Hamilton soccer fans have a chance to see not only another high-calibre Concacaf Champions Cup game this week, but can also welcome back to town Forge FC’s second all-time leading scorer.
Woobens Pacius has made the roster of Nashville SC, an accomplished Major League Soccer side which will play their road leg of Champions Cup’s opening round Tuesday night (8 p.m.) at Hamilton Stadium.
They’ll face reigning and first-time CPL playoff champions Atlético Ottawa in Hamilton because construction at Ottawa’s TD Place at Lansdowne Park rendered Atléti’s home field unavailable.
The return leg is the following Tuesday in Nashville’s Geodis Park, which at 30,000 seats is currently the largest soccer-specific stadium in the U.S. or Canada. (Toronto’s BMO Field will be larger after renovations for the World Cup.)
Pacius, who is still only 24 and is on Haiti’s roster for the 2026 Men’s World Cup, played for Forge from 2021-23, after opting to leave CF Montréal’s system and made a massive impact on the Hammers. He had 32 goals across all competitions for Hamilton: 26 in 73 CPL games, another three in just five playoff games and three more in the Canadian Championships.
Tristan Borges, with 39 goals through all competitions, is the only Forge player who’s found the back of the net more often in the club’s illustrious history.
“Woobs did fantastic here,” said Forge captain Kyle Bekker. “I think this will be great for him in Nashville. He had a great time here and we were happy to see him move, and he’ll have success. Hopefully he comes back into town and puts in a great performance.”
Forge head coach Bobby Smyrniotis said a few days ago that “Woobens has a two-and-a-half-year history with our club. It’s a big history and ever since he’s left, he’s been progressing. It’s something we should all be proud of. Woobens came to our club and hadn’t played for more than a year, and maybe was written off because of some injuries at a young age, but I remember his first couple of training sessions here with his ability and knack for putting the ball in the net. I thought, ‘This kid’s got fantastic potential, and if he continues to work hard, the sky’s the limit.’”
With Forge’s blessings, Pacius moved on to Nashville in 2024 and was loaned to its reserve team, Huntsville FC of MLS Pro. Then last season, again on loan, he moved up to Tampa Bay Rowdies of the USL Championship. But Nashville exercised their option for this season and he’s on their roster for their opening round against Ottawa.
He’s got a history against Atlético, making his debut against them the day he signed his first pro contract, then scoring his first two goals as a senior pro against them less than three weeks later.
He also helped Forge win the 2022 league title against Ottawa, right in Ottawa. That season he had a six-game streak during which he scored seven goals, scored the fastest goal from opening kickoff in Forge history (inside two minutes), scored in both legs of the playoff semifinals and banged in 13 goals across all competitions.
He’ll be trying to crack into a strong Nashville attacking unit that revolves around the 1-2 punch of Brit Sam Surridge and German midfielder Hany Mukhtar. Only one MLS player had more goals last season than Surridge’s 24: Lionel Messi.
While Hamilton-born Teal Bunbury has left Nashville for LAFC, the Boys in Gold as they’re nicknamed are considered among the contenders for the MLS title, having won the U.S. Open Cup—a 112-year-old tournament equivalent to the Canadian Championship—last season, making the playoffs six of their seven seasons since their 2018 MLS inaugural campaign and adding a trio of impressive newcomers: Cristian Espinoza from San Jose, one of the top free agents available; Costa Rican forward Warren Madrigal; and Ghanaian centre back Maxwell Woledzi, who played in Norway’s top league.
And they’ve got legendary keeper Joe Willis, 16 years in MLS, between the posts.
Mukhtar fed Espinoza on Nashville’s only goal in a 2-1 loss to lower-level Lexington SC in their final exhibition game on Saturday in Nashville.
Nashville earned its berth in the 27-team continental championship by winning the U.S. Open Cup and Ottawa became one of three CPL teams in Champions Cup, along with Forge and Vancouver FC (both now eliminated), with their memorable 2-1 overtime win over Cavalry in the CPL final to win the North Star Cup.
It’s Atlético’s first foray into international competition. They led the CPL in goals scored and although they lost Golden Boot winner Sam Salter to the Swedish league and playmaker David Rodriguez has returned to Mexico to play for Atlético San Luis, they brought in Norwegian striker Erling Myklebust from Norway’s second division.
And the arrival of promising young attacker Emiliano Garcia, who played U-20 for Mexico and was mostly with San Luis U-21s last year showed the value of being part of the Atlético Madrid extended family. They already have midfielder Kevin Ortega on loan from San Luis.