Preposterously frequent, always high-spirited, usually physical and often bitter.
Daniel Parra says he’s ready. So bring it on.
Forge FC’s left fullback has never played against Cavalry FC but he knows all about the most intense rivalry in the Canadian Premier League. His teammates have Hammered that into him.
Daniel Parra Signs With Forge FC
“I’m prepared,” said the 24-year-old Mexican, on loan from CF Monterrey. “I know this is a tough and very aggressive league. I know to expect that from them and they can expect that from us.
“I know Cavalry and Forge are the biggest teams in Canada, who every year fight for the championship. Fortunately for us, Forge has had success every time.”
Including last year’s North Star Cup final which the Forge came back to win 2-1 in what was arguably – after the Argentina-France World Cup—the greatest championship overtime ever played. It was Hamilton’s fourth CPL title in five years, and they lost in the final of the other one. Two of those titles, 2023’s thriller and the inaugural 2019 crown, came against Calgary-based Cavalry.
A Gold Standard rivalry? Aim a bit higher, please. This is at least Platinum.
And look who’s back in town for yet another rematch in the opening dance of the CPL’s much-anticipated sixth season.
Forge FC Home Opener: 2023 Medal Giveaway
On Saturday, Forge and Cavalry will meet for the 27th time across all competitions. It behooves us to remind everyone that this league has played only five seasons, one of them severely abbreviated by the pandemic bubble.
In the previous 26 games, Hamilton has won 12, lost seven and drawn another seven but have outscored Calgary by just four goals. But they’ve out-titled them 4-0.
Calgary, however, won two of last-year’s regular season head-to-heads, tying the other, and captured the first CPL Shield as regular-season champions, with its accompanying berth in the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup.
“That’s crazy,” says Cavalry head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. “26 games! A quarter-century!
“That frequency creates something. I think we bring the best –and sometimes the worst—out of each other. That’s what rivalries do; but I think it’s a respectful rivalry because, one way or the other, if you’re coming through the league you have to go through us and if you’re coming through the playoffs you have to come through Forge. We’ve raised the bar for all the other clubs, who say, ‘All right those two are the standard and we need to get to that.’”
For a little context here, we examined a trio of other well-known footy rivalries.
True, because it’s an eight-team league CPL sides usually play each other more often than most teams across the world face repeated opponents.
During the 16 months that made up the 2019-20 seasons Forge and Cavalry had already had met 12 times. In that same period, Manchester United played Manchester City just six times across all competitions; Inter Milan and A.C. Milan had only four fixtures in their antagonistic Derby della Madonina; and Toronto FC met Trillium Cup rivals Columbus Crew a mere three times.
In the five years since both Forge and Cavalry were born, and played the 26 times, the Milan sides have gone at it 16 times, City and United 15 times and Crew-TFC 10 times.
Additionally, of the 26 games between Calgary and Hamilton just two have been decided by more than a single goal, a 3-0 Cavalry win and a 2-0 Forge victory. Stunningly, Forge won their final five meetings of 2019 against Cavalry all by 1-0 scores.
“Take away the first couple of years when there were all kinds of antics and different things going on, there have been really good football matches between us,” says Forge Head Coach and Sporting Director Bobby Smyrniotis. “They are good, aggressive matches between two teams that obviously want to win.
“In all honesty, to me it’s just another game but it’s another game that most times is played at a better pace, a pace that I like.
“Here, we have created a model and try to bring in players—like Daniel Parra—who fit into that model.”
Parra came to the attention of Forge and director of soccer operations Jelani Smith during the off-season and they soon decided to focus upon signing him. He’s loaned here for a year, with a team option for a second year, and Forge leaders think they might have made a massive steal.
Parra shone in four training camp friendlies against Mexican opposition and his relentless speed at attacking loose balls and transitioning immediately to offence is a reflection of the overall game played in Mexico’s Liga MX, which Smyrniotis calls one of the most exciting and entertaining leagues to watch on the entire globe.
“They press, they attack and the players’ energy level is great,” he says. “Those are a lot of the qualities we see with Parra. We need more of that quality; he is a guy who fits into or style perfectly. He’s a player who is comfortable on the ball, good defensively, good moving forward, can play wide, can tuck in and really can do things in that left back role that say, Kwame (Awuah) did for us in the first three years. It brings a more versatile player with experience to our squad and to our league. He’s a player who fits the style of play we have and has a very good background—not from what club he comes from but from the games he’s played in a tough league.”
Parra has played 38 Liga MX games for Monterrey, and another 72 for its youth program teams. He made his first-club debut in 2017 at the age of 17, and in his first full senior season was on Monterrey’s 2019 Champions Cup and Copa MX winners, playing the second half in the Cup semi-final victory over Cruz Azul, a squad Forge fans should remember well.
But knee injuries, a torn ACL in one leg, cartilage problems in the other, kept him off the game roster for nearly a year and a half. With little playing time available – “our two left backs were also the two National Team left backs”—Monterrey loaned him for six months to second-level Necaxa then another six months to Morelia where he led the team in goals despite playing on the back line.
He returned to play in Monterrey but after last season the club asked if he’d like to come to the CPL.
“I knew about Forge because I’d see them in the Champions Cup,” he said. “I came here to get minutes. I want to play more and I want international experience and I can do that with Forge. I want to grow in all ways as a player and as a person. It’s a challenge for me, I want to experience life in another country, and be part of the growing of the league.”
Parra says that in Mexico, for the most part, teams like to take the ball and defend with the ball and has noticed from film and training sessions that the CPL tends to be a little more aggressive, and more physical.
“I think that if I can do that, with my Mexican style I can really enjoy it here.
“I like to fight for every ball. I like to attack a lot. I enjoy to play with the ball and when I don’t have it I like to be aggressive. My first work on the field is always defence.”
He knows that Saturday will be his one chance for any element of surprise against Cavalry, because “it will always be tougher after that. You need to be different in each match, because it’s an interesting league, playing teams four times a year.
“But in my whole life I’ve never played any team 26 times.”