PREVIEW: Pacific FC vs. Forge FC | Oct. 25, 2026

Days after making history, Forge head to Vancouver Island with their eyes on lifting another trophy.

After beating CF Montréal midweek in the Canadian Championship final, becoming the first Canadian Premier League team to win the Voyageurs Cup in the process, Forge now turns their attention back to CPL play this weekend. 

There, they head into their matchup against Pacific at Royal Athletic Park knowing that they could secure a third consecutive CPL Shield as regular season champions, as the race for top spot has come down to this final matchday of the season. 

Forge's fate isn't fully in their own hands, as they need to have a better result than Cavalry, who they're tied with in the standings, given that Cavalry holds all of the relevant tiebreakers. With Cavalry at home against Vancouver FC, many will expect Cavalry, who have won 10 and drawn three of the 13 league games they've played at ATCO Field this year, to pick up another positive result given what's at stake for them.

At the same time, Forge will relish the opportunity to disrupt what many expected would be a routine Cavalry trophy lift for months. For many weeks, it had seemed Cavalry would cruise to the Shield, but a recent run of two defeats and one draw opened the door for Forge, who have won their last three games (including a 3-0 victory over this Pacific side) to slide back into the picture, which will fill them with confidence heading into this matchup. 

All season long, Forge have dreamed of being able to pull off an unlikely treble, and they'll want to do everything in their power to keep that option on the table now that they've arguably secured the most difficult of the three trophies they had their eyes on lifting.  

"Obviously, there's a fantastic vibe and mood in the group," Forge FC head coach, Bobby Smyrniotis, said this week. "We did something on Wednesday night that we were looking forward to as a club, and the players gave their everything to do it."

"It's a fantastic feeling; it energizes you and helps you with everything that you have going forward, which is our match on Sunday, and that game allows us to finish off the season strong and do our part and do our best to get those three points and see where things finish off from there."

Standing in Forge's way, however, is a Pacific side with nothing to lose. Sitting in eighth place, Pacific have long known that they weren't going to have playoff dreams this fall, as their focus has shifted to rebuilding their team structure and turning their attention towards next year. 

Ever since the arrival of head coach Terry Dunfield this summer, Pacific have spent a lot of time rebuilding their culture on and off the pitch, as they look to return to past heights as a club. 

While the results have been mixed for them, especially as of late - they enter this match having lost their last four games - the performances have certainly improved, which is a silver lining for them. 

For example, while a 4-2 defeat away to Cavalry last week might've seemed frustrating from the outside, Pacific will take solace in the fact that they pushed a top team to the limit, and would love to do the same against Forge - with the only difference being that they would love to finish this game on top. 

While they know that they're condemned to an eighth-place finish, they'd love to be able to deny Forge the chance to lift the Shield on their pitch, and give something for their fans to celebrate instead. 

With the history between these two clubs, which stems back to when Pacific defeated Forge in Hamilton to lift the North Star Cup in 2021, you know that Pacific won't be eager to roll out the red carpet for Forge despite their big accomplishment this week. 

"One of our goals when I came in 16 weeks ago was to take out a top three team, and I think we've got an opportunity to do that again," Pacific FC head coach, Terry Dunfield said of this matchup.

Because of that, it's expected that this game is a lot more competitive than one would typically expect of a matchup between two teams at opposite sides of the table at this stage of the campaign.

NEWS & NOTES

• Forge defeated CF Montréal 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw in the 2026 Canadian Championship final on Wednesday at Stade Saputo, becoming the first CPL team to lift the Voyageurs Cup. 
• Pacific's Roshawn Juhmi and Juan Quintana are both unavailable due to yellow-card accumulation suspensions. 
• Longtime Pacific FC captain Josh Heard announced his retirement from professional soccer this week. 
• Forge striker Lucas Cavallini is unlikely to be available for this match after being substituted in the first half of the Canadian Championship final with a hamstring injury.

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

Pacific FC: Himaras; Chung, Konincks, Marshall, Greco-Taylor; Gomulka, Lagerfeldt; Bustos, Daniels, Vales; Kratt

Forge FC: Bertaud; Rama, Nimick, James, Jeveremović; Jensen, Aromatario, Borges; Massunda, Oketokoun, Sadek

KEY QUOTES

"If you take a step back to go forward, when I came in, I came to a club full of legacy and history, winning, developing players, with an incredible fan base and a great stadium. That's all been a little bit neglected over the past couple of seasons, and results-wise, that was really highlighted. Coming in, I thought it was important to just bring life to the project, bring the team together, have a clear identity and a brand, and quite quickly performances and results have started to come, and expectations are now high." - Pacific FC head coach Terry Dunfield

"It's been a whole journey. I'm incredibly proud and just honestly mostly just grateful for everything that's going on. It's been cool being here on the Island. Every time I step out on the pitch, I get to play in front of my parents, old friends that I grew up with, teachers, coaches, week after week, and that's like a part of football's journey that not everybody gets, so it's been super special. " - Pacific FC captain Josh Heard

"Before the game, sometimes I ask them to go back to their nine-year-old self, you know, and what does their nine-year-old self love to do at the park? They love being the winner. They love scoring goals. They love not losing the ball, and they love celebrating. We've all celebrated the imaginary trophy. And that next morning (after the Canadian Championship final), that's what I saw — I saw the nine-year-old versions of them being humble and just loving the moment. Then, right after that, you just think to yourself, okay, guys, make sure we're hydrated well for the next few days, too." - Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis