When your opponents are at home, feeling larger than life and swimming with positive destiny—and can peek over to the bench and see one of this century’s greatest players available if needed—you’ve got to take advantage of every little chance you’re afforded.
Forge FC couldn’t find a way to penetrate the scoring areas of the ultra-confident Vancouver Whitecaps Tuesday night, and were defeated 4-0 in the second leg of the TELUS Canadian Championship semi-final, eliminating them from the hunt for the national title that is near the top of the Hammer's wish list.
The two sides had drawn 2-2 in Hamilton a month ago, but on the left coast, this one belonged thoroughly to the opportunistic and lightning-quick counterattack of the Whitecaps, who were still buoyant after Saturday night’s 7-0 victory against MLS leaders Philadelphia Union, in which newly-signed star Thomas Müller had three goals and an assist. Müller did not appear in Tuesday’s game because he was not needed after the Caps took a 2-0 lead into the intermission, then scored on a penalty kick just four minutes into the second half, before the adjustments Forge made at the intermission had any real chance to take root. From there, the hill was too steep to climb, and the Caps wouldn’t let them get any kind of real toehold.
“It’s tough,” said Forge forward Tristan Borges, who worked the right side of the attack, probing with Nana Ampomah, who was a force all night, but there just wasn’t enough of it. “When you’re playing a very good opponent that’s in great form—they’ve been doing very well themselves and have quality all around—it’s kind of fine margins. Little details are the most important in games like this; set pieces, giving away penalties, little details like that, when you play a team that’s in great form, you give them momentum.”
The Hammers now redirect their focus back to their pursuit of finishing first in the Canadian Premier League, which they still occupy two points up on Ottawa Atlético with a Sunday showdown in the Nation’s Capital. If they can win the CPL Shield, for finishing first, they’ll get the same bye into next winter’s Concacaf Champions Cup that the Whitecaps are now one win away from. Vancouver has won the last three Canadian titles and will go for a fourth against the winner of Thursday’s Atlético-Vancouver FC semifinal, which has its second leg Thursday night.
On Tuesday, Forge FC got off to a brilliant start, but it was short and unrequited. They had a glorious chance just 82 seconds into the game when Whitecaps keeper Isaac Boehmer athletically blocked Alex Achinioti-Jönsson’s labelled shot from in tight on a reaction save.
Early goals in either half change game plans, and a Hamilton marker on that chance might have altered the course of this match, but we’ll never know. From there, the Caps took over and scored on a set piece off a drifting corner kick from Sebastian Berhalter in just the seventh minute, with Tristan Blackmon taking advantage of a too-early leap by Forge keeper Jassem Koleilat and knocking it home easily. The Forge defence had miscommunicated on the set piece.
Koleilat made several outstanding saves as the game progressed, but overall, Vancouver had too much speed, energy, and ball control. Berhalter, who dropped back to intercept any Forge crosses into the box, and forward Jayden Nelson were both outstanding in this match, as was attacking defender Ali Ahmed, and Forge rarely found answers as the Whitecaps counter-attacked with Gatling-gun rapidity.
The Caps went up 2-0 in the 28th minute with JC Ngando’s carefully-placed shot following some sloppy play by the Forge just outside their own box.
Hamilton allowed too many quick bursts up the middle of the field from the Caps, who worked a ball-control game, whereas Forge, which plays on its front foot, often owns possession and sets the tempo. But Forge, pressed by the speedy Whitecaps, never really found sustained pace.
And when Forge defender Marko Jevremović pulled down a Whitecap in the Forge box in the 49th minute to give Berhalter a penalty kick, which he converted. This one was all but over.
“These games are always about small details,” said Forge head coach Bobby Smyrniotis. “You give up a goal on a set piece, that’s a small detail, it’s different from the run of play. And then to be honest, the game opened up…it opened up especially on the right side with Ampomah, we just couldn’t take advantage of it.
“In that first half, you need to be able to score. We had some confidence entering the second half that we knew we could create those situations… then you take a punch in the 49th minute against a very good team. We learned this in the past when you’re playing a good team at the top of their game--we’ve seen it in Champions League as well--you can’t let those details dictate: one goal off a corner, one goal off a penalty makes it very difficult against a very good and confident team.
“There’s still a lot of football left to play, so you re-focus and you go. That’s the reality of it. There’s disappointment in the room because we didn’t show up here, thinking we’re going to lose. We showed up trying to go into the next round, so that disappointment is there. So you have to look at the small details that made the difference, reorganize, and get ready for the next one.”
Which is Sunday in Ottawa.
The absence of Forge’s injured rugged centre back, Malik Owolabi-Belewu, was noticeable in this series. Against a team with as much speed and depth as the Whitecaps, not having him for both legs was critical. But to be fair, Vancouver was without Brian White, one of the MLS’s top strikers, and their captain, Ryan Gauld, didn’t play either game.
Achinioti-Jönsson was brave in throwing his body in front of several thundering Vancouver shots, and Smyrniotis praised the play of defender Dan Nimick as well, but the Whitecaps just had too much for Forge on this night.
Smyrniotis substituted for striker Brian Wright after the intermission and for the final half-hour, also summoned Borges, Kyle Bekker, and Nimick to the bench. That was partly to get a little different energy into the game, Smyrniotis said, but partly a recognition of the 3-0 score at the time, and thinking ahead to save their legs for Sunday’s first-place showdown.
Recently-signed Belgian forward Victor Klonaridis, who’d been with Forge last year, got his first action in the second half, and that was with Sunday in mind too. “His quality is immense,” Smyrniotis said. “He’s very vertical with a good eye for the goal. I thought he could affect this game, but I also want to make sure he gets acclimatized to the match rhythm for the games ahead.”
The Hammers, who’ve had an outstanding season, have now lost three of their last four games and don’t have a lot of time to regroup. They have to fly home from the coast and prepare to face Atlético on Sunday. But Ottawa will have even less rest as they play their Canadian Championship semifinal second leg—at least it’s at home for them—Thursday night against upset-minded Vancouver FC, who lead the series 3-1 after the first leg.
“Obviously, this was a tough result,” Borges said. “But I’m proud of the guys; we kept pushing. It’s been a long season, and we’ve obviously been very, very good, and we wanted to make noise in this championship, but hats off to Vancouver, they’ve been very good this season, and they were very good today.
“Yes, it’s been a busy season, but we’re not making excuses. We could say the same for them. Mid-week game after playing on the weekend. As a club, we’ve been in this situation pretty much since Year 1, playing in the Canadian Championships and Concacaf League. It’s about staying level-headed, understanding that it’s a long season. At the end of the day, we played a quality opponent that was on it today. When you make little mistakes and you’re playing a quality opponent, they’re going to make us pay for it. It’s something we’ve got to learn from.”