2023 CPL Regular Season — Match #60
Forge FC vs. Valour FC
July 15, 2023 at 7 p.m. ET
Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario
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The champs are back at home and in good spirits this weekend, as Forge FC return to Tim Hortons Field to play Valour FC after a big road win over derby rivals York United.

The Hamilton club beat the Nine Stripes 4-0 last Sunday in perhaps their most complete performance of the season, led by Terran Campbell’s first CPL hat-trick, which means the Hammers enter Week 14 just three points behind league-leaders Pacific FC.

Bobby Smyrniotis and co. have had a bit of an up-and-down season so far, winning just one game in the month of June, but still doing enough throughout the campaign to keep themselves firmly in contention for the regular season championship. Their last game on home turf was that chaotic 4-3 win over Atlético Ottawa, which was a much-needed triumph to break a five-game winless drought.

Forge will have to make do without two key defenders in Manjrekar James and Malik Owolabi-Belewu, both of whom will serve suspensions due to yellow card accumulation.

Standing in Forge’s way is a Valour side that’s proven extremely difficult to beat. Phillip Dos Santos’ Winnipeg club has the same number of losses (five) as Forge this year, but three wins and six draws mean they sit outside the playoff picture as it stands. Valour’s 15 points mean they enter the weekend four points behind fifth-place Halifax Wanderers for that final spot in the postseason, but there’s plenty of runway in the second half of the campaign to compete for a first-ever playoff appearance.

Valour were also in Ontario last weekend, losing 2-0 to Atlético Ottawa for a second consecutive shutout defeat — having fallen to Cavalry FC at home the week before. This game represents an opportunity to get back on the horse in a major way against a Forge side that looks like it’s starting to find some scoring form.

In terms of squad availability, Valour are mostly healthy, with Abdou Samaké back in training after missing last week. The only likely absences are Jordan Haynes, who is close to returning, and Walter Ponce, who remains — according to Dos Santos — a couple of games away from full fitness.

Last time these sides met, Valour won 2-0 in Winnipeg as part of a Forge road trip that may have been their nadir of the season to date. Guillaume Pianelli and Walter Ponce were the goalscorers on that occasion, but Valour have rarely had trouble scoring against the Hammers. Earlier this season, they went to Tim Hortons Field and took the lead, ultimately falling in an entertaining 3-2 defeat to Forge.

In recent memory, though, perhaps no matchup has been tougher for Forge than Valour. The Winnipeggers have won seven of their last nine meetings with Forge, taking three out of four in 2022.

Is there something about Forge that brings out the best in Valour?

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3 THINGS TO WATCH

• Forge attack coming together: A lot went right for Forge in their derby win over York United. Terran Campbell scored his first career hat-trick, which has all of a sudden put him right in the mix for the Golden Boot with seven goals on the season. Tristan Borges is also off the mark, having scored his first goal since August 2022. All this means Forge have, now, scored nine goals in their past three games (albeit two of them off major defensive errors by Atlético Ottawa), which suggests they may be in for a bit of a summer surge like they had last year. As Bobby Smyrniotis has said, they’ve been creating chances all year — the difference now is they’re starting to go in the net more easily.

• Valour searching for open-play answers: If the goals have begun to flow for Forge, they have really dried up for Valour lately. The Winnipeg club has now failed to score an open-play goal in their last four games — the only goal of any kind being a Diego Gutiérrez penalty against Vancouver FC. In fact, the last time Valour scored from open play was when they beat Forge 2-0, that goal coming off the boot of Walter Ponce. Perhaps that’s a good omen, with Valour having scored four times against the Hamilton club this season; Phil Dos Santos will certainly hope so. This weekend would be a very good time for, perhaps, Anthony Novak to rediscover his shooting boots against his former club Forge — or for another Valour player to capitalize on an opportunity. “The goals are initiated in the flank, but if you can’t translate the final action to clear opportunities down the middle, or sometimes the cross is good and the movement isn’t there, sometimes the movement happens and the cross doesn’t come like it should — sometimes it’s a lack of execution, or a bit of luck too. It just doesn’t go in, and we need to find different ways to attack,” Dos Santos said this week.

• Strong start required at THF: One thing on Bobby Smyrniotis’ mind heading into this game: Getting off to a positive start. Forge have not scored first at home in a CPL match a single time all season, and have just one home clean sheet — that being a 0-0 draw with Vancouver FC. Last time at Tim Hortons Field, Forge conceded to Atlético Ottawa just 22 seconds into the game. The Hammers have done an excellent job fighting their way back into games and taking points from losing positions, but it’s much easier to win games when you’re not trailing. Forge will be hoping to put the pedal down early on Saturday and get themselves out in front. “You look at our home games and we’ve probably created a big chance in the first five minutes of every game … We’re doing all the right things in the first 15 minutes where you want to be a little bit more aggressive, especially playing at home where the fans are great and the atmosphere is great,” Smyrniotis said. “We need that goal, and when you can score that first goal especially here at home it changes the landscape of how opponents approach the game.”

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

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

Valour FC: Yesli; Baquero, Pianelli, Jean-Baptiste, De Brienne; Gutiérrez, Sánchez, Polisi; Niyongabire, Novak, Williams

ALL-TIME SERIES

Forge FC wins: 8 || Valour FC wins: 7 || Draws: 1

Last meeting:

June 16, 2023 – Valour FC 2-0 Forge FC

KEY QUOTES

“You can see it when a team beats Forge, what it looks like after in celebrations, and when they win a game next week against somebody else it looks a little bit different. Of course, that’s something normal in global football. We’ve created that as a club with all of our success that everyone is going to bring their best game. It’s important for our guys each and every week in that locker room to understand that. … I think we do get everyone’s back, and in the end of the day we’re getting it for the right reasons.” — Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis

“I look at the guys and their mentality, I don’t think we pick and choose games — that would be a disappointment for me. Sometimes it’s just matchups, it’s the way coaches approach the game, the way tactically things have fallen for us when we play [Forge]. I go back to the game we played them at home recently, we didn’t create much but we had an early goal on a set play then a good goal on a ball we recovered high… Overall we played a sound tactical and patient game. That’s what Forge allows us to do because they have a lot of the ball.” — Valour FC head coach Phillip Dos Santos