2023 CPL Regular Season — Match #47**
** **Forge FC vs. Atlético Ottawa
** **June 25, 2023 at 6 p.m. ET
** **********Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario
** Watch Live: OneSoccer // Tickets available here
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Forge FC return to familiar environs on Sunday evening desperate to return to winning ways, as a familiar foe in Atlético Ottawa come to Hamilton in search of a victory at Tim Hortons Field. The hosts for this game find themselves, for the first time in a while, in quite a rut at the moment. Forge haven’t won any of their last five games and, for the first time in club history, they’re now on a three-game losing streak. They’re now returning home from a road trip that saw them lose 2-0 to both Valour FC and Vancouver FC in short succession, so perhaps they’ll be happy to get back to Hamilton this weekend. Despite a poor run recently, though, Forge still entered the weekend third in the league table, one point back of York United (but eight behind first-place Pacific FC). They’ve got a 4-4-4 record with one win, three draws and two losses at Tim Hortons Field. Forge have never lost three home games in a row, and Bobby Smyrniotis will certainly hope that doesn’t change this week. Meanwhile, Atlético Ottawa come to town with a little more confidence. They beat Vancouver FC 1-0 at TD Place last weekend in a match where they perhaps should’ve scored a handful more, but nonetheless it was a second consecutive clean-sheet victory at home for Atleti. As it stands, though, Ottawa remain seventh in the league table on 11 points. Their 3-2-5 record still has them in the thick of the playoff race, however; they’re just two points behind Halifax Wanderers in fourth place. Historically, Forge have had the upper hand in this matchup, including in last year’s CPL Final at TD Place. The clubs have met twice already this year — once in the Canadian Championship quarter-final, where Forge eliminated Atleti on penalties, and once in the league where David Choinière scored a late winner to give the Hammers a 1-0 triumph. In fact, Ottawa have only ever beaten Forge once — a 1-0 win at Tim Hortons Field last season, where Ollie Bassett’s long free kick was enough for Atleti to take all three points. Both sides will be missing a handful of players for this game to international duty: Ottawa striker Malcolm Shaw and defender Luke Singh are both in camp with Trinidad and Tobago, and Forge defender Garven Metusala is with the Haitian national team as they all prepare for the upcoming Concacaf Gold Cup. The good news, though, is both teams seem to
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3 THINGS TO WATCH
- Forge keen on slump-busting homecoming*:*** The recent road trip for Forge FC was… not what they’d had in mind. The CPL champions were soundly beaten by both Valour and Vancouver in quick succession in a pair of 2-0 results that left Bobby Smyrniotis scratching his head. The Hamilton club hasn’t had a lot of low points in its short history, but its current run of form may be one of the most frustrating it’s had. So, it’s imperative that Forge look more like themselves on Sunday at home; the ball hasn’t been going in the net for them lately, and really all that needs to happen for them is a forward to take up the mantle and finish a couple of chances. Expect Smyrniotis to field his strongest possible lineup in this game with attackers who have been most reliable over the years — possibly Tristan Borges, Woobens Pacius and David Choinière — in an effort to end this skid. * **Adjustments required in Ottawa backline: **Atlético Ottawa have had a relatively steady defensive lineup this year, and centre-back Luke Singh has started every single game. With the recent news that Singh will be joining the Trinidadian national team for the Gold Cup, though, Carlos González will have no choice but to adjust. He mentioned on Friday that Singh’s call-up was a bit of a surprise, and as such he still hadn’t yet decided how to handle his absence. With Macdonald Niba missing the last four games with injury, it’s possible Atleti won’t have the depth to stick with their back three shape, which could mean Karl Ouimette plays centre-back alongside Diego Espejo and Miguel Acosta returns to his natural right-back position. “I’m still working on how I’m going to adjust,” González said. “If it’s going to be player-for-player, if it’s going to be a tactical adjustment — we will see what works better. … We will take the decision in the last minute but we’re going to try to compete as well as we’re doing with Luke Singh or without Luke Singh.” * Advantage for rested Atleti? It’s something that happens now and then throughout the season, but this is an instance where there’s a bit of an imbalance in how much recovery and preparation time each side has had. Forge only recently returned from their road trip, having played Tuesday night in Vancouver which means just Thursday, Friday and Saturday to train for this game. Ottawa, meanwhile, played at home last Saturday, which gives them some extra rest time to ensure they’ve got plenty in the tank for this trip to Hamilton. This will certainly not be an easy homecoming for Forge, who will play a motivated Ottawa side keen to beat them, but the experienced players in that team are certainly used to a short turnaround between games, and they’ll want to put Tuesday’s loss behind them as quickly as possible.
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
Forge FC: Henry; Rama, James, Achinioti-Jönsson, Poku; Sissoko, Hojabrpour, Bekker; Choinière, Pacius, Borges
Atlético Ottawa: Ingham; Acosta, Ouimette, Espejo, Tissot; Haworth, Bassett, Bahous, Verhoeven, Assi; Salter
ALL-TIME SERIES
Forge FC wins: 10 || Atlético Ottawa wins: 1 || Draws: 2
Last meeting:
May 27, 2023 – Atlético Ottawa 0-1 Forge FC
KEY QUOTES
“We played two tight games [against Forge] where the details made the difference, in which we had many opportunities to win them, but at the end of the day we couldn’t have the result we wanted. One was on penalties, the other was in the last action of the game in a transition. The learnings are quite big, that the details make differences in these big games. Our idea is to maintain things we were doing well, that were many, and control a little bit better the details.” — Atlético Ottawa head coach Carlos González