Final Score: Forge FC 3-1 York United
Goalscorers: Hamilton 8′ 39′, Choinière 17′; Martínez 87′
2024 TELUS Canadian Championship —  Preliminary Round

Match in a minute or less

Forge FC were dominant in the first 905 Derby in the Canadian Championship, defeating rivals York United 3-1 in a preliminary round matchup on Wednesday night at Tim Hortons Field.

In his first start of the season, Jordan Hamilton scored a brace, with a lovely strike from David Choinière sandwiched in between. York United added a late consolation goal from substitute Josué Martínez.

This is the first time in club history that York United have been eliminated in their opening match of the competition. Forge, meanwhile, advance to the quarter-finals where they will meet MLS side CF Montréal.

Three Observations

Forge FC get fourth crack at CF Montréal in the CanChamp quarters

For the fourth consecutive year, Forge FC has advanced in the Canadian Championship, and for the fourth consecutive year, they will face CF Montréal.

This time it will be over two legs in the quarter-final round, which will bring a new wrinkle to this budding rivalry. Forge came painfully close to defeating Montréal during the 2021 competition, losing on penalty kicks in the semifinal at Tim Hortons Field.

“Something about this competition and us playing each other,” said Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis with a grin. “We keep on going at it each and every year. This one is a little bit different with the two legs, so it also sets up a little bit differently in how we’ve got to look at it.”

Forge still have never defeated an MLS side, also losing to Toronto FC in penalties during the 2020 Canadian Championship final at Tim Hortons Field. They will be desperate to check that objective off their list, and given the history, there is likely no club they would rather beat than Montréal.

It was a lethal and clinical performance from Forge on Wednesday against York that punched their ticket, as they had four shots on net, with 1.75 expected goals and scored three of them. Thus far this year they have scored 10 goals in all competitions on 5.73 expected goals, showing just how clinical they have been in front of goal.

Forge will need much of the same against CF Montréal in the quarter-finals. Forge have yet to score a goal against the Québec MLS club in their three previous meetings.

Forge did also perhaps invite York back into the game a little bit too much in the late going, allowing ten shot attempts in the final half hour of the match, eventually resulting in Josué Martinez scoring a late consolation goal for the Nine Stripes.

“We’ve been playing some good football, we just want to get better each and every game,” said Smyrniotis. “Right now we are doing it in 45, 60, 65 [minutes] and sometimes it is enough based on the score. You just want to make sure you’re a little bit more consistent throughout the 90 minutes, there’s always room for improvement.

Jordan Hamilton adds another option for already outstanding Forge attack

As if Forge needed more weapons in their already lethal attack it took Jordan Hamilton just eight minutes into his first start of the season to find the back of the net. He got onto the end of a lovely Tristan Borges cross and lofted his header over York’s Thomas Vincensini, who had come out of his net in an attempt to claim the ball.

Hamilton added to his tally in the 40th minute, reacting first to a Borges strike that had hit the post. It was Hamilton’s first multi-goal match since joining Forge.  Given that Terran Campbell has yet to find the back of the net this season, this could be the opening Hamilton needed to get a bit of a run out in the starting lineup. The 28-year-old got into good positions throughout his 69 minutes on the pitch — finishing with 3 big chances.

“It’s been a long time coming, just looking to build on it for the year,” said Hamilton after the match.

Hamilton has a storied history of success in this competition. The striker lifted the Voyageurs Cup three times as a player with Toronto FC, and won the Canadian Championship Golden Boot during the 2016 tournament.

Behind him, Forge’s attacking triumvirate of Borges, Béni Badibanga and David Choinière continues to play at an outstanding and entertaining brand of football. The Hamilton side’s second came from a brilliant flowing movement that involved all four members of the Forge frontline.

Borges clipped the ball over the top to Badibanga, who backheeled it to Hamilton. Hamilton shifted the ball to Borges at the top of the box, who faked a shot before squaring to Choinière. The winger ripped a shot off the crossbar and into the back of the net for one of the nicest team goals scored by a CPL club thus far this season.

GOAL 🔨🔨

David Choiniere makes it 2-0 for @ForgeFCHamilton vs. @YorkUtdFC in this 2024 TELUS #CanChamp clash, with Tristan Borges playing provider once more for this crossbar-and-down finish 😎

🔴 Watch LIVE on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/038UVhs9vd

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 1, 2024

After being named the CPL’s Player of the Month for April, Borges put in another outstanding shift on Wednesday, picking up two assists. He also completed three dribbles and was fouled three times as York struggled to contain him.

The club still has more in the waiting, as off-season signing Nana Opoku Ampomah has yet to make his debut. The club are still waiting on his work visa, as well as that of Elimane Cissé, a situation they expect to be resolved soon.

York United with more soulsearching to do after another lopsided loss to rivals Forge

For the first time in club history in the Canadian Championship, York United lost to a Canadian Premier League side as rivals Forge FC. It is the second time the club has lost to the 905 Derby rivals by a lopsided score in the past few weeks after falling 3-0 in the league on April 21, and will be another difficult lesson.

“We made bad decisions and they punished us,” said York United head coach Martin Nash. “I think they had three shots, four shots on target and scored three. They have a tonne of quality and they punished us every chance they got.”

Despite lining up in the same 4-4-2 formation that they deployed to great success against Vancouver FC on Friday, York struggled to properly mark Forge’s fluid group of attackers and were ultimately made to pay early and often. They were down 3-0 after the first 40 minutes.

If there is one positive for York it is that having gone down they did show fighting spirit in the second half, something that they did not really do in the first meeting against Forge this campaign. Josué Martinez scored the first goal for the club after York did a good job of bombarding the Forge box with multiple dangerous crosses in the second half.

After the high of a 3-0 victory over Vancouver FC on Friday night, however, it was a sobering result on Wednesday.

“I think for us it’s just a case of managing inconsistencies,” said York United midfielder Elijah Adekugbe. “I think the only positive from the game Josué got his first goal for the club. Second half we won, which again means nothing but after the first half performance going down 3-0, to come back and at least have a go, have an effort, rebound, get the goal, and keep going and try, I think that’s the only positive. But I think the negative is still that it takes us going down 3-0 before we have that reaction…ultimately, we are out of this competition, but we still have 20-something games in this league and that’s on us to correct.”

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Jordan Hamilton, Forge FC

With his first multi-goal game in a Forge kit, Hamilton made a case to get more starting opportunities showing strong composure and finishing in front of the net.

Box score

Lineups

Forge FC: Kalongo; Duncan, Metusala (Samuel 69′), Achinioti-Jönsson, Parra; Hojabrpour, Bekker (Jensen 74′); Choinière, Borges (Kane 88′), Badibanga (Koné 74′); Hamilton (Poku 69′)

York United: Vincensini; Córdova, Sturing, Abatneh (Higgins 45′), Botello; Ferrari (Martínez 60′), Adekugbe, Soumaoro (Baldisimo 71′), Babouli (Salanović 71′); Ricci (Bayiha 60′), Wright 

Goals

8′ — Jordan Hamilton (Forge FC)
17′ — David Choinière (Forge FC)
39′ — Jordan Hamilton (Forge FC)

Discipline

26′ — Yellow: Elijah Adekugbe (York United)
29′ — Yellow: Max Ferrari (York United)
32′ — Yellow: Daniel Parra (Forge FC)
61′ — Yellow: Béni Badibanga (Forge FC)
70′ — Yellow: Frank Sturing (York United)
90+4′ — Yellow: Juan Córdova (York United)

What’s next?

Forge FC advance to take on CF Montréal in a two-legged quarter-final. At the time of writing, the dates and times have not been confirmed.

York United are back in action in the Canadian Premier League next on Saturday, May 4 as they travel out west to take on Pacific FC at Starlight Stadium (7:00 p.m. ET).

Watch all CPL matches live on OneSoccer. In addition to its website and app, OneSoccer is now available on TELUS channel 980 and on Fubo TV. Call your local cable provider to ask for OneSoccer today.