being shifted out to the right wing. People who follow me on Twitter will know that I have been an advocate for Reid for quite some time. In this match, he showed a lot of the skills that have always made him stand out to me. Reid played as a false 9, he’s only 5’4 so playing as a classic centre forward really isn’t possible for him. Reid would drop deeper to receive the ball and then either looks to run at opposing defenders or play in teammates. Reid is really fast with the ball at his feet and has good vision so this role suits him perfectly. Reid is a good dribbler and on several occasions was able to beat multiple players and get into the Ottawa box. He is quite strong relative to his stature and is good at using his body to protect the ball.
However, there are times when he is simply too small. Reid is good at playing outlet passes into wide areas and can also play passes into channels for runners. For this reason, I think he’s much better suited to playing centrally rather than on the wing. In the past, Reid has not shown the most effort defensively. I still don’t really see that as a strength for him but he was more active in this game, tracking back to make a couple of tackles. Reid has good off-the-ball movement, though in this particular match, he was mostly making himself available to receive passes in deeper pockets of space but I have seen him get on the end of some dangerous chances in the box in previous viewings.
Rating: A1
Sadly, at 24, I think it’s probably too late for Reid to make the jump to MLS. But I would love to see him get a move to an intermediate level between CPL and MLS. There were a few Canadian players who made moves to smaller teams in the Polish Ekstraklasa last year and we have also seen older CPL standouts make moves to Norway and Sweden. Something like that would be good for Reid.
Cedric Toussaint
- Nationality: Canadian
- Age: 22
- Date of Birth: 29/03/2001
- Current club: Pacific F.C
- Career: C.F Montreal (Y), York United
- Position: Defensive Midfielder
- Preferred foot: Right
Cedrick Toussaint played as a defensive midfielder for Pacific F.C. in this game. His main strength is his passing ability. Toussaint spent a lot of the game dropping deep to receive the ball from the centre-backs and quarter-back Pacific’s buildup play. Toussiant has an impressive passing range. He can break a press with a short-range pass or switch the play with longer-range passes. Toussaint is able to retain the ball under pressure. He also takes quite a lot of long-range shots. Toussaint is primarily a passer, he does not carry the ball very often. Defensively Toussaint was a bit of a mixed bag. He is quite good at closing down opponents and contests a lot of duels. However, he is also susceptible to getting beat by dribblers.
Toussaint is very small at about 5’5 but he is stocky and very strong for his size. Toussaint can be overly aggressive at times, he commits a lot of fouls by flying into tackles he doesn’t really need to. In this match, he picked up a yellow card because he dove into a tackle far from his goal when the ball was already on its way out of play. Toussaint has averaged a yellow card every 221 minutes across his professional career which is a lot. His persistent fouling dovetails with his minor deficiencies as a 1v1 defender to create a player who is a little bit clumsy out of possession. That’s not to say that he’s totally useless as a defender, it’s just that he is not as good as he is on the ball.
Rating: B1
I think CPL is Toussaint’s level. He’s a very strong player at the level but I would probably want to see a bit more in defence before I suggested him for a big move. He’s a tad one-dimensional at the moment. He’s 22 so there is some room to grow. He might be worth an MLS Next Pro punt since he’s free at the end of the season but he wouldn’t be at the top of my list.
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