Next up for Forge FC in the 2020 Concacaf League? Panama’s Tauro FC.

The CPL Champions are in Panama City to face off against Tauro on Tuesday (8:00 p.m. ET/TSN3, TSN5) with a win giving Forge two chances to qualify for the Concacaf Champions League in 2021.

A regular in North America’s club competition circuit, Tauro earned a bye to the round of 16 of this year’s Concacaf League. Forge, if you recall, beat Club Deportivo Municipal Limeño in the preliminary round in El Salvador last month to earn a round of 16 berth for the second year running.

In 2019, Forge faced Honduran juggernaut Olimpia at this stage. This year’s opponent in the round of 16 is of similar stature…

BROADCAST ALERT: Forge FC vs. FC Tauro, Tuesday Nov. 3 at 8pm ET on TSN3 & TSN5

Domestic success

Simply put, Tauro is the most successful club in Panama.

Founded in 1984, Tauro has won a record 13 Panamanian league titles, and has finished runners-up on eight occasions.

The side last won the Apertura in 2018 and recently have traded titles with C.A. Independiente – a team you may remember for knocking out Toronto FC of the 2019 Concacaf Champions League.

Concacaf League runs

Tauro has competed in the newly-introduced Concacaf League for the past two seasons.

Last year, the Panamanian side actually faltered at the round of 16 stage – dropping a 2-1 decision to Alianza of El Salvador over two legs.

That followed up a modestly-successful inaugural campaign in Concacaf’s second club competition in 2018 – the same year of an impressive Champions League run we’ll mention later – when Los Toros de Pedregal made it to the semifinals before falling to Honduran giants Motagua 3-2. By then, only the Concacaf League winner qualified for the Champions League.

Perhaps that’s where Panamanian club football sits: just below Honduran giants such as Olimpia, but above the level of Salvadoran outfits such as Municipal Limeño. But, as we’ve seen, Tauro and Independiente have a knack for upsets.

Champions League upsets

Tauro has appeared six times in the Concacaf Champions League since it was revamped in 2008, becoming a tournament regular in the early part of the last decade. The Bullfighters never advanced from the four-team group stages, including in 2011-12 when they fell to Toronto FC twice – 2-1 and 1-0 – before the Canadian side made a run to the tournament’s semifinals.

In more recent times, Tauro shocked FC Dallas in 2018, taking the first-round tie on away goals. Current striker Edwin Aguilar scored in both matches and made Tauro the third Panamanian side to reach the quarter-final stage since 2010, though no club has managed to advance past that point.