Forge FC are going to the 2026 TELUS Canadian Championship Final, after defeating FC Supra du Québec 1-0 on Tuesday night to win their semifinal tie 2-1 on aggregate.
The Hamilton side will compete to become the first Canadian Premier League club to lift the Voyageurs' Cup in a championship showdown against either the Vancouver Whitecaps or CF Montréal on Wednesday, Oct. 21.
Coming into the game tied 1-1 on aggregate after the first leg in Laval, Que. two weeks ago, both sides knew they needed to hunt for a goal in this decisive match.
That arrived about 25 minutes in for Forge courtesy of Ben Paton, who hammered home the opening goal with his first touch of the contest.
The circumstances of Paton's substitution into the game did somewhat overshadow the first-half celebration, though.
Paton had entered the match in the 25th minute because just moments before, Kyle Bekker went down with an apparent knee injury. The Forge captain was immediately forced out of the match, prompting serious concern among teammates.
Forge head coach Bobby Smyrniotis said postmatch that Bekker will undergo an MRI on Wednesday morning, and that they'll "go from there."
Smyrniotis did offer his team praise for carrying on in the example set by their skipper.
"It's a little bit bittersweet," he said. "You work hard to be in a final, and then your captain goes down. But like I told the guys, we showed great fight on that field, and that represents who Kyle Bekker is. He fights through every situation, and that's what the guys kept on showing in the second half. Like we've talked about in these games, nobody gives you three points. Nobody says you'll get them next time. It's this time or no time, and that's what it comes down to."
Once the match resumed, Forge continued attacking, and they didn't need long; one minute and eight seconds after the ball was back in play, Paton arrived in the box at the perfect time to connect with a clever Maxime Bourgeois pass.
After falling behind, Supra looked for ways to increase the tempo and press for an equalizer, trying to catch Forge in transition with their pace, but the home side showed their experience in cup matches. They allowed Supra to possess the ball, but stayed rigid defensively and absorbed the pressure.
Ultimately, Forge managed to frustrate Supra's attack, keeping the likes of Loïc Kwemi and Ibrahim Condé isolated and well-marked up front.
The referee whistled an end to a relatively uneventful second half, and Forge secured their place in the final.
The victory marked a historic milestone for Forge, who qualified for their second final in this competition — and first in a full tournament.
"We've been close to getting to the final in the last four years, so it's great for the group," Smyrniotis said. "These games need a lot of courage from the players. You sometimes need to be different on the pitch to make sure you're the winner after 90 minutes, so I give them a lot of credit for that today."
The Hammers now await the winner of Wednesday night's semifinal between the Whitecaps and Montréal. That tie is also currently 1-1 on aggregate, so Forge will be keen to learn which Major League Soccer opponent will compete with them for the trophy.
It'll be the Hammers' first time in the CanChamp Final since 2022, when they contested the delayed 2020 Final against Toronto FC. That match, a special one-off contest to decide a winner after the full 2020 tournament was postponed due to Covid-19, saw TFC win on penalty kicks to lift the trophy despite a spirited effort from Forge.
Supra, meanwhile, bow out of the Canadian Championship with a sour taste in their mouths. Head coach Nick Razzaghi expressed frustration with some refereeing decisions, including a potential penalty kick late in the match that was not given despite an FVS review.
He pointed out that his team has played well in recent matches — he suggested they'd been the better team in nine of their last 10 games — but the results have not been coming.
On this particular occasion, Razzaghi gave credit to Forge's defensive block after taking the lead, explaining that his side had trouble breaking them down.
"That's what Forge is good at," Razzaghi said. "It's normal and it's understandable, beating a low block is the hardest thing to beat in the game."
Smyrniotis, seeing the match from the other side, added more context to his side's low block in the second half. He pointed out that Supra had played deep in previous meetings looking to spring counter-attacks, so Forge endeavoured to take those opportunities away.
"In the last two games we've played Supra, they've just sat back and hit us on the counter-attack, and with one chance, they're up in a game," Smyrniotis said. "It creates a little bit more space for us and balanced it."
FC Supra now look back to the Canadian Premier League, where they'll play two road matches in a row as they attempt to get back into the playoff picture.
