Bobby Smyrniotis can barely suppress a laugh when he recalls his initial meeting with Alex Achinioti-Jönsson.
“We were at the Sandman Hotel and he had just got off the plane from Europe,” the Forge FC head coach recalls. “He introduced himself and the very first thing he said to me was, ‘Coach, I’m tired.’”
“And he’s been tired ever since…but he keeps on playing. And here it is 200 games. He’s the league’s Iron Man.”
This was back in the winter of 2019, several weeks before the Canadian Premier League had even touched boot to ball, but on Saturday (5 p.m.) when Forge lines up against Vancouver FC at Hamilton Stadium, Achinioti-Jönsson will become the first player to appear in 200 matches in a CPL jersey. That includes 17 Canadian Championship games, 17 in Concacaf and, as of Saturday, 166 CPL regular and post-season games.
It's a stunning achievement, and only Achinioti-Jönsson and his captain, fellow chunk of fierce flint Kyle Bekker—who will log no. 194 on Saturday—have even reached the 175-game mark as CPLers.
Only 11 CPL players have appeared in as many as 150 games and, not surprisingly given Forge’s penchant to win and advance, seven of them have worn Hamilton colours; Achinioti-Jönsson (No. 1), Bekker (2), Ali Hojabrpour (3), David Choinière (5), Tristan Borges (6), Terran Campbell (8) and Dom Samuel (9).
And of those 11 long-tenured players only Achinioti-Jönsson and Andre Rampersad are not Canadians. They were two of the nine players the CPL awarded with Designated Domestic status earlier this year to recognize and reward their loyalty to a new league. They now don’t count against their clubs’ import player ceiling.
“We’ve had a core that’s kind of been around from Year 1 and I think that’s what led to the quality we’ve had over the years,” Achinioti-Jönsson says. “A lot of pieces around us have moved but obviously (the longtime core) has contributed to the consistency we’ve had.
“Playing 200 games is not something you really think about when you sign with a club. I’m very grateful that I’ve been able to do it…and to stay healthy enough to do it; that’s a big part of it.
“It’s a large physical load with the training we do and a lot of games with not a lot of breaks and I’m grateful I’ve been able to do it so far—knock on wood—without any major injuries.
“It’s a big number and I guess it’s a testament that I’ve done something right but I’m also helped by the other guys on the field every game. I’m just happy to play my part to make this team better. That’s kind of where my focus has been at rather than, ‘I gotta play this game or this game or that game,’ I always try to be a team player and do what’s best for the team.”
And what’s usually best for this team is that he not only plays, he starts and he finishes.
In that regard, it’s appropriate that Achinioti-Jönsson will hit the double century mark against Vancouver FC. Three weeks ago in the Hammers’ 2-0 victory over the Eagles in Langley B.C., he came off the bench to play just 19 minutes, mostly to keep him fresh for the upcoming hothouse of important games. It was the first time in 57 games that he did not start a CPL match for Forge and in every one of the previous 56 he played all 90 minutes.
The last game he actually missed was June 24, 2023 when he was not on the squad for a game against Ottawa because he had permission to be in Europe for a close friend’s wedding.
Considering that the position he plays—much of the time at centre back, although he’s switched positions many times—is among the most physical in the game, that streak wasn’t Iron Man, it was Tungsten Man or Titanium Man. Central defenders block shots, often taken from close range with screaming with dense velocity, and they are constantly throwing their bodies into the paths of hard-charging forwards or fending off burly shooters’ body leverage.
So, yes, Achinioti-Jönsson is usually pretty beat up and very tired.
Smyrniotis said earlier this year that Achinioti-Jönsson is “as Canadian as they come” but he grew up in Hittarp, the Swedish municipality that is closest to Denmark and by the age of 14 was playing sixth-tier soccer with grown men who’d played a higher level. He recalls that he got thrown around a bit, which helped inform his physical style and gave him a love for defending even though he was a midfielder who also attacked.
At 18 he turned pro with Helsingborgs and spent four seasons with them, three in the top flight, so he was already a seasoned high-level player before he reset his inner compass and took his agent’s advice to try the new league in Canada. And that’s worked out quite nicely, including meeting his fiancée Brittany, during a celebration for the Forge’s second championship. He’s won trophy after trophy and figures he’s played more games in Central America than any Swedish pro player.
“I’ve gained experiences from the coaching staff and players I’ve played with who’ve turned into coaches like Eddie (David Edgar) who helped me develop a different kind of understanding,” Achinioti-Jönsson says of his long time in Canada. “You have a lot of players coming from different places around the world. In Sweden I played with players who played in different countries as well, but a lot of players and coaches were Swedish. Here we get a good mix of players because Canadians have always had to go out of the country to play soccer, so they gain a lot of experiences from different cultures of football that they can implement here. I think that’s rewarding to see different sides of the game.”
And who was he, as a player, those 200 games ago?
“I think a bit more naïve of a player, younger, less experienced,” he said. “I had played a little defence before but gained a lot of experiences playing centre back and all over the field here that I didn’t have before. My soccer IQ is a lot higher than it was back then. Maybe I had more energy at 23 than now.
“My core abilities are the same, I’d say. I’m the same type of player; I try to play with a lot of energy, try to think a lot and read the game and be proactive in a lot of cases and I think that was also true when I was 23 and first came here.”
Choinière recalls Achinioti-Jönsson’s arrival, when everyone was brand-new to the team:
“I remember he was a midfielder and he had to change positions when Bobby moved him lower on the field and he adapted very well to a new situation. His IQ of the game and just his intelligence overall speak volumes. That’s his biggest strength.
“It’s impressive to play that many games in six-and-a-half years. He’s not getting injured. He plays every single game, takes care of himself.”
Smyrniotis says “his development has been immense as a player. He came in here as a No. 8 (two-way midfielder), became a No. 6, then a central defender and one of the best players this league has ever seen.
“On the flip side, for a player of his calibre wanting to be around here and to keep challenging himself every year to win trophies, it also says there must be something we’re doing right.”
His Forge will try to extend what they’re doing right in an important heavy stretch over the next few days. They’ve got Vancouver Saturday, then it’s a pair of huge matches to the east: in Montréal for the second leg of the national championship quarter-final, then three days later in Ottawa against first place Atlético, who are coming off a big win in Calgary.
With last Sunday’s comeback 2-2 draw at home against York United, Forge can’t move into first place this weekend, even with a win over Vancouver. But despite their lacklustre first half against York, they’re still riding a wave of positivity. They’re unbeaten in 12 games to start the season, extending their own CPL record, and can match an all-time of 14 straight without a league loss which they established in 2019, their inaugural season.
The club has allowed only nine goals in 12 games. That’s the most miserly total in the CPL and if they continue at that pace will allow five fewer goals than their previous franchise low set in Seasons 1 and 3, and a whopping 13 fewer than they’ve surrendered in league play in each of the last two seasons. As both a cause and reflection of that, Jassem Koleilat has six clean sheets, and with less than a season-and-a-half as a pro, is already tied for seventh place in the CPL’s career shutout rankings. No one above him on the list has spent fewer than four years in the league.
And after struggling for long stretches to find the back of the net—but not in creating the chances to score—Forge has now drained 11 goals in their last four games. Striker Brian Wright is on a confident tear with four goals in two games and even with many Forge shots going over the bar, wide of the post or striking the woodwork through the first eight weeks, they’re still on pace to harvest their second-highest goal total in franchise history.
Their successful pass completion percentage is higher than in most seasons and despite too many draws (six), they’re reaping points from several different styles of play. A very revealing stat is that while they still like to play a definitive forward style, they are in actual possession of the ball far less (50.2 per cent) of the time than in any of their previous six seasons. That’s an indicator of the trust they have in their backline and goalkeeping, and also of being content to allow the opposition long stretches of ineffective ball control because it’s generally on the perimeters.
They’ll be facing a Vancouver team which surrenders too many (two per game) goals and doesn’t score enough (.833 per game).
But Forge will have to be careful not to think past Vancouver FC to Wednesday in Montréal and next Saturday in Ottawa, something Smyrniotis and his coaching staff have been alerting them to all week. Vancouver midfielder Nicolás Mezquida has three goals, and defender Ndlaye Pathé has five goal contributions with 2 goals and three assists, so will require defensive attention.
Hamilton also needs to mount a more consistently energetic start than they did last weekend and provide Achinioti-Jönsson with the home-crowd stage so he can celebrate with a win. It’s a stellar achievement to play 200 games in the same colours, especially when it’s been accompanied by four league titles, six league finals, multiple international games, the 2022 Defender of the Year Award while playing a new position, and status as a de facto on-pitch coach along with Bekker and a couple of other veterans.
“I never thought I’d be here this long, three years max,” he said earlier this year. “But there aren’t many places where you can leave a legacy. It’s about living a meaningful life and I feel fulfilled doing what I’ve done here.”