Final Score: Forge FC 4-3 Atlético Ottawa
Goalscorers: Niba 4′ (O.G.), Campbell 11′, 32′, Pacius 81′; Antinoro 1′; Tissot 64′, Dos Santos 72′
Game of the 2023 season: 47
CPL match: 414

Match in a minute or less

Forge FC are back in second place in the CPL after an extraordinary match at Tim Hortons Field in which they defeated Atlético Ottawa 4-3 thanks to Woobens Pacius’ 81st-minute winner.

Ottawa got the scoring started early when Gabriel Antinoro scored just 22 seconds in, but a disastrous own goal just minutes later put Forge back on level footing. Another errant back pass in the 11th minute led to Woobens Pacius jumping on a loose ball in the box and finding Terran Campbell, who put the Hamilton side in front. Later in the half, Campbell again found the net as he got his head on a beautiful cross from Tristan Borges.

After a triple substitution at halftime, Atleti came out firing in the second half and a pair of quick goals after about 20 minutes — a Maxim Tissot free kick and a good finish in tight from Gianni Dos Santos — put them on equal terms. In the end, though, Forge had the last laugh: substitute Kwasi Poku came blistering down the left flank and flicked a good cross to the back post, where Woobens Pacius was waiting to score a header and win the game.

Three Observations

Chaotic, goal-filled tug-of-war produces possible game of the season

The opening 10-odd minutes of this match were, perhaps, the most chaotic sequence the Canadian Premier League has seen.

With Gabriel Antinoro’s 22-second opening goal, followed by a pair of rapid Forge goals in response (thanks in large part to Ottawa’s catastrophic back passes), fans had barely been settled in their seats at Tim Hortons Field and already the game had been blown wide open.

After Ottawa gifted them an equalizer in the fourth minute, Forge’s players gathered briefly in the centre of the pitch for a refocusing huddle. By the grace of good fortune, they had a chance there to return to their game plan after a disastrous start.

Forge had been on a very frustrating run of form lately, but Macdonald Niba’s own goal broke the Hammers’ scoreless streak at about 274 minutes. Sometimes in football, a fluke moment like that can be what reverses a tide and helps a team turn things around, and that seemed like the case for Forge, who looked extremely dangerous in the latter 40 minutes of the first half.

Atleti head coach Carlos González quipped postgame that he probably hasn’t coached a game that chaotic since he was working with under-13s. Bobby Smyrniotis, similarly, said it had been quite the entertaining start to the game — as long as you weren’t a coach of either team.

“Today it was important for us to have three points and score some goals — the rest, forget about it,” Smyrniotis said.

For the neutral, that was an easy candidate for the match of the season. For the head coaches? Perhaps not one they’d like to emulate again.

Ottawa halftime switch pays dividends but can’t save result

Last weekend, Atlético Ottawa played against a Vancouver FC side that looked much better in the second half after making a triple substitution. This week, it would be they that needed a major halftime change to create a lifeline for themselves.

Carlos González added a pair of dynamic wingers in Jean-Aniel Assi and Gianni Dos Santos, and he put Zakaria Bahous into midfield in place of Noah Verhoeven. He sacrificed Carl Haworth and Macdonald Niba, which also allowed him to move Miguel Acosta from central midfield into his natural right-back position.

The Atleti boss explained postmatch that he felt he’d needed a tactical switch to match certain aspects of Forge’s tactical setup, also feeling that his team simply wasn’t winning the duels it needed to.

“They were matching all our players, they were playing 4-2-3-1 against our system and it’s man-to-man everywhere,” González said. “And we were not winning duels, so we had to create superiority by all the things; we decided to change the system to look for superiorities, to create from there and find the spaces that we wanted in the game plan. I think it worked, but at the end of the day we give up the game twice — first half and second half.”

The result of the switch was an invigorated Atlético Ottawa, who took over the match and fought back from two goals down at Tim Hortons Field — something no other team has done in the CPL. Maxim Tissot, a leader on this team who took over the captain’s armband at halftime when Haworth exited, had been at fault for Forge’s second goal with his back pass; he took it upon himself to step up and score an outstanding free kick.

“The second goal we conceded is on me, so for sure it felt good,” Tissot said. “I think as a leader you do have a bit of extra responsibility. I kind of knew that if I put it over the wall close to the first post I knew [Triston Henry] wouldn’t get there.”

Tissot, a former Forge player of course, did take the opportunity to have some fun with the fans of his former club after scoring.

After that, Atleti sensed an opportunity to complete the comeback, which they did in impressive fashion less than 10 minutes after Tissot’s goal — with two of the halftime substitutes in Bahous and Dos Santos combining to level the score.

González was undoubtedly disappointed to come out of the game with nothing after seeing his team play some of its best football this season in the second half. Nonetheless, the way they took the game to a Forge side that could’ve been vulnerable will be something to build on.

Forge respond to adversity, find a way to break slump and boost confidence

This victory is not likely one Forge will hold up as an example of dominant, well-executed football. However, if you’re a Forge player or fan, it was certainly a cathartic one.

After a five game winless streak — including three straight shutout losses — frustration had been mounting in Hamilton, although they’re a club that pride themselves on not getting too high or too low in the course of a season.

When you’re in a rut as Forge had been, you’ll take any kind of victory — and that’s the case on Sunday for the reigning CPL champions.

As they’ve done several times this year, Forge managed to find a way back into this game after conceding goals that could have been deflating.

Still, lost in the shuffle of this match’s insanity is a handful of very encouraging performances from Forge.

Khadim Kane was an individual Smryniotis singled out postmatch, and for good reason. The 18-year-old was at fault for one of Vancouver FC’s goals in the 2-0 loss on Tuesday, playing a poor pass backward that was easily intercepted. The youngster could well have been dropped from the lineup after that moment, but Smyrniotis showed faith in his player by putting him right back in the starting XI, and the coach was duly rewarded. Kane was excellent, winning all three of his attempted tackles and helping control midfield alongside captain Kyle Bekker — who, likewise, was outstanding for Forge.

Perhaps the most encouraging thing, though, is both Terran Campbell and Woobens Pacius getting on the scoresheet. Pacius had gone 11 games (all competitions) without a goal, and Campbell had scored just twice so far, so both players building some confidence is excellent for Forge’s attacking fortunes.

“They’ll sleep okay today, that’s for sure,” Smyrniotis said of his strikers. “The guys have been doing the business, sometimes it just doesn’t go. When you look around the league, it’s not like we have somebody shooting out the lights scoring goals. … These are guys that have goals in them, and these are guys that have been doing the right things. Sometime that’s football; what I say is it takes a lot of effort to be a team and a player who wants to achieve a lot, and when you get there it takes a lot more effort to stay there.”

The game as a whole, though? As he’d mentioned previously, Smyrniotis offered that he’ll take the win and the four goals, but perhaps not a lot else from the match as a whole.

“It’s three points and goals; what happened in between, we’ll leave it for another day,”  Smyrniotis said. “The response is good, but here’s the thing — you’ve got to be 3-1 up in a match and also be able to control the game.”

He added: “Obviously this is three points we needed. We’ve never gone this long without a win, I think last year again was five games and after that everything was great, so hopefully we can repeat history.”

Indeed, after a similar slump (four losses and a draw) in July and August last year, Forge went on to lose just one of their last six regular season games then won the championship in the playoffs. Now sitting alone in second place, they’ll hope Sunday’s game bodes well for a happy summer in Hamilton.

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Woobens Pacius, Forge FC

The young striker saved what was nearly another frustrating result for Forge with his tremendous header at the back post to win the game. Pacius also assisted Terran Campbell’s first goal, thinking quickly to jump on the loose pass and cut it across to his teammate.

What’s next?

Both these sides hit the road next Friday, June 30. Forge will head to the east coast to take on Halifax Wanderers at 7 p.m. AT/6 p.m. ET. Ottawa, meanwhile, will travel west to take on Pacific FC on Vancouver Island, kicking off at 6:30 p.m. PT/9:30 p.m. ET.

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