Final Score: Forge FC 0-1 Pacific FC
Goalscorers: Daniels 85′
Game of the 2023 season: 36
CPL match: 403
Match in a minute or less
Pacific FC claimed top spot in the Canadian Premier League standings on Saturday evening, beating Forge FC 1-0 at Tim Hortons Field on a late goal from Djenairo Daniels. Triston Henry made a handful of big saves in the first half to deny both Adonijah Reid and Amer Đidić, but was let down by his teammates a bit as Forge sent shot after shot sailing over the bar. In the 85th minute, Henry and defender Dom Samuel had a bit of a miscommunication, which led directly to the winning goal. Samuel tried to head the ball back toward his goalkeeper after a long pass over the top of the Forge backline, but Henry also came off his line to collect it and couldn’t hold onto it. As Henry and Samuel collided, Djenairo Daniels was there to collect the ball and calmly pass it into the back of the net to win the match 1-0, and put Pacific atop the Canadian Premier League table.
Three Observations
Forge rue missed chances, lose after one of several unforced errors
The story once again for Forge FC was their inability to put the ball into the back of the net when they created good opportunities. Not even four minutes into the match that recent trend continued, with Woobens Pacius sending a shot well over the crossbar from just to the right of the penalty spot. It was an opportunity that he knew he should have at the very least got on target, with his teammates sharing that frustration as several pairs of hands were thrown into the air and ended up on the foreheads of Forge players as the ball sailed away. Of the eight shots Forge took in this match, seven of which came from inside the 18-yard box, just one hit the target. That attempt didn’t trouble Kieran Baskett either, as the Pacific goalkeeper made an easy catch on a weak header from Kyle Bekker. “We created a high-quality opportunity in the first five minutes of the game, and when you create those you’ve got to take advantage,” Forge boss Bobby Smyrniotis said after the match. “We’ve been doing it consistently, especially here at home, and it’s a tough one. The quality has dropped a little bit later in the second half, the way the goal’s gone in. Obviously those things happen. You hope that they don’t happen more often, but it’s part of the game.” “I thought we started to work our way back into it,” Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson added, mentioning that there is some frustration starting to set in at the moment that they need to shake off. “Then a very unfortunate goal… but sh*t happens.” As both Smyrniotis and Achinioti-Jönsson mentioned, the goal Forge gave up was a poor one. A long pass down the pitch that looked speculative at best from Manny Aparicio threw Forge into a state of disarray at the back. Triston Henry came out of his net to claim the ball and Dom Samuel decided to head it back to his goalkeeper, but that seemed to catch Henry by surprise, and he wasn’t able to hold onto the ball. It was then claimed by Pacific striker Djenairo Daniels, who took a touch to his left before passing the ball with his left foot into the back of a wide open net, winning the match for the visitors.
Smyrniotis compared his team’s struggles in this match to another sport, tennis, when asked about his team giving up eleven interceptions to the Pacific players, with seven of those coming in the second half alone. “If you watch tennis they call that unforced errors,” Smyrniotis said. “If a team is pressing you and you lose the ball, then it’s done in a proper way. There was no pressure on the ball… it makes it easy for the game to swing a little bit. I think that’s what was happening, uncharacteristically we were giving up the ball a little bit too much.”
Tale of two halves as Forge come out flying, but Pacific take over after the break
The first half at Tim Hortons Field saw the home side Forge FC get the better chances to put the ball into the back of the net, but in the second half the match could not have been more different. Woobens Pacius and Tristan Borges both missed the target from inside the penalty area in the first half, with Forge’s only attempt on target of the first 45 (and in the end, the match) a header from Kyle Bekker with little power behind it that was caught with ease by Kieran Baskett. The opportunities were there for the Hammers, and they did a pretty good job of keeping Pacific in their own half, but they failed to take advantage. Pacius’ opportunity in particular was one that he should have done better with. After Bekker played a low cross into the box, Pacius had a good lane to get a shot on goal, but instead sent his shot well over the bar.
The second half was a much different story, however. After getting just two shots off in the first 45 minutes, Pacific had 14 after the break as they flipped the script and piled a ton of pressure on the Hammers. They too struggled a bit to find the target, doing so just twice — one of which was a pass into an empty net after the aforementioned error at the back from Triston Henry and Dom Samuel — but they were slowly grinding Forge down and a goal always felt inevitable. Pacific are also a team that presses very well. Manny Aparicio is a workhorse in midfield, and Djenairo Daniels has raised his level this season to become one of the better pressing forwards in the league. It was that relentless running from Daniels off the bench that in part led to the error that would become his goal. The possession numbers, while not always a good indicator of how well a team is playing, told a story in this match as well. Forge had 63.4% possession of the ball in the first half, dictating a lot of how the opening 45 minutes were played, but after the break the Tridents had the majority of the ball, especially in the later stages. Pacific only touched the ball in Forge’s box five times in the first half, but after the break they did so 28 times as they inched closer to finding a goal once Ayman Sellouf, Sean Young and Daniels came off the bench in the second half. For comparison, Forge only touched the ball in Pacific’s box 26 times in the entire match.
“I think up until about the 65th minute the game was in control, and for some reason after that, uncharacteristically, it became a game of transition,” head coach Bobby Smyrniotis said after the match. “Then you’re playing with chance and luck, and those two guys don’t play on our team.” “We came into a difficult place to play, so we wanted to be organized and compact defensively to start the game and not give them anything in our half,” said his counterpart James Merriman. “We came in at halftime true to our plan and I think then we could start to open up a bit more, start to attack more. Then we knew the changes that we were going to be able to make, [which] could make the difference at the end of a match.”
Clean sheet on the road gives Baskett and Tridents backline something to build on
For the third match in a row James Merriman opted to start Kieran Baskett between the sticks, after the net primarily belonged to Emil Gazdov earlier in the season. Gazdov was the starter to begin the season, getting a few games in a row, but after a few preventable mistakes led to goals and dropped points, Merriman has since given Kieran Baskett a few starts in a row — including each of their last three matches. Baskett hasn’t been perfect, and it was Gazdov who got the start in an important Canadian Championship semifinal against the Vancouver Whitecaps not too long ago, but Baskett’s play has at the very least given Merriman something to think about when it comes to his goalkeeping tandem. Ideally both will find good form and it will be a good problem to have, but at the moment it feels like the starting job is still there for the taking. Forge didn’t test Baskett a lot on Saturday night, just once in the first half, but the Pacific goalkeeper looked confident between the sticks, and was effective when he had the ball at his feet when called upon. Praise must also of course be given to Amer Didic and Thomas Meilleur-Giguère, who put in another strong performance as key figures in the centre of the Tridents backline. Meilleur-Giguère in particular had a good game, making eight clearances, winning both of his attempted tackles, and making one interception. Didic continues to be one of the best aerial players in the CPL, winning all five aerial duels and making three clearances as well. Eric Lajeunesse got another start at left back as well, and the young defender was tied with TMG on a team-high two won tackles, also making three clearances and two interceptions as he too begins to emerge as a steady player that Merriman can trust when called upon. “It’s important for him, he needs to keep playing and keep building confidence,” Merriman said of Baskett after the match. “He’s a young goalkeeper, he’s only 21 years old. It’s competitive between him and Emil, but he’s had a good run. “It’s important to him, but also our defenders, to keep a clean sheet. It’s something we spoke about, and to do it here at Forge against a quality team and a difficult place to come and play, will give us confidence and we can build from that.”
CanPL.ca Pla****yer of the Match
Adonijah Reid, Pacific FC
Adonijah Reid, after nearly scoring in the first half, was one of several players that stepped it up for Pacific after the break as they chased, and then found, an elusive goal to go top of the table.
What’s next?
Forge FC hit the road next week, travelling to Winnipeg to take on Valour FC at IG Field on Friday (7:00 pm CT/8:00 pm ET). Pacific FC will head back home to Langford, where they will host York United next Sunday (1:00 pm PT/4:00 pm ET). Watch all matches live on OneSoccer. In addition to its website and app, OneSoccer is now available on TELUS channel 980 and on Fubo TV. Call your local cable provider to ask for OneSoccer today.