Final Score: York United 0-1 Forge FC
Goalscorers: Campbell 21′
Game of the 2023 season: 13
CPL match: 380
Match in a minute or less
Forge FC won their second consecutive match on Friday night, beating Ontario rivals York United 1-0 at York Lions Stadium to move into first place in the league table.
After a spirited start from York, Forge broke the deadlock midway through the first half as Terran Campbell scored from outside the box for what would ultimately be the only goal in a match that featured no others. It had plenty of animosity for a derby match, though; Ashtone Morgan would, in second-half stoppage time, be the first player sent off this CPL season after getting tangled with Max Ferrari.
Three Observations
‘Win matches by attacking, win championships by defending’: Forge dangerous between the lines, hold off York
Bobby Smyrniotis made five changes to the team that beat Pacific last Sunday, deploying an entirely new central three: Tristan Borges and Noah Jensen returned to the team in front of Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson, who pushed forward to his natural number six spot after playing at centre-back last time.
In this shape — usually looking like a 4-1-4-1 — Forge kept Woobens Pacius and Kwasi Poku on the left and right flanks, respectively, with Terran Campbell patrolling the front. That structure made them extremely dangerous playing through the lines; Pacius and Poku could receive balls from the middle as well as the fullbacks with Campbell pushing the backline further to create more in front of them.
Campbell’s goal came from a similar situation; his prior running prompted the York backline to step back to about the top of the box, but he remained higher for Pacius’ cutback pass — which gave him plenty of space to sail it into the net from distance.
After scoring, Forge finished the first half looking like they’d identified the spaces where they could most hurt York, and they did an excellent job pulling fullbacks out of position to play in angled through balls that could find runners in behind. Poku in particular had some joy on the right side and nearly scored with a chance that Niko Giantsopoulos turned away with a quick leg save in tight.
In the second half, Forge weren’t on the ball as much as the first, in a defensive performance that somewhat resembled their 1-0 win at Pacific FC last Sunday. They were once again content to cede some possession — although they were a little more aggressive on the counter, finding a couple more opportunities to test York’s last men back.
“We know we’re going to win a lot of games with attacking football, but we also know we’re going to win championships by defending,” Smyrniotis quipped postmatch.
“Your principles of the game are always the same but where you go with the ball, who goes in what zones. Today we had Woobens Pacius defending a little bit lower on the left but rolling into a two striker system with Campbell to put a little more pressure on their central defenders. …
“Today a lot of it was by design in between the lines and trying to get the ball into Noah Jensen and Borges a little bit wider than being central; that also opened the central axis for Pacius and Terran Campbell to be able to get balls straight from the central defenders.”
Makeshift York lineup positive in stretches but final link missing in Babouli’s absence
York coach Martin Nash was dealt a difficult hand on Friday night, with injuries continuing to mount in his squad. Both centre-backs from last week’s win in Ottawa — Jonathan Grant and Brem Soumaoro — were ruled out for this game with a quad and knee injury, respectively. So, Nash went with fullback Paris Gee as one of his central defenders, alongside natural centre-back Roger Thompson, who made his season debut but still isn’t at 100 per cent fitness.
The injury problem became somewhat of a crisis just before kickoff, though, when attacking catalyst Mo Babouli pulled up in warmups with a minor hamstring injury and — as a precautionary measure — had to be removed from the starting lineup. That left Nash with a spot to fill in the number 10 position with just minutes to kickoff. With other possible candidates for the role (like Oussama Alou) already in the lineup and therefore having their tactical roles already prepared, the best option for Nash was to make as like-for-like a swap as possible, which turned out to be Osaze De Rosario.
De Rosario is more naturally an out-and-out striker, and he’s still looking for his first goal of 2023. In the attacking midfield role, De Rosario had to come deeper to present for passes which meant he spent less time in the final third. Playing as a number 10, he had just four passes in the final third (and his overall pass success was 70.6 per cent). He did have four shots of his own and created one chance, but his skillset is not quite the same creative presence as Babouli — Nash said postmatch that he was pleased with De Rosario’s energy and effort, but knew it would be a difficult thing to ask of the young player.
“Osaze mentally got right into it,” he added. “We wanted him to play higher than he did early on and then once he got it and was playing higher, getting in behind he was causing all sorts of problems. He’s got a lot of chances this year they’re just not falling for him.”
York’s plans therefore changed significantly, having trained throughout the week expecting Babouli to be in that pocket. As a result, they spent perhaps more of their time on the ball trying to attack from the wings — look no further than left-back Lassana Faye’s five chances created (in perhaps his strongest performance yet for York).
“It changes the week of work in a way, how we wanted to approach the game; we had to adjust quickly,” Nash said postgame. “I thought we did it okay, I thought the effort was there, we created enough chances. If there’s anything negative I can say it’s we didn’t take our chances.”
On the stats sheet, the Nine Stripes look fairly good: 14 shots, and 1.35 expected goals to their opponent’s 0.78. Still, a storm of circumstance seems to have them struggling to put the net at the moment (two goals in four CPL matches this season, and just one from open play).
Borges shines in multifaceted midfield role
With Forge rotating the midfield setup in this match, Bobby Smyrniotis gave Tristan Borges some license to roam the pitch in search of the ball.
The former CPL Player of the Year had his full skillset on display in this match, flying around the pitch to pick out dangerous passes and also doing a lot of difficult work off the ball. Borges was critical to breaking up York’s transitional play, especially in the first half; he won seven of 10 duels and claimed possession eight times.
“He’s a player we’ve seen over the years will play wide, will play inverted, but also many times plays as a midfielder in between the lines,” Smyrniotis said of Borges. “We looked at our opponent, and where sometimes space can be for our players just matching up the numbers and the zones where they were.
“I think [Borges] did an excellent job in the first half drifting a little bit wider when he needed and in the second half I thought he was in between the lines, picking off passes and setting us up on the transition.”
In a squad as deep as Forge’s, all players have to be versatile and take on various roles. Borges getting more opportunities in the middle of the pitch is, therefore, positive given how well he can play there.
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Tristan Borges, Forge FC
Playing in midfield, Borges was outstanding in attack for Forge. He created five chances and took four shots of his own, playing a critical role in disrupting York’s counter-attack as well.
What’s next?
Both sides now turn their attention back to the Canadian Championship. Forge will be back at Tim Hortons Field to take on Atlético Ottawa on Tuesday, May 9 (7 p.m. ET), while York will remain at home to take on MLS opponent Vancouver Whitecaps on Wednesday, May 10 (7:30 p.m. ET).
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