2023 CPL Regular Season — Match #12
Pacific FC vs. Forge FC
April 30, 2023 at 5 p.m. PT/8 p.m. ET
Starlight Stadium in Langford, B.C.
Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca & TELUS Ch. 980 // Tickets available here

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The 2022 CPL champions take to the road for the first time in 2023 this weekend, as Forge FC leave Hamilton to play Pacific FC on Vancouver Island. The Tridents will play their fourth consecutive home game (including last week’s Canadian Championship fixture) to open the campaign, as both sides look to remain undefeated.

Pacific hosted Cavalry FC twice last week, beating them on penalties in the Voyageurs’ Cup tie before drawing 1-1 with the Calgary side on Sunday afternoon. Through two CPL matches so far, Pacific find themselves level on points with Valour FC at the top of the CPL table. James Merriman’s Van Isle club defeated B.C. rivals Vancouver FC 1-0 in their season opener on April 15, so last Sunday’s draw puts them on four points.

Forge, meanwhile, search for their first win in league play this year. They’ve opened their season with a pair of draws at Tim Hortons Field — first a 2-2 bout with Cavalry, and then a 1-1 split with Halifax Wanderers last Saturday. In between those two CPL draws, Forge did host PLSQ side FC Laval in their cup tie, winning that fixture 3-0 to advance to the quarter-finals.

These two sides have plenty of history between them, with Pacific being the only CPL side ever to beat Forge in a CPL Final — which they did in 2021 in Hamilton. Last season, Forge returned to the summit, but not without suffering a few blows at the hands of the Tridents, who won two of the four times they met in 2022. Forge took one of those matches, with another being a 1-1 draw at Starlight Stadium.

It being early in the season still, both Pacific and Forge are still working their way into a full match rhythm, but Forge seem to have a cleaner bill of health at the moment. The biggest absence from the Hamilton side thus far has been captain Kyle Bekker, who has yet to appear in the matchday 18. Once healthy he’ll undoubtedly slot back in, but it’s unclear when exactly that might be. Head coach Bobby Smyrniotis said Friday that Sebastian Castello and goalkeeper Chris Kalongo are the only players rules out for Sunday, which suggests Bekker may be in contention.

For Pacific, meanwhile, a few players continue to deal with knocks, however head coach Merriman revealed Friday that star midfielder Manny Aparicio and key defender Thomas Meilleur-Giguère have returned to full training this week. Key off-season acquisition Pierre Lamothe has yet to appear for Pacific as he deals with an injury, and it appears he’s likely to be absent on Sunday.

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

3 THINGS TO WATCH

• Big names missing in midfield? Forge have been blessed with the emergence of Noah Jensen as an early star in the middle of the park — he has three goals in three games (including the cup tie), and he hit the crossbar early on Saturday vs. Halifax. The concern, though, is that captain Kyle Bekker has yet to feature for the champions this year. Perhaps this weekend will see his return, which would be a boost to an already-strong midfield unit that includes Aboubacar Sissoko and Alessandro Hojabrpour. Across the pitch, the news that Manny Aparicio is fully fit is incredibly welcome to Pacific, although key off-season addition Pierre Lamothe continues to be sidelined with his preseason knock; so, expect early-season upstart Sean Young and Cédric Toussaint to likely get the start in the middle in a double-pivot sort of role.

• Forge look to strike first: In two CPL matches so far, Forge have now fallen behind three times. They did so very quickly twice against Cavalry in the home opener — fighting back to equalize within minutes both times — but against Halifax they trailed for most of the second half, rescuing a point in the 89th minute. It’s a credit to Forge that they’ve been able to get back into it every time so far, but Bobby Smyrniotis would probably be much more comfortable if his side could get on the board first. That would certainly make it easier to hold off the opponent and give Forge their first league win of the 2023 campaign. They have plenty of goalscoring options up front — in-form Jordan Hamilton has started both CPL matches, but Woobens Pacius has looked good in relief, as did Terran Campbell against the Wanderers.

• Options emerging for Pacific: James Merriman might have some tough decisions to make when assembling his attacking lineup for Sunday. Captain Josh Heard and centre-forward Easton Ongaro seem likely to start in the front three, but that spot on the left has some heavy competition. Ayman Sellouf was excellent there last weekend against Cavalry, earning a Gatorade Team of the Week nod for his performance, but Kekuta Manneh — a veteran of Major League Soccer and arguably Pacific’s biggest signing of the off-season — made his club debut off the bench in that game, and with another week of training under his belt he may be ready to start. With injuries elsewhere on the pitch, Merriman could always alter his shape to get more attacking pieces into the lineup, but that may also be risky against a dangerous Forge side. “It’s a good problem for me, it’s healthy competition,” Merriman said Friday. “We have a lot of attacking players that feel they deserve to start every match so it creates an incredibly competitive training environment.”

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

Pacific FC: Gazdov; Dada-Luke, Didić, Meilleur-Giguère, Vliet; Toussaint, Young, Aparicio; Heard, Ongaro, Sellouf

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

ALL-TIME SERIES

Pacific wins: 3 || Forge wins: 9 || Draws: 2

Last meeting:

October 5, 2022 — Forge 0-1 Pacific

KEY QUOTES

“You see Forge playing the way they traditionally have been playing the last few years and you see the quality and the depth that they have when they’re able to change players; they have many players that can hurt you in different ways. So we respect them, absolutely. We’ll make sure that we’re prepared to play Forge and make sure we’re on the best foot forward, playing how we want to play at home.” — Pacific FC head coach James Merriman

“They’re a team that’s got some very good individuals and a way of playing as a group — a team with some consistency and new pieces from last year that give them a different look. It’s also early on in the season for us so most important thing is we stick to what we need to do: be a little bit more aggressive in what we need to do earlier in the game.” — Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis