Two different competitions, three pieces of important hardware still on the line, three routes to the vast region’s top club tournament remaining wide open, and a chance to clinch a league playoff spot.
Yes, you could say this is a pivotal week for Forge FC. You could also say that the sun comes up in the east.
So, it was perfect timing for the CPL’s second-place team to deliver a professional, front-foot 3-0 home victory over third-place Ottawa Atlético on Saturday.
“It’s always a good thing; you want that momentum, that kind of performance from the players, and I think they deserve a performance like that for the work they’ve put in.
“And it gets you mentally prepared for the next game.”
Which happens to be another huge one. Tuesday night (7:00 p.m., OneSoccer, TSN) at Hamilton Stadium against FC Supra du Québec, in the second leg of the TELUS Canadian Championships. Its winner takes all in this one after a 1-1 draw in Laval two weeks ago, in which Forge rallied from an early defensive miscue to score in the dying moments of stoppage time.
Since away goals are no longer the deciding factor, whoever wins this one advances to the one-game national final against the winner of the other, all-MLS, semi between defending national champion Vancouver Whitecaps and CF Montréal. The deciding game of that series, which also opened with a 1-1 draw, will be played at Montréal’s Stade Saputo Wednesday night.
It’s all Supra all the time at the moment, so Forge aren’t even giving the briefest thought to their important CPL date in Calgary Saturday night when they’ll visit Cavalry FC, who beat a man-short Forge (Rezart Rama’s red card in the 30thminute) 2-1 August 15, and sit four points ahead of Hamilton in the race for first place, which brings with it the CPL Shield and its automatic berth in the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup , which begins early next winter.
There are also Champions Cup berths guaranteed to the CPL playoff champions and to the winner of the Voyageurs Cup, emblematic of Canadian Championship supremacy.
As all soccer insiders emphatically point out, tournament football with its head-to-head elimination tiers is vastly different from the sixth-month, 28-game league schedule. In a low-scoring sport, form charts can be turned on their heads by an early goal, an injury or an unexpected change in strategy. Or all of the above.
So, the 23-point gap between Forge and seventh-place Supra must be set aside as an overriding analytical tool for Tuesday, and so must the fact that Supra has dropped its last two games, 3-2 to Vancouver FC and Saturday’s 2-0 loss to HFX Wanderers in Laval.
Here’s why: the two teams have played each other a lot recently, so they’re very familiar with each other’s strengths and flaws and can adjust accordingly; and Forge had beaten the expansion team 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 before Supra broke through with a 1-0 win on August 19 via Loïc Kwemi’s replay-awarded penalty kick in the 37th minute. That was Supra’s first, and still only, blank sheet of the season and was their first win in August. And it gave them confidence for their home leg of the Canadian Championship semifinal nine days later at Stade Boréale when Ibram Condé scored on a Forge miscommunication to go up 1-0 in the 36th minute before Daniel Krützen equalized five minutes into stoppage time.
Kwemi leads the CPL with 10 goals while teammate Sean Rea has five assists, tied for second and Forge legend David Choinière has contributed four set-ups. Moroccan left back Diyaeddine Abzi, who spent four years at York United, plays a tough game and leads the league in yellow cards.
“They’re a team which likes to take advantage of the counter, especially when they’re playing against us, maybe concede a little bit playing without the ball,” Smyrniotis says of Supra. “They’re a very quick team, and they work at it.
“We’ll work with some things in our shape to make sure we’re better prepared for any counterattacks. The last game, we tied them and were thoroughly dominant in the performance, and there were a few moments when we made self-inflicted wounds that allowed them to score a goal and have another big opportunity. So, we need to eliminate that, be aggressive in their half of the pitch. Of course, when you lose the ball, you have to be prepared to go quick to get back.”
Forge’s Dmitry Bertaud picked up his league-leading 10th shutout over the weekend, and Forge has deepened its defence with the return of Rezart Rama from a three-game suspension, and the re-arrival of veteran centre-back Manjrekar James, who helped Forge win the 2023 CPL title.
“It’s great to have him in,” Smyrniotis said of James, with whom he has a long history dating back to Sigma Academy. “He’s got a presence in training in pushing players and encouraging players, and he’s a presence when he steps on the pitch. A great player to have in your locker room and an even better player to have on the pitch. It comes at a time when you always need extra spice.”
Saturday’s critical win over Ottawa provided some more of that spice in the play of Maxime Bourgeois, who was a threat all game, as Smyrniotis moved the Université de Sherbrooke grad up the pitch into a wider midfield position. He responded by scoring his first two goals as a professional, repeatedly penetrated the box and forced defender Roni Mbomio to clear his sure goal off the line.
Bourgeois’s goals were abetted by creative persistence from 20-year-old substitute Ismael Oketokoun, who brought a fleet, direct energy to the attack over the final 20 minutes, as the two Forge rookies helped fashion a different look to the attack. They were major contributors to 22 shots toward net, and while Hamilton didn’t score on any of their several first-half chances, they also didn’t concede as they’ve done in some of their recent losses and kept the pedal to the metal in the final third, resulting in three goals—and it could have been more. That’s a positive development leading into Supra, as the best antidote to a speedy counterattack is usually to keep the ball moving forward.
“Of course,” Smyrniotis agrees. “It’s one thing we’re always talking about: be aggressive to the opponent’s goal, make sure we’re putting shots at the opponent. It was another game—and we’ve had multiple of them this year—with over 20 shots at goal. You do that, and you’re going to score.
“It’s being vertical in the right moments and being aggressive about it. We tweaked some things tactically in our shape (against Ottawa) to emphasize those zones of the field, and we took advantage of it. It’s something we talk about each week, and we have to be better in those areas of the pitch, so it becomes very difficult for the opponent to defend. You’ve got to go out and execute.
“It’s just being more aggressive, and more adamant in how we attack. In the first half we had some excellent opportunities; obviously there was the one they pulled off the line. We kept at it in the second half with very good control on the ball and control off the ball. That’s also going to be key for us Tuesday night.”
Kyle Bekker, in full control of pace and the centre lanes, continued his return to form after his cancer treatment, scoring his first goal of the season when he took a perfect ball into the box from Hoce Massunda and professionally headed it home.
It was an emotional moment for the captain, his teammates and the knowledgeable Forge supporters.
“Here’s a guy who’s been working hard to get himself up to his usual standards and we’re seeing that week after week,” Smyrniotis said. “He’s a guy who always surprises us in a good way, and we’re seeing him come back to be the Kyle Bekker we’ve seen in the past. For him to get that goal was absolutely fantastic. It’s great for him, it’s great for the team and you could see it in the smiles on the whole team.”