2024 CPL Regular Season — Match #106
Forge FC vs. Atlético Ottawa
October 12, 2024 at 4 p.m. ET
Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario
Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca & TELUS Ch. 980 // Tickets available here

A jubilant atmosphere is expected in Hamilton this weekend, as the Canadian Premier League’s regular season title winners Forge FC return home for the first time since clinching the crown. They’ll take on a points-hungry Atlético Ottawa side, before officially lifting the CPL Shield after the final whistle.

Although the game doesn’t mean much in the standings for Forge, who have already guaranteed themselves first place with what’s currently an eight-point gap, it’s a massive fixture for Ottawa.

Atleti begin the weekend sitting third in the CPL table with 40 points. They’ve already clinched a playoff spot and a top-four finish, but they’re two points behind Cavalry FC for second place, and only one point ahead of fourth-place York United.

The difference between each of those spots is massive; Ottawa would love to jump into second, which would give them two cracks at getting to the CPL Final, plus a chance of hosting it if they can beat Forge in the qualifying semi-final. Falling into fourth, meanwhile, would mean their only home playoff game would be a midweek play-in scrap with the fifth-place side on Wednesday, Oct. 23 — a tight turnaround they’d prefer to avoid.

Last weekend was a frustrating one for Ottawa, who lost 1-0 to York United after midfielder Liberman Torres was sent off in the first half. Atleti are now on a five-game winless streak after drawing each of their prior four matches. Their most recent win was a close 1-0 result over Vancouver FC back on Aug. 31.

Meanwhile, Forge have been flying the past few weeks as they marched toward the regular season title. They’ve now won three in a row, outscoring opponents 6-1 in that stretch, and they have just one league defeat in their last 10 games.

Although they’re locked into first place, there’s still a few things to fight for in this game for Forge. They’ve already set a club record this year with 34 points at home (an 11-1-1 record in 13 games), but they’re still one point back of the league-wide record for home form. Cavalry FC hit 35 points at home in 2019, so a win for Forge on Saturday would set the new mark.

Matches between these two sides have been wild this year, including an outrageous 4-3 clash in June that ended in Ottawa’s favour. Both sides have also beaten the other by a 3-0 scoreline this season, Forge doing so in mid-August thanks to a Tristan Borges brace.

Speaking of Borges, the Forge star is one of several players likely on the unavailable list for this match. The Hamilton club have a few players dealing with knocks, as Elimane Cissé remains unavailable since his injury suffered against York United. Meanwhile, Garven Metusala is away on international duty with Haiti. For Ottawa, Torres is suspended after his red card last week. Alberto Zapater is unlikely to return from injury, but they’ll be hoping Tyr Walker has recovered from a knock he picked up last weekend.

Atlético Ottawa will not be thrilled to watch Forge lift a trophy at the end of this match. The best they can do, then, is to try and beat Forge to spoil their party.

All CPL and Canadian Championship matches will be broadcast live on OneSoccer, available as a linear channel on Telus’ Optik TV (Channel 980) as well as online at OneSoccer.ca, through the OneSoccer app and on the fuboTV Canada platform.

3 THINGS TO WATCH

• Ottawa likely to prioritize defending: Often when they go away from home, Atlético Ottawa have been known to set up in a quite defence-minded shape, often with five at the back and as many as four players across midfield. Last week against York, after Torres’s red card they set up in a well-organized low block with 10 men that did nearly work, keeping York to just one shot on target — which, unfortunately for Ottawa, landed in the back of the net. For this game against the CPL’s most potent attack, it’s hard to expect Atleti will set up any differently; they’ll try and take away space in their own third and prevent Forge from getting into the box, while keeping an eye open for opportunities to hit on the counter-attack.

• Any rotation expected for Forge? With the regular season title sewn up for Forge, Bobby Smyrniotis would be justified in giving some of his players a bit of a rest to ensure they’re fresh for the playoffs. However, considering the home points record that’s on the line, as well as the fact that Forge are lifting a trophy after the game and absolutely will not want to do that moments after a loss, they’re unlikely to take Saturday afternoon off. Expect a full-strength side from the Shield winners, as they look to continue their momentum right into the playoffs. If there is any rotation to be done, it’s possible a few players with injury concerns don’t make the trip to Pacific next weekend, but there’s no way they’ll be interested in anything other than three points against Atlético Ottawa. “You play games to win, you play games to score goals,” Smyrniotis said Friday. “We play at Tim Hortons Field to entertain our crowd, so those are all the most important things, and then the byproduct of that is winning the game and getting three points. … I think this is a great opportunity for us, also having some players we need to get back into full fitness, making sure they’re sharp as we go forward. These are players we expect very good things from, so we may move things around a little bit in tomorrow’s game, but that doesn’t take away from our desire and our willingness to get three points at home.”

• Where will Ottawa’s goals come from? Atlético Ottawa’s lineup boasts the CPL’s current Golden Boot leader Rubén del Campo, who leads the league with 11 goals but hasn’t scored in the past three games. Aside from him, Atleti haven’t had a goal from a striker or winger since Aug. 24 against Halifax Wanderers, when Sam Salter scored. Since then, Ottawa’s goals have come from defenders Ilias Iliadis and Amer Didic and midfielders Manny Aparicio and Aboubacar Sissoko. For Ottawa to be successful in the playoffs, they need their attacking players, especially Ballou Tabla, to be difference makers. Tabla is particularly dangerous in transition so he could be a candidate to trouble Forge on the counter-attack — if he plays. He only came on for the last 13 minutes against York last weekend and wasn’t able to make much of an impact.