Bobby Smyrniotis, the Greek philosopher of Hamilton soccer, believes that in his sport “nothing is linear”, pointing to Tristan Borges’ career as a prime example.

And the thunder-footed winger who scored the most memorable home goal, so far, in Forge FC history tends to agree with his head coach.

“Everyone has their own path,” says Borges, who is already in his sixth full professional season—five with Hamilton—and is still only 25 years old.

“Obviously I’m still going, and still trying to create mine. There’s a lot of ups and downs, you just have to go through it.”

Borges has, pardon the pun, forged his own soccer journey and many of the lines on that map are curved. Of Portuguese descent, he grew up and still lives in Maple, just north of the stadium where Hamilton will play against York United FC Sunday afternoon. But after youth soccer in Vaughan and West Toronto, scoring a massive goal for Canada’s U-17s against Mexico at the 2015 Concacaf tournament, and a stint with Toronto FC’s Academy, he left home at the tender age of 16 and travelled –on his own—to the Netherlands where he played for three years with Heerenveen’s U-19s.

Then, he heard rumblings that the Canadian Premier League would soon get off the ground. So, through his agent Nick Mavromaras, he signed with semi-pro League1 Ontario’s Sigma, operated by Smyrniotis and his brother Costa, who would combine the next year to construct Forge, the league’s inaugural franchise.

“I knew that something special was being built here, but it was also for my own career,” Borges explains. “I’ve found I don’t get to be the best that I can be unless I’m happy. At that point, I’d spent a lot of years overseas alone and I think it was important for me to be happy and to compete well.

“It was more for me to kick-start my professional career. You make your decisions and I ended up having a good first year.”

A good first year? He’s vastly underselling himself.

Borges won the CPL’s first Golden Boot, leading the fledgling loop with 13 goals, and added five assists to tie for second in the set-up category. He was also named the league’s inaugural Player of the Year and Canadian U-21 Player of the Year and scored the only goal in Forge’s home 1-0 win in the first leg of the CPL championship final with Cavalry, which Hamilton clinched with a second 1-0 victory right in Calgary.

Then he established another CPL first, one of the most important financial milestones in the league’s early history. His agent arranged for a transfer—read, ‘sale’—to Belgian side OH Leuven for well over $300,000 (CDN). A crucial part of the economic model for all soccer teams, even the world’s most successful franchises, is to develop players for transfer fees. Forge reaped an unanticipated windfall several years earlier than even the most optimistic CPL timeline could have predicted.

And when he received only limited playing time in Belgium and was returned to Forge for the final two years of his contract, it was even sweeter for Hamilton because Leuven was paying his salary.

Borges re-signed with Forge in 2022 and has been on three of the four title teams, most memorably last December’s when his rare extra-time Olimpico—a corner kick which goes directly into the net—was the winner in the 2-1 comeback over Cavalry, in front of 13,925 hysterical home fans.

It was his second Olimpico, the first coming against HFX Wanderers as a rookie pro.

“The Olympico against Cavalry was obviously a big one, to win a championship,” he says “When I look back at the goal, I find that the most special thing was the joy I put on my teammates’ faces. And it was right in front of the Battalion. It was kind of a picture-perfect moment.

 “But a special goal to me was the one I scored with the Under-17 National Team because it was against Mexico,” Borges says. “Just because of the stage it was on and it being at the time the biggest goal I’ve scored and in the way, it kind of pushed my career forward.”

Smyrniotis is impressed with how well-travelled Borges is for a young player, particularly venturing overseas to develop in Holland, “something that’s never easy to do in a brand new country.

“He’s been through everything including the big transfer to Belgium. In football not everything is linear and he came back here to help us win more championships.

“I think this year is big for him to get back to what he was in 2022 and before.”

Smyrniotis is referring to a couple of debilitating injuries which limited Borges’ playing time and effectiveness last season but the attacker says he’s battled through those.

One of the smallest players on the team, Borges is renowned for one of the heaviest shots in the league. Smyrniotis compares it to golf, where huge distance can be generated through the technique of the swing and Borges agrees.

“Sometimes these left-footed guys have something special,” the coach says. “What he has is a mix of power and finesse, which means he can place the ball. Power is one thing but the ability to manipulate the ball to go into certain areas, is what I think what he does best.”

Indeed, Borges says he has worked incessantly on his ball-striking technique, studying the manner in which European players deliver shots with a locked ankle in all kinds of game situations, so that it has a knuckleball effect, weaving too unpredictably for a goalkeeper to judge accurately.

But he is equally attentive to the dribbling and passing skills which combine with his murderous kicks to play off each other, creating uncertainty in defenders. His goal last weekend involved all three of those elements, fortified by his ability to read a defensive situation.

“Since I was a kid I’ve loved to be on the ball rather than off the ball,” he says. “Obviously, as you get older you have to adapt to both things but to me, the most enjoyable thing is to be on the ball and create something special.”

On Sunday at York Lions Stadium, he’ll encounter something special in former teammate Mo Babouli, through whom York United’s offence flows, just as Forge’s once did.

With new ownership in the three Pasquel brothers from Mexico, York is committing resources to try to move out of the lower tier of the CPL rankings. They’ve brought in three players from the Mexican second division—Orlando Botello, Josue Martinez and Oswaldo Leon—are marketing the club more heavily and eventually hope to have a new stadium of their own. The Pasquels have deep roots in Mexican soccer, with various generations of family members owning or operating successful franchises and a father who was general secretary of the Mexican Football Federation. Their presence, in the wake of Atletico Madrid’s 2020 purchase of Ottawa signals that the soccer-power world has awakened to Canadian men’s domestic football.

“That there’s actually a professional club right where I’m from is crazy to see,” Borges says. “But we’re on the better side of it, of course. This is a Derby game so we know they’re going to play us tough.”

Borges says that he’s focusing on staying healthy and not contemplating anything beyond this season, although his versatile skill set could land him a transfer to a higher league.

“I try not to think about the future much,” he explains. “I used to, and it doesn’t allow you to be in the present. I try to deal just day by day and see what happens at the end of the year.

“I’m a very simple person,99 percent of my life is footy. I’m another footballer who’s trying to do the best he can and make a living out of it and understanding that it’s a blessing to be doing what we’re doing.”