Final Score: Forge FC 2-1 Valour FC
Goalscorers: Borges 61′, Jensen 90′; Faria 65′
Game of the 2024 season: 11
CPL match: 495

Match in a minute or less

Forge FC remained perfect to begin the 2024 Canadian Premier League season on Saturday, as they won their third consecutive match, this time beating Valour FC 2-1 at Tim Hortons Field.

After a scoreless first half, Forge got themselves on the board around the hour mark as Daniel Parra fed the ball into the box for Tristan Borges, who wrapped it in at the right goalpost. Valour equalized less than five minutes later though, as Forge couldn’t fully clear a cross into their penalty area and Themi Antonoglou rolled it left for Jordan Faria, who hit the ball well with a curling strike that sailed in.

Valour thought they’d been spared a late defeat after Béni Badibanga missed a penalty kick that would’ve put Forge in front, but that wasn’t the final chance. As the clock ticked into the final moments of the 90, Forge found one last moment, as Amadou Koné stole the ball from Dante Campbell on the right and found fellow substitute Noah Jensen who opened his 2024 account emphatically and won it for the Hammers.

Three Observations

Forge FC remain kings of late goals as Jensen saves win from ‘wild’ game

Stop us if you’ve heard this before: Forge FC, perhaps not at their best for much of this game, came out of it with all three points thanks to a late goal.

It’s the second time they’ve done it this year, after beating Cavalry in their home opener. They did it in extra time of the CPL Final last October. Forge won four regular season matches last year on goals after the 75th minute, and salvaged four other draws for a 12-point overall swing thanks to late heroics.

“Our team has goals in it,” said late goalscorer Noah Jensen. “We’ll find a way to win whenever we get the opportunity; today it was me, but in the future it’s going to be one of the other guys. We just have that mentality about our group that we’re never going to just lay down and take a draw.”

Jensen and Amadou Koné, who assisted the late winner after winning the ball impressively on the wing, were evidence of Forge flexing their depth late in this game, with both players coming on as substitutes. Likewise, Kwasi Poku, Jordan Hamilton and Garven Metusala did well off the bench — the latter helping create the first goal with his long ball up to Daniel Parra.

Once again, Forge proved that they have a capacity like no other side in the CPL to find ways to get results. On the stats sheet, it might not look like they weren’t playing as well as they might’ve liked — 63 per cent possession, 14 shots to 12, and 1.82 expected goals — but they were threatened in transition repeatedly by Valour and gave the ball away much more cheaply than they would normally.

“It’s quite a wild game when you look at it,” head coach Bobby Smyrniotis said postmatch.

“If you look at the first half, we didn’t have a good match rhythm and match tempo. I like looking into the deeper-lying statistics and I think if we look at our metres per minute after todays game, I’m not going to be happy. In the second half I thought it was better, we did a little bit more getting ourselves forward, but at the same time in these matches, I think it’s 63 per cent possession; you could have 70 per cent possession, but if you’re not sharp in the moments you lose the ball, you will be punished and I don’t think we were sharp enough in the moments we lost the ball.”

Valour play bravely, attack with crosses in improved performance

Valour had stretches in their first two matches of the year where they caused problems for opposing sides, but they’d never looked quite as deliberate in their game plan as they did against Forge.

With a similar back five shape that they’d used in prior games, they were intent on removing wide opportunities for Forge, while creating their own chances from those areas via crosses into the penalty area.

Themi Antonoglou and Zachary Sukunda were the key drivers of the Valour strategy, as they played in seven and eight crosses, respectively. Valour’s 26 total crosses in the match is the seventh-most by any team in a CPL match since 2021.

The balls Antonoglou sent in from the left side, in particular, were extremely dangerous, as he created a game-high four chances — which does include his assist to Jordan Faria, which was a ground pass but the chance was originally created by a Sukunda cross. Antonoglou was also the main impetus for getting himself into areas to cross from, winning six of his seven duels.

Valour coach Phillip Dos Santos explained postmatch that his side’s with was indeed a major part of their discussions heading into the game, and should continue to develop as part of their identity this year.

“The last two games we were a little bit not pragmatic enough in the way we attacked,” Dos Santos said. “I felt that with the quality we have from wide areas, not utilizing it enough doesn’t serve us. We also have guys that have the ability to attack the box and get on the ball, and it showed that every time we would do that we would create a chance. It’s something we’ve been highlighting, not only for now; [goals] are scored from those positions. You need to get a ball in the box, you need to create; even if it’s not going your way, by volume you could get a goal or two, and a goal changes everything in the game. … I think it was an image of what this team could be like in the future”

The next steps for Valour as they continue honing their wide threat? First, they need the targets in the middle to be a little sharper at finishing those chances; Abdul Binate and Jordan Swibel did well to get into the right position for many of those crosses, but struggled to redirect them on net in a way that seriously tested Chris Kalongo.

Also, Valour are aware that their wingbacks getting forward in attack can leave them exposed at times; both of Forge’s goals also began with balls down the wide areas. It’s a high-risk, high-reward tactic, but it seems they might be en route to finding a winning strategy.

Forge defence proves up to the task with help from Kalongo

Last week against York United, the story was Forge’s front four, and how effective they were at carving up the York defence to create chances and score three goals. This week, the same attackers had their moments — Tristan Borges combined beautifully with his teammates for the first goal — but arguably more impressive from the Hamilton side was the work of their back four and goalkeeper.

To begin with Chris Kalongo, the 22-year-old ‘keeper has been thrust into a difficult situation this year as the new de facto starter with Triston Henry away from the team due to personal reasons. He did very well in the Concacaf Champions Cup against Guadalajara, and he had his first clean sheet for Forge last week against York United. This time, he was heavily tested by Valour, and made six saves, prompting Smyrniotis to call him “absolutely excellent” after the game.

Forge’s fullbacks were very impactful — Daniel Parra in particular, who continues to shine on the left side for Forge. He assisted the first goal and helped win the penalty, and proved to be a duel-winning machine along the left flank, battling with Sukunda on the right most of the game.

With how many balls Valour were sending into the box, Forge had to make sure they were organized in defending them. They made 21 total clearances — including four each for Parra, Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson and Garven Metusala — and won possession 52 times.

Even though the plan had to change at halftime, with Malik Owolabi-Belewu going down to injury, Metusala was outstanding in relief, even playing a gorgeous ball forward to Parra to create the Borges goal.

Ultimately, Smyrniotis might not have been happy with how often his side gave the ball away, or with how many times they let Antonoglou and Sukunda whip the ball in from the flanks, he was likely comfortable for the most part that his back four could weather the storm.

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Daniel Parra, Forge FC

The Mexican left-back feels like he might be a fixture in the Gatorade Team of the Week this year, with another outstanding performance. His perfect through ball drew the second-half penalty (although it was missed), and he assisted Borges’ opening goal. Parra finished with two chances created, 20 passes in the final third, and four clearances, also winning possession nine times and winning more duels than anybody else on the pitch with nine out of 14 attempts.

What’s next?

Both teams will begin their TELUS Canadian Championship journey this week, as Valour head on the road to play Atlético Ottawa and Forge take on York United at home, with both matches kicking off at 7 p.m. ET (6 p.m. CT) on Wednesday, May 1. Then, they’ll be back to league play, as Valour take on Ottawa again at TD Place on Sunday, May 5 (2 p.m. ET/1 p.m. CT), while Forge host Halifax Wanderers in their school day game on Tuesday, May 7 at 11 a.m. ET.

Watch all CPL and Canadian Championship 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.