An inch lower, and it would have been a perfect penalty.
Kwasi Poku leaned back and lofted a strike over Toronto FC goalkeeper Quentin Westberg that pinged off the underside of the crossbar before deflecting downward. It bounced directly off the goal line and away from the net.
Poku put his hands to his face in disbelief. Westberg scrambled to his feet and exuberantly pumped his fists. Toronto FC had just defeated Forge on penalties to win the 2020 Canadian Championship, played on June 4, 2022, due to Covid-19 postponement.
That's as close as a Canadian Premier League side has come to winning the TELUS Canadian Championship. Vancouver FC made the final last year, but lost 4-2 to a dynastic Vancouver Whitecaps side at BC Place.
On Wednesday night, at Stade Saputo in Montréal (7 p.m. ET, OneSoccer, TSN & RDS), Forge get another shot at making history. This time, they come in full of confidence, experience and quality.
Quite simply, Wednesday is the best opportunity a Canadian Premier League side has ever had to lift the Voyageurs Cup.
When Forge hosted Toronto FC in the 2020 Canadian Championship final, they had never before defeated an MLS opponent. That was the case as well for Vancouver FC ahead of last year's final.
Since then, they beat CF Montréal at Stade Saputo in 2024 and eliminated them again on aggregate last year. They know they are more than capable of doing it again as they face CF Montréal in a sixth straight edition of the Canadian Championship, with by far the highest stakes yet.
Many members of this Forge side have experienced it all. A select few were there the last time they played in a Canadian Championship final: Rezart Rama, Tristan Borges, Noah Jensen and, of course, manager Bobby Smyrniotis.
But there is an added experience to the club this year. Dimitry Bertaud and Antoine Batisse have played in plenty of high-stakes matches in France. Recent recruits Lucas Cavallini and Levonte Johnson won Canadian Championship titles with the Vancouver Whitecaps, while Manjrekar James has spent over a decade playing at the highest level, including in the UEFA Champions League.
Plus, there is added motivation this year. During this second leg of their semifinal, club captain and legend Kyle Bekker suffered a season-ending ACL injury. It turned out to be his final competitive moment as he announced his retirement a few weeks later. As he walked off the pitch, his replacement, Ben Paton, scored the winner.
Bekker scored the decisive goal in last year's Canadian Championship victory over CF Montréal. While he will be hugely missed on the pitch on Wednesday, his legacy and leadership remain central to this team's ability to rise to the occasion in one of their biggest matches in club history.
If there was ever a rallying cry for this Forge club, it would be to win this competition for their captain, the one domestic trophy he has yet to lift in his incredible CPL career, where he hoisted six others.
Forge are battle-ready as well. An intense CPL Shield race has them playing some of their best football of the season over the past few weeks. They have scored 13 goals in their past four matches, winning the past three. CF Montréal have scored just 12 goals in their past 12 matches in all competitions, winning just twice.
But it's the defensive side of the ball that has been the true difference maker for Forge in particular, and in typically cagey final matches, that could be huge.
In particular, their defensive record away from home is superb. In CPL action, they've allowed just 12 goals in 13 road matches. In 16 road matches this year in all competitions, they've allowed more than a single goal against on the road just three times. A 4-1 loss to Tigres UANL at El Volcán is the only time they've conceded more than two goals in a match away from home.
Whether or not any of this makes Forge favourites heading into Wednesday's finale is another conversation. CF Montréal are at home, have a far more expensive squad, and beat four-time defending Canadian Champions the Vancouver Whitecaps over two legs in the semifinal. Their entire season is on the line on Wednesday, with MLS playoff hopes having long since disappeared.
But as a Canadian Premier League team plays in the national final for a third time in eight years, there is plenty of reason to think that Forge can rise to the occasion and win it all.
