This is not danger lurking in the weeds; there’s nothing that subtle about it. The challenge is unmistakable and staring Forge FC right in the face.
The Hammers are coming off one of the most important games in franchise history—and there have been a lot of important games in this franchise’s history—on Wednesday when they walked right into Stade Saputo and pants-ed CF Montréal 2-1 to overcome an away-goal disadvantage, win their TELUS Canadian Championship quarter-final on a 3-2 aggregate, score their first (and second) goal ever in Montréal, survive a two-hour lightning delay and subsequently furious home team revival, win their first game against an MLS team, and demonstrate that even a higher-ranked league, bigger overall roster and massively fatter payroll aren’t always a match for character and team self-belief.
But after a couple of days walking on air, the Forge must suddenly find firm ground in Ottawa where on Saturday (3 p.m. OneSoccer) they will play Atlético, which leads the Canadian Premier League and is the only team in the CPL which has not lost a game.
This is a statement game for the refreshed Atlético, who haven’t played since they went onto Vancouver Island and blanked Pacific FC 1-0 eight days ago. They’re motivated by losing the league championship, including at home in the back leg, to Forge two years ago and by the conscious desire to show that they’ve not only made massive alterations in personnel but that the current standings accurately reflect that those changes were the right ones.
“It’s always a challenging one coming out of a mid-week game that is so important for the club, which needed a maximum effort,” head coach and sporting director Bobby Smyrniotis said Friday afternoon.
“It’s a quick turnaround, especially after a game that lasted five hours. The biggest thing is that guys get as much rest as possible. We usually do a good job of turning around from one opponent to another, whether that’s been high or low, and that’s key to this team. We went into the Montréal game off a loss (to Vancouver FC) in which we did a lot of good things and we have to have the same mentality (Saturday).
“We’re playing a team that is obviously well-rested and has prepared this week fully for this game. We’ve had half a day to prepare but we believe in what we do on the pitch and we’ll try and show that tomorrow.”
The 2-1 loss to Vancouver at Tim Hortons Field last Saturday dropped Forge to fourth place in a tightly contested upper half of the league table, four points behind Ottawa with a game in hand.
Ottawa scores more goals per game than any CPL team and intercepts the most passes. Conversely, the Forge leads the league in passing and has probably the most versatile defensive structure in the league as they have received excellent play from young goalkeeper Chris Kalongo — who arguably was the man of the match in Montréal—and fearless, self-sacrificing work from their defenders.
“It’s the maturity he has as a goalkeeper,” Smyrniotis says of the 22-year-old rebounding from a couple of miscues in the loss to Vancouver. “We’re not going to have perfect games each day. It’s how you perform consistently; it was a great sign for him in Montréal. He was absolutely excellent. Knockout matches, pressure situations, where you have to win to move on, are only good for his growth.”
Supported by Kalongo’s lightning-quick reflexes, Forge’s backline was the spine of the second-half resistance to a severe FC Montréal onslaught. Veteran team leader Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson is the physical and spiritual leader and is surrounded by the likes of Malik Olowabi-Belewu, who was the revelation of 2024 before he was injured (he’s now returned), versatile Daniel Parra, who’s approaching dominant status and cleared the ball nearly a dozen times in the second half, rugged veteran Dom Samuel and the emerging Malcolm Duncan, off whose foot both Forge goals in Montreal originated.
It was so rare to see the Forge have to recede for over 45 minutes–the long half-time delay and spectacularly altered pitch conditions influenced that– and let the game come so graphically at them with almost no serious possession time of their own. Smyrniotis said that the last time they had to fall back and let the other team fire like it was the shooting gallery at the Ex was in late September 2018. Mo Babouli had taken a red card in Panama after giving the visitors a 1-0 lead over Independiente who then unleashed barrage after barrage for the entire second half. But Forge FC won that one 2-0 to reach the Concacaf League quarter-finals.
Atlético, captured the regular-season title in 2022 but was defeated in the championship match by Forge, with the clincher right in Ottawa. But they missed the playoffs last season and have rebuilt significantly.
Most off-season reports and podcasts billed them as a Super Team, the first such assembled in this league. But if that’s the case you have to wonder what the nickname should be for a team like Forge which has won four of the first five CPL championships.
Ottawa is looking good so far, the only team to score a goal in every game this season, the only undefeated team and the only one to put the ball into the back of the Pacific FC net. They’ve won four and drawn two.
And there is no doubt that they’ve got some star power. They already had Ollie Bassett, the 2022 CPL player of the year and former Forge backfielder Maxime Tissot who’s got veteran experience. Fellow ex-Forger Johnny Grant unfortunately is out for the year with injury but he’s there to bring a winning-team aura to the room.
That sense is important in a league where the two most consistent teams, Forge and Cavalry FC, have repeatedly shown that experience, among young players and older, helps you weather a desperate storm. Frankly, Atletico could not weather that kind of storm two years ago in the final against Forge, whose history of international play and championship finals kept them successfully calm during any storm, and successfully stormy after that necessary calm.
So Atlético has added more than a dozen players and more than 300 games of CPL experience to its roster and has four players who’ve won or been finalists for primary league awards the past couple of years. Manny Aparicio, the two-player of the finalist, came east from Pacific FC, as did mid-fielder Amer Didić.
Abou Sissoko, the great dribbler who had two years and two championships with Forge after making his club debut in the memorable Concacaf Champions Cup series with Cruz Azul, also signed in the nation’s Capitol.
Former Montréal Impact player Balou Tabla, who had six goals for Ottawa two years ago has returned after being released from his contract in the second-level Turkish league, and left-back Matteo de Brienne, after two years with Valour FC, returns to his hometown. In Winnipeg, he was a finalist for last year’s CPL U-21 Player of the Year. Rayane Yesli, transferred in, also from Valour. He was a finalist for last year’s Golden Glove Award.
On the whole, those moves are working out so far, although we’re only a fifth of the way into the season. Ottawa leads the CPL in goal conversion and shots on target, Didić’s 374 passes are tops in the league—although Hamilton’s Malik Owolabi-Belewu is only one back and has played in half as many games —and Aparicio is tied atop the tackles table with 18 and is second in interceptions.
HAMMERS AND NAILS: During the long lightning delay in Montréal, OneSoccer analysts Gareth Wheeler and Jordan Wilson repeatedly praised Bobby Smyrniotis, suggesting he could have, and maybe should have, been named coach of the Canadian Men’s National Team.