2023 CPL Regular Season — Match #17
Forge FC vs. Valour FC
May 13, 2023 at 4 p.m. ET/3 p.m. CT
Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario
Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca & TELUS Ch. 980 // Tickets available here

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Forge FC will try to win a third straight league match for the first time since August 2022 this weekend, as they host Valour FC at Tim Hortons Field on Saturday.

The Hamilton side beat York United 1-0 last Friday to move to the top of the table, having defeated Pacific FC the week prior in their first win of the regular season. Now, Forge look to make it three on the bounce against a Valour side who have also started the season in good form.

Bobby Smyrniotis’s Forge also advanced in the Canadian Championship on Tuesday night, taking down Atlético Ottawa at home in a close-fought penalty shootout. They’ll now play MLS side CF Montréal in the semifinals, but before they can think about that they’ll want to take care of this Valour match.

The Winnipeg-based club sit third in the league entering the weekend, with a win and three draws after four games. They collected all three points in their season opener — a 2-0 win at York United — but since then, they’ve shared the spoils three straight times.

Last Saturday, Valour and the Halifax Wanderers were unable to solve one another at IG Field as they had to settle for a 0-0 draw. Dante Campbell delivered a Gatorade Team of the Week-worthy performance in defensive midfield, but Valour’s attack couldn’t find the net in a somewhat languid scoreless affair.

The good news is that Forge versus Valour has been one of the more intriguing fixtures in the CPL over the years. Despite Forge’s healthy advantage in overall record and trophies, they’ve often had trouble with the Winnipeggers.

In fact, Valour have won six of the last seven meetings between these teams in CPL play, including three out of four last year. Memorably, the two sides met twice in four days in Winnipeg at the start of September, with Valour winning both games by a 1-0 scoreline to give their late playoff push a massive boost.

Forge should have a mostly full squad available; Ashtone Morgan had his red card from Friday overturned by Canada Soccer so he’s available, and players like David Choinière and Jordan Hamilton, who missed the past couple games, are eligible selection, the only one missing being Sebastian Castello. Valour, meanwhile, remain without a number of players: Raphael Ohin and Andrew Jean-Baptiste are longer-term absences and Matthew Chandler will miss most of the season with his ACL injury, but Andy Baquero, Eskander Mzoughi, Guillaume Pianelli and Marcello Polisi are day-to-day and will not likely feature on Saturday.

Valour head coach Phillip Dos Santos said this week he may have to “shuffle the deck” a bit at the right-back position, but with Jordan Haynes back in full training he may be able to help in that spot.

All CPL matches are available to stream on OneSoccer, FuboTV, or on TELUS Optik TV Channel 980.

3 THINGS TO WATCH

• Forge defence tough to crack: Don’t look now, but Forge have not allowed an open play goal for three straight games. In their 1-0 wins over Pacific and York, they scored in the first half both times and then contentedly smothered the opposition’s attack to limit scoring chances and preserve the clean sheet. Of course, goalkeeper Triston Henry has been excellent when called upon, but the back four — with off-season acquisition Manjrekar James leading the way — has been outstanding so far. Valour have a lot of talent in their attacking group — including former Forge striker Anthony Novak, who scored nine goals in his time with the club — and it’ll be a brand-new proposition for Smyrniotis et al. to figure out.

• Improved Valour midfield must challenge Forge trio: Perhaps Valour’s greatest area of improvement in 2023 from last season is how much more comfortably they look in midfield. Not only has Diego Gutiérrez — already a top player last year — taken another step, but with Dante Campbell (and a handful of others) beside him the whole team looks harder to play through. They’ll be up against the CPL’s deepest midfield this weekend, with Forge boss Smyrniotis having to choose three out of Kyle Bekker, Alessandro Hojabrpour, Aboubacar Sissoko and Noah Jensen — unless he also opts to put Alex Achinioti-Jönsson or Tristan Borges in the middle. That’s an area of the pitch where Valour have to be at the top of their game. “There’s the old cliché that games are won or lost in the midfield,” Valour boss Phillip Dos Santos said this week. “You win if you score goals and you don’t concede. I think it’s one important component of our game, how solid we can be, how effective our pressure has been.”

• Valour fullbacks faced with tough task: In recent matches, Forge have been fairly successful attacking via the wide areas — against Pacific, Woobens Pacius scored from a wide cross, and against York they put Pacius on the left flank for him to run into half-spaces from the outside which helped facilitate Terran Campbell’s goal. Valour’s fullbacks are usually a major part of their own attacking plan, with Matteo De Brienne and Andy Baquero both being very attack-minded players — though Baquero won’t be available on Saturday. Valour can’t sacrifice that part of the game, but they’ll still need to be extra careful not to let Forge get their wingers in behind those spaces — easier said than done, of course, but it’s a key way Forge might try to target them. It’s unclear who exactly might set up in the right-back spot with Baquero out, so somebody filling in may be even more vulnerable in that spot which will undoubtedly be a focus of Dos Santos’s preparations.

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

Forge FC: Henry; Rama, James, Achinioti-Jönsson, Poku; Sissoko, Hojabrpour, Bekker; Campbell, Pacius, Borges

Valour FC: Yesli; Haynes, Cela, Samake, De Brienne; Campbell, Gutiérrez, Sánchez; Niyongabire, Novak, Williams

ALL-TIME SERIES

Forge wins: 7 || Valour wins: 6 || Draws: 1

Last meeting:

Sept. 4, 2022 — Valour FC 1-0 Forge FC

KEY QUOTES

“[Valour] move forward as a unit, they defend as a unit, they fight for every little thing on the pitch. That’s what’s given the start they’ve had, with a win and three ties, and it’s part of the DNA of their team. It’s one thing we always have to be aware about. … At the same time, there’s a lot of different areas of the field we think we can exploit with them like with every opponent, and it’s just a matter of execution when it comes to the game.” — Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis

“You’re going to the home of the defending champions, and it’s a team that the last three times they’ve played at home it’s been a fight. … It’s a team that always finds a way and we need to be very good, just like any team when you gto to play Forge in their home. We need to be very solid defensively, close the spaces very well, understand where they like to attack, where their threat comes from. ” — Valour FC head coach Phillip Dos Santos