Every club in the Canadian Premier League starts each season with the express goal of lifting the North Star Shield. Forge FC have shown an incredible ability to make that vision a reality year in and year out.
They have played in each of the league’s three previous finals, winning the first two before falling to Pacific FC 1-0 at home in 2021. On Sunday, they will play in their fourth, on the road at TD Place Stadium against regular season title winners Atlético Ottawa.
Forge finished second in the table this season, just two points behind Ottawa. However, they finished with the best goal difference in the league by a significant margin, +22, and are yet to lose in the nation’s capital in their history. This includes a stunning 4-0 win over Atleti back on July 31.
RELATED: MATCH PREVIEW: Atlético Ottawa vs. Forge FC — 2022 CPL Final
Here are three reasons why Forge FC could win the 2022 CPL Final:
1. Experience, experience, experience
They’ve been here before. Not just ‘here’ as Forge FC enter their fourth consecutive Canadian Premier League final against a fourth different opponent. Earlier this year, they were at the Estadio Azteca to take on Cruz Azul in the Concacaf Champions League. In June, they hosted Toronto FC in the 2020 Canadian Championship Final.
The 2022 Canadian Premier League Final will be the 32nd knockout match that Forge has played over the past four years between the CPL Playoffs, the Canadian Championship and Continental competition. That wealth of experience means they certainly won’t be overwhelmed by the occasion on Sunday.
“Experience pays a lot at the end of the day, being in three finals already, playing in those Champions League games, you can’t recreate those situations,” said Forge attacker David Choinière. “In training, you can’t train for those games, you’ve got to live it to really experience it and learn from it.”
This time last year, Forge was actually down in Honduras the week of the final, playing a Concacaf League semifinal match against Motagua. Nobody knows exactly whether last year’s final would have turned out differently if Forge didn’t have to experience the mental and physical challenge of the travel and being eliminated from that competition days before competing in the CPL final.
This year, with no Concacaf League, they have had a pretty singular focus: lifting their third North Star Shield. Over the course of their history as a club, when Forge have set something as a target, more often than not they have gone out and made it happen.
2. Depth and Tactical flexibility
There is no question that the loss of club captain, 2020 CPL Player of the Year, and the league’s first centurion Kyle Bekker will be a significant one for Forge FC. But if there is any club with the depth and talent to overcome such an important player being suspended for the final it is Forge.
Bekker, after all, is one of six Forge players to hit 100 appearances for a CPL club this season, as Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson, Terran Campbell, Dom Samuel, David Choinière and Triston Henry also reached that milestone. The league’s 2019 Player of the Year, Tristan Borges, isn’t far off the mark either at 95.
RELATED: ‘A surreal feeling’: Semifinal super-sub Verhoven reflects on growth at Atlético Ottawa || Last year’s CPL Final hero, Forge FC’s Hojabrpour to play a big role again in 2022
The club was also given a big boost by the return of Daniel Krutzen during the second leg of the semifinal. The experienced central defender is considered one of the league’s best, and will certainly help Forge deal with Ottawa’s attacking weapons.
The fact that Forge were missing Krutzen, not to mention Dom Samuel and several other key defenders, for large parts of the season and still finished with the league’s best defensive record is further proof of their incredible depth of talent and flexibility. Defender of the Year nominee Achinioti-Jönsson, who prior to this year mostly played as a central midfielder, has done brilliantly since stepping into his new role.
The Swede is somewhat emblematic of the immense tactical flexibility that Bobby Smyrniotis has created at Forge. Most of their players have the ability to play in multiple positions, often even during the same match.
While it all comes within the framework of the club’s modus operandi of controlling possession and the tempo of the match, the flexibility and tactical knowledge of his side have given Bobby Smyrniotis the ability to quickly and effectively tailor his game plan to any weakness that the opposition might present.
3. Forge’s big attackers have elevated their games for playoffs
Coming into this year’s postseason, there was reason to be somewhat skeptical about Forge FC’s chances of reaching another final, let alone winning.
They finished the season with just three wins in their final 11 matches of the season, all of which came at home. The team with the league’s best goal difference during the regular season was also outscored 11 to 9 during that difficult stretch.
But great teams are able to raise their levels when the matches matter most, and that starts with their key difference makers. For Forge, this past Sunday’s 2-1 win over Cavalry saw Choinière deliver yet another outstanding performance in a big game.
In those 31 knockout matches, Choinière has now scored eight times, including a goal in the 2019 final, at the Azteca and the winning goal in their first-ever Concacaf League match against Antigua GFC back in 2019.
RELATED: 3 Atlético Ottawa players to watch in Sunday’s CPL Final || 3 Forge FC players to watch in Sunday’s CPL Final
Tristan Borges, who won a penalty on Sunday against Cavalry that resulted in the winning goal, also has scored in some big moments for the club, including the 2019 final and the 2020 Canadian Championship final.
To complete the front three, 21-year-old striker Woobens Pacius stepped up and smashed home that winning penalty during the semifinal, also scoring in the first leg to become the all-time leading playoff goalscorer in the club’s history.
Having all of their key attacking weapons firing on all cylinders and full of confidence heading into the final makes Forge incredibly dangerous.
The 2022 Canadian Premier League Final will be played Sunday, Oct. 30 at 6 p.m. ET between Atlético Ottawa and Forge FC, at TD Place Stadium in Ottawa. Tickets are available here, and the match will be broadcast live on OneSoccer, Fubo TV, and Telus Optik TV channel 980.