Final Score: Forge FC 2-1 Cavalry FC (3-2 agg.)
Goalscorers: Choinière 69, Pacius 75′ (Pen.); Bevan 78′
Canadian Premier League Playoffs
Semifinal Leg 2

Match in a minute or less

Forge FC are headed to a fourth straight Canadian Premier League final after a dramatic victory over Cavalry FC 2-1 (3-2 on aggregate). The match saw both sides reduced to ten men after Kyle Bekker of Forge and David Norman Jr. of Cavalry were sent off in the first half.

David Choinière opened the scoring for Forge in the 69th minute, before Woobens Pacius doubled their lead from the spot six minutes later. Myer Bevan scored the lone goal for Cavalry.

The Hammers will now head to the nation’s capital, where they face regular season champions Atlético Ottawa in the 2022 Canadian Premier League final on Sunday, October 30 (6 p.m. ET).

Three Observations

Forge FC overcome sending off of captain Bekker to reach fourth straight final

A hush fell over Tim Hortons Field as the match official reached into his back pocket, and directed a red card at Forge captain Kyle Bekker. Despite carrying most of the play in the opening half, it was a moment that could have been a death knell for the Hammers’ season.

But as they have done many times before, Forge adjusted, overcame the difficult moment, and booked their spot in a fourth straight Canadian Premier League final. Reaching the league’s finale has become an expectation for the club at this point, and they have continually found ways to raise their level when the games matter most.

“I think it’s the least you can ask for all the time,” said Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis. “It is one thing we talk about at the beginning of the year, everyone says they want to win a championship. We know in sports it’s not an easy thing to do. You play your whole life, you can coach your whole life, and not be a part of it. But as a club it’s the least that we want, we want to be able to compete for trophies in any competition that we’re in.”

Forge attacker David Choinière admitted the sending-off was a difficult moment for his side, but they were able to quickly refocus and the scales were evened minutes later.

“Yeah, when we saw that it was a red card it wasn’t easy,” said Choinière. “We need to refocus, we need to stick together with a group because if you’re about to play eleven against ten for a half, it isn’t easy. Luckily we created a second yellow card for Norman and we got 10 against 10. That was lucky for us because we knew 10 against 10 on a massive field like that there’s gonna be space all over, and we made the most of it.”

Like his coach, he acknowledged that every team sets out at the start of the season looking to reach the final, but it is a testament to what Forge has built that they are able to continually deliver.

“To say it is one thing, but to do it is another thing,” he said. “Four in a row, it is massive for the club to honest, and now our head is to win it. Now we are there, it’s one game, we’re going to give all we have. We’ve been in situations like that, we’ve been in finals. We know what it’s going to be and just embrace that moment again and give everything we have.”

They head into the nation’s capital now with plenty of confidence, expecting a great atmosphere and ready for a big challenge against Atlético Ottawa.

“So far, we’ve played four games in Ottawa, we haven’t lost, so hopefully we can keep that tradition going,” said Smyrniotis. “I believe the more fans in the stadium the better, whether they are with you or against you. I think that always provides a great environment.”

Forge targeting right flank pays off with tremendous Choinière performance

In a match of fine details, Forge keyed in and worked to exploit one very quickly. Cavalry FC had decided to play David Norman Jr. as a fullback which, despite his quality, was not his natural position. The same could be said of José Escalante, who largely took over Norman’s left-back duties when he was sent off.

“There’s an obvious mismatch over there,” said Bobby Smyrniotis. “Norman is a good defender but on that side, on the left side between him and [Mason] Trafford, we knew we could expose him getting in behind. With both of them, we have seen that in games that we have played, so we wanted to stick with that.”

Forge consistently tried to move the ball down that flank, with 53.7 per cent of their attacks coming down the right, where a trio of Rezart Rama, Alessandro Hojabrpour, and David Choinière combined to cause all sorts of problems for the Cavalry backline.

Choinière, in particular, had plenty of success attacking those players. After the match, he spoke about the keys to recognizing and going up against players who are playing out of their natural position.

“To exploit my speed against them and find the right moment to go in behind and play against their weakness, I guess, and play with my strength,” said Choinière of his role in this match. “I think when I make movement, and I make the motion in behind, and the pass is right, I think it’s really dangerous. We tried to create a lot of situations like that today and have a forward mentality against them, and the more you go at them you are going to create chances and that’s what we did today.”

Choinière was incredibly direct in this position, attempting four dribbles, and winning two fouls during the match. It paid off in the 69th minute when he was played through down the right flank and beat Cavalry keeper Marco Carducci with an excellent finish across the face of goal.

“One thing is for sure, the spot where he scored from, he has that in his pocket, as we say,” said Smyrniotis. “It is something that he is excellent at in training, once that ball goes through that zone from Ale [Hojabrpour], which is a fantastic pass, the only thing I’m thinking about myself is picturing him in training and hitting that corner of that net. That’s what he has done.”

? @ForgeFCHamilton take the lead! David Choiniere once again provides a goal in a big moment for The Hammers#CanPL | ? @onesoccerpic.twitter.com/8WKK9h7Pge

— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) October 23, 2022

Cavalry FC play until the final whistle, but still can’t find playoff joy

They pushed until the final whistle, but Cavalry FC still were unable to pick up their first club playoff victory.

Like Forge, their game plan was thrown into chaos heading into the second half when Norman Jr. was sent off after receiving a second yellow card. But as the second half started, despite some solid moments of possession, they were unable to move the ball forward with enough frequency, as major gaps opened up between their backline and midfielders. They eventually addressed that later on in the half, but by that point the damage had already been done.

“We needed to be a bit more progressive with the ball, we were looking at making changes before the penalty,” said Wheeldon Jr. “Bringing on Roberto Alarcón, bringing on Charlie Trafford, bringing on Miki Cantave, bringing on Myer Bevan, and it all happened so quickly. If there is anything I should reflect on, it’s maybe I should have made those decisions a little bit earlier.

“It couldn’t stick, we couldn’t get it up to Joe [Mason] or Ali [Musse], and then build an attack from there. That is something that we can be better on, I loved the way we played for the last 20 minutes, and I wish we had come out like that second half. But it wasn’t, coulda, woulda, shoulda.”

Forge did an outstanding job of eliminating any time and space the focal points of Cavalry’s attack had on the ball. For his part, before he was removed for goalscorer Bevan, Mason had only 10 touches during his 68 minutes in the match. Musse didn’t have much more success, with only 36 over 90 minutes.

Despite the loss, Wheeldon Jr. said he was proud of his group and the fighting spirit they gave all season, despite another difficult ending to their story.

“I thanked them, I thanked them for the efforts,” he said. “Because no matter what’s thrown at us, we didn’t quit. We kept going. We could have played for another 90 minutes and the boys would have kept going.”

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

David Choinière, Forge FC

On the biggest of stages, David Choinière always seems to deliver. The Forge attacker scored the match’s critical opening goal and was a constant threat in behind that caused Cavalry all sorts of issues throughout the match.  

What’s next?

Forge FC are headed to the nation’s capital next Sunday, October 30 (6 p.m. ET) for an all-Ontario final with Atlético Ottawa. Cavalry, meanwhile, have been eliminated from the playoffs.

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