Final Score: Forge FC 2-1 Cavalry FC (a.e.t)
Goalscorers: Badibagna 105+2′ , Borges 111′ ; Musse 101′
2023 CPL Playoffs
Final
Match in a minute or less
Forge FC are four-time Canadian Premier League playoff champions after stunning rivals Cavalry FC in extra time 2-1 in the 2023 CPL Final.
They became the first side to win a CPL Final at home, and also the first side to come from behind in a final to win. After the match remained scoreless through 90 minutes, Cavalry’s Ali Musse opened the scoring in the 101st minute with an outstanding strike that stunned the incredible crowd at Tim Hortons Field. Forge, however, equalized quickly through a brilliant moment of quality of their own as Béni Badibanga curled the ball past Marco Carducci in stoppage time of the first half of extra time.
Then in the 111th minute, Tristan Borges played hero for Forge. The year one member of the Hamilton side sent his corner kick directly past Carducci and into the back of the net in an outrageous Olimpico goal that was a moment undoubtedly deserving of winning a final.
Cavalry are now winless in their two CPL final appearances, both against Forge, having also lost in the two-legged final in the league’s inaugural season, 2019.
Three Observations
Forge FC win fourth CPL Final, make history in front of their home fans
Immediately after the final whistle had gone in Saturday’s match, Forge FC manager Bobby Smyrniotis took a moment to look around Tim Hortons Field and take in the incredible scenes in Hamilton.
Smyrniotis’s Forge have lifted a lot of silverware in the club’s five-year history as now four-time CPL playoff champions, but this was something new, getting to do so in front of the supporters in Hamilton who had been with them since they stepped on pitch for the league’s first-ever match on April 27, 2019.
“I love this place, I love everything it brings and just to see everyone here tonight and the energy they brought, it’s fantastic for our club, it’s fantastic for the league, and most importantly it’s fantastic for Canadian Soccer,” said Smyrniotis after the match.
It was a sentimental moment for a club that have undoubtedly made a habit of winning when it matters most. That sentiment was something that Smyrniotis invoked with his players prior to the match. At times this season, he has admitted his group lacked motivation considering how much they had accomplished in the past. But ahead of the biggest match of their season, they found that motivation in going back to where it all began.
In the Forge locker room before the match were pictures of them growing up, from when they were six years of age. Before they stepped on the field, each player was told to thank that young player for growing a love for the game, and promise them that they would go out on the pitch and give everything.
Invoking that memory of why they started playing the sport in the first place, they went out and delivered another moment of CPL history. On Saturday, they made new memories that will undoubtedly last a lifetime for them, and for all in attendance at Tim Hortons Field.
“These final games are always special one thing I’ve always said about them, I never watch them back, I keep that memory inside for me, and this memory I will have for a very, very long time,” said Smyrniotis.
CPL FINAL OLIMPICO ARE YOU KIDDING ME TRISTAN?@ForgeFCHamilton have the lead!#CanPL I 📺 @onesoccer pic.twitter.com/jlJn2dmlx1
— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) October 29, 2023
Forge get game-changing moments from a new face, and an old one in Badibanga and Borges
As a young footballer, when Béni Badibanga was playing for Standard Liège, he was preparing to play in a Belgian Cup final. He knew he had already been picked for the starting eleven for that match, but in the week prior to the final he took a tackle in training and suffered a broken foot.
Before Saturday, then, he had never played in a cup final. It is fair to say that when he finally got his opportunity, the 27-year-old from Belgium made it count. The attacker scored a stunning equalizer from just outside the box in extra time to equalize mere minutes after Cavalry had opened the scoring courtesy of Ali Musse.
Having signed in July, Badibanga was the most recent player that Forge brought into the fold. But he was brought in for exactly this reason.
“You bring in these types of players not only for the run of games but to make sure you’ve got them for the big games,” said Smyrniotis. “Big players win big games, Béni Badibanga is a fantastic player. On his bad day he can pop up and do something special and that’s important.”
With Badibanga equalizing, it was then a Forge original that provided the match’s decisive moment. Having scored in the league’s inaugural final against Cavalry, and winning the league’s Player of the Year in the 2019 season, this season was a difficult one for the now 25-year-old who was in and out of the lineup with injury and dips in form. For the first time in his career, he was on the bench to start a CPL Final, but when his number was called, Borges added another emphatic entry into the league’s history books.
“Tristan Borges, right before he goes in I basically told him go win us a [fourth] championship and he’s done it,” said Smyrniotis. “I don’t know if sometimes we see something or we just say it out of motivation but it is a fantastic thing that he’s done and he’s been an important player,” said Smyrniotis, later adding, “here he is with not his best season due to various injuries, and he’s brought another Championship to Forge.”
Sat next to Borges in the post match press conference, Badibanga echoed his coach’s thoughts. When Borges was introduced in the 68th minute, he felt like it could be a moment that changed the match.
“This is a big game player,” said Badibanga, motioning to Borges, “and when a big game player comes on the field, you feel it.”
To score an Olimpico is an incredible feat at the best of times, to do it in the dying moments of extra time in a final is something entirely different. It speaks to the kind of confidence and quality that Borges and his side have forged over their five-year history.
“When a team is used to winning, it’s like in the DNA you know,” said Badibanga. “It’s like when you look at Real Madrid even when they are down, they know that they are going to do something, and that’s why I choose this team. That’s what I miss in my game sometimes, and that’s why I was coming here to look for it.”
It's a CPL Final Badi-banger!
It's 1-1 in Hamilton after @ForgeFCHamilton equalize 🔨#CanPL I 📺 @onesoccer pic.twitter.com/BXoj9wRJfv
— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) October 29, 2023
Heartbreaking end to an outstanding season for Cavalry FC
As with just about anyone who watched the 2023 CPL Final, there was a sense that Cavalry FC’s Tommy Wheeldon Jr. and Charlie Trafford still couldn’t quite believe what had just happened as they sat in front of the press on Saturday night.
It was a match that in many ways saw Cavalry outplay their rivals Forge for 90 minutes, with the best chance during that stretch when Jesse Daley was denied brilliantly by Triston Henry. They then struck first in extra time with a bit of Ali Musse magic.
Instead of magic, however, Cavalry FC stood on the field at Tim Hortons Field after the final whistle with runners-up medals around their necks, largely feeling like they had been cursed.
“You can take a worldy, you can take one of them and go ‘that’s once in a lifetime’ and it’s a final,” said Wheeldon Jr. “Because I mean ours was a really good goal too, but then for two of them to happen, that’s just unicorn stuff isn’t it. But credit to Forge, they have it in them, they know how to win finals in the tightest of margins because I thought for the large part of it we were the better team.”
It was the first time that a team has opened the scoring in a CPL Final to lose. In fact, they are the first team to lose a CPL postseason at any stage after scoring the opening goal. They are now winless in seven playoff meetings against rivals Forge.
In a losing effort, Ali Musse was absolutely outstanding during a performance that showed why his peers voted him as the league’s best player this season. Musse was relentless down the right flank, creating chance after chance until he finally struck himself in the 101st minute.
But on the night it wasn’t enough to overcome a side that has always seemed to have their number in the postseason. A few times during his post-match press conference, veteran Cavalry midfielder Trafford just stopped and shook his head, not knowing what really to say about the match that had just transpired. Outstanding season or not for the 2023 regular season winners, this one is going to hurt for a while for a team that truly believed they had a historic double within their grasp.
“It stings for sure, there’s not many words right now, I think it’s still a bit shellshocked about it,” said Trafford. “We felt like our game plan worked perfectly, we went man for man in a lot of places, we fought, like I have to give so much credit like our brotherhood in there its so fun to play with these guys. There’s so much love in that locker room it’s unbelievable. This one hurts for sure.”
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Béni Badibanga, Forge FC
The Forge attacker was brought in to be a difference maker and in the biggest match of the season for his side he was undoubtedly that. Badibanga scored a crucial equalizer in the match, had three shots on target, created four chances and completed three of four dribbles.
What’s next?
This is the conclusion of the 2023 CPL season. However, both Forge and Cavalry will be back in action early next year in the Concacaf Champions Cup, which kicks off in February.
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