In the Forge FC dressing room, rain-soaked players sat quietly, some bending over with exhaustion, as their coach Bobby Smyrniotis paced the room carefully sidestepping bit of sports wrap on the ground as he addressed the team. On the Tim Hortons Field pitch moments earlier, the Hamilton club had put in a monumental performance, defeating Toronto FC 2-1 in the first leg of the 2024 TELUS Canadian Championship semifinals. The eight-time national champions, Toronto FC, were undone by an audacious half-field chip from Béni Badibanga, and a clever Kwasi Poku backheel inside the opening 14 minutes. Many would go on to call it a significant upset. A few halls over in the Tim Hortons Field press conference room, Toronto FC head coach John Herdman was laying out the difference between the two teams. On his side of things, he said, were European champions, former Premier League players, and those who have experienced football at the highest level. The difference in budget and resources between the two clubs is a factor.
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But the word ‘underdog’ doesn’t have much meaning inside the walls of the Forge FC locker room. This is a team who have won four of the Canadian Premier League’s five finals, and played 20 matches in continental competition during its six-year existence– including against regional superpowers like Cruz Azul and Chivas Guadalajara. As he eulogized Forge’s first leg performance to his players on that July 10 night, Smyrniotis underlined just that. “That’s how you take care of teams, guys, that’s how you take care of teams and that’s why we’re a big f—ing club,” he said.
On Tuesday night, at BMO Field in Toronto, Forge will be out to finish the job, book a spot in the 2024 Canadian Championship final and once again underline their status as big club within the Canadian, and North American, soccer landscape. The Hamilton club, of course, are the only CPL team to have previously competed in a Canadian Championship final. They hosted Toronto FC in a pandemic-delayed 2020 final, played in 2022, which featured the winner of the CPL’s Island Games competition against the winners of the head-to-head series between Canadian MLS clubs played in late 2020. Despite a strong performance in that match, which they tied 1-1 after regulation as a goal from Tristan Borges cancelled out one from Alejandro Pozuelo, the Hamilton club fell in the sixth round of the penalty shootout. The year prior, an 11-round penalty shootout denied Forge another opportunity to reach the final, as they fell to CF Montréal at home on that occasion. But this would be something entirely different, a finals appearance forged through the fire of beating a pair of MLS opponents in back-to-back two-legged ties. Forge’s 2-1 lead over Toronto FC heading into the second leg means that a draw or another victory and they are through to the final. A 1-0 win for Toronto FC, meanwhile, would see the reds advance, while a 2-1 result during regulation would force yet another round of spotkicks between the teams. Any other victory by more than a single goal would see Toronto FC progress, while for Forge a single-goal loss in which they scored more than once would see them off to final. The time between the two legs has led to a notable absence in the goalscoring department for Forge, as the club announced last week a league-record sale of Kwasi Poku to Belgian side RWD Molenbeek. With goals against both Toronto FC and CF Montréal, Poku’s conversion to striker was a game-changer for Forge in this competition. Like any big club, however, it has always been next man up for Forge. In Poku’s place, they have a pair of very good options, namely three-time Canadian Champion, and 2016 Canadian Championship Golden Boot winner, Jordan Hamilton, as well as the Canadian Premier League’s all-time leading goalscorer Terran Campbell. They are very different profiles to Poku, but both have proven prolific over their careers in front of goal and will be relishing this opportunity to prove that once again on such a big stage. Forge were also missing a key player for the first leg through suspension, and Daniel Parra’s return to the lineup could be a significant story in the second leg. This is especially true since a lot of Toronto FC’s attacking impetus comes down their right flank through Federico Bernardeschi. Parra has arguably been the Canadian Premier League’s best left fullback this season, and scored a crucial goal in a 2-1 victory over CF Montréal in the quarter-final second leg.
Also intriguing is how the Hamilton club will approach this match tactically. A big part of their success historically has been their ability to adapt to opponents while maintaining their core footballing principles, and like any ‘big club’ look to play games on their terms regardless of the opposition. Usually, that has meant doing so with the ball, but increasingly of late Forge have shown flexibility to be able to sit comfortably in their defensive shape and find moments to pick their opposition apart in transition. This isn’t exactly park-the-bus football, but has been a different way for the team to find and exploit spaces. They used it to great effect in the second leg against CF Montréal at Stade Saputo, and it very easily could prove effective again versus a Toronto FC side who will absolutely look to be the aggressors on Tuesday night, especially knowing they need at least a goal, and a victory, to advance. The disappointment of the way they performed in the first leg will also undoubtedly have TFC hungry to put in a statement performance of their own. But in their short history, Forge have consistently proven undaunted by the occasion or opposition, be that multiple cup finals, a trip to the Estadio Azteca, Estadio Akron, or trips across the Concacaf region. BMO Field and Toronto FC will be no different. “We’re going to go there with a winning resolve right now, it’s only half-time obviously, and put in an energetic, hard-fought performance,” said Forge FC midfielder Alessandro Hojabrpour recently. “It’s going to be an exciting game for us, we love these big games. The first one against Toronto was a lot of fun to play in. We’re going to go there with a lot of belief, we know what we can do, and we just have to show it on the day. “It’s going to be one of those days where the emotions are running high, the energy is going to be there so we’ve got to bring our quality out and show why we are a big club.” Reaching another national final would do exactly that. Finally adding a Voyageurs Cup to their already impressive trophy cabinet is the ultimate goal, and getting past Toronto FC on Tuesday would put them just one game away from making even more history.