Final Score: Forge FC 1-2 Atlético Ottawa
Goalscorers: Choinière 23; Antinoro 33', Salter 58'
2025 CPL Playoffs
Championship Semifinal
Match in a minute or less
Atlético Ottawa are headed to the 2025 CPL Final, thanks to a comeback 2-1 victory over Forge FC in Sunday's Championship Semifinal at Hamilton Stadium.
Forge opened the scoring midway through the first half, when David Choinière capitalized on a miscommunication in Atleti's box to smash home a loose ball. However, Ottawa did not acquiesce after falling behind, and 21-year-old Gabriel Antinoro did it all himself with a wonderful solo run from the halfway line before firing from the top of the box to equalize.
Early in the second half, Atleti climbed in front as Manny Aparicio chased a ball to the end line then cut it across to an unmarked Sam Salter, who scored with a header (his 24th in all competitions this year) to give the visitors a lead.
Ottawa held onto the advantage through the rest of the game, including eight tense minutes of stoppage time, and saw out the win by a narrow margin. So, they now go straight into the championship bout, while Forge have to play next week's Contender Semifinal for one more chance to get to the Final.
Three Observations
Atlético Ottawa fight back again, finally beat Forge on biggest stage yet
Part of the reason Atlético Ottawa lost the CPL Shield race to Forge was that they didn't manage to beat the Hamilton club in four attempts; in fact, their most recent visit to Hamilton was a dominant Forge win.
It seems, though, that coach Diego Mejía and his squad saved the best for the postseason. Knowing they hadn't yet slain this particular dragon, they were wholly focused and determined to do so on Sunday. With one of their best performances of the year, they became the first visiting side to win in Hamilton this whole CPL season.
The way Atleti started this game was particularly impressive; even at the 20th minute, they had about 75 per cent possession. Of course, Forge need just one opportunity to be dangerous and they'll punish you for it, so a momentary lapse in communication allowed David Choinière to open the scoring for the hosts. Neither Nathan Ingham nor Noah Abatneh managed to clear away a ball across the six-yard box, and Choinière made them pay.
However, there's a reason Ottawa led the CPL in points gained from losing positions this year (with 17 in the regular season). They have game changers everywhere on the pitch, and on this occasion Gabriel Antinoro was the hero.
Antinoro's confidence has grown tremendously this year, because of the trust Mejía has put in him and the other young players in the squad.
"We have a coaching staff, and I have teammates, that always give me trust," Antinoro said on Sunday evening. "They want me to take on one-v-ones, they want me to try things, and they give me the confidence. The coach allows me to make mistakes."
Ottawa have done an excellent job this year at sticking to their tactical identity even after falling behind in matches. They conceded early enough in this one that they did not need to panic, and could stay the course; their start to the game had been so good that they felt confident they'd be able to score at least one.
“When you know really well the way that you want to play, you never need to change the plan," Mejía told reporters postmatch. "You need to follow the plan till the end. We know we had control of the game, even when we started losing. This team keeps pushing, all the players start to believe in the game model, and we only need to wait for the opportunity to score. It’s not the first time this team showed this performance when we conceded first in the match."
Mejía has dreamt big all year, and has spoken about how good he thinks this team is. He reiterated after the game that he believes what Ottawa are doing this year is truly special.
Now, they're 90 minutes from their first ever North Star Cup.
"All goals start with a dream," Mejía concluded.
Forge underperform in frustrating home defeat
Forge head coach Bobby Smyrniotis wasn't happy following the defeat, but he did assert that his team was good enough to win on the day.
At a glance, the stats show quite an even game: 10 shots apiece, and 52 per cent possession for Forge (62.4 per cent in the second half after ceding more of the ball in the first). However, there were a few uncharacteristic issues with the Hammers in this game.
They don't often lose, but when they do, it's typically because they're not as composed on the ball as they need to be. They gave it away with heavy touches or misplaced passes in key moments — including both Ottawa goals. Antinoro's goal, while obviously a special individual run, still stemmed back to Loïc Cloutier intercepting a pass from Kyle Bekker in the Ottawa half. In the build-up to Salter's goal, Bekker was unlucky that the ball got through his feet so Aparicio could retrieve it, but it's a play the Forge captain would want back.
"We were not our best on the ball, and that created turnovers and a bit more defensive running than we expected," Forge winger David Choinière said after the match.
"But that's the game of football; you've got to adapt to how you feel on the day. I think we did that with scoring the first goal, having the lead, and then it's unfortunate to concede before the half. Good job to Ottawa, they played a good game. But we'll bounce back."
Choinière, for his part, was outstanding on Sunday, and the goal he scored was his fourth career tally in the CPL Playoffs — making him the league's all-time postseason goalscorer. He now has 12 in total for Forge between playoff, Canadian Championship and Concacaf competitions; Choinière routinely delivers in the biggest moments for Hamilton.
Still though, Smyrniotis conceded his side wasn't quite sharp enough in the biggest moments to find that second goal.
“I think we were good enough to win the game," he said. "When you look at how the game went and how things were, were we at our best? No, but we shouldn’t be asking ‘Why wasn’t the team at its best,’ yada yada. We haven’t been at our best, and we win games; today, we were good enough to win."
It was an odd game from the Hammers, who obviously weren't as effective as, for instance, they were a week ago against York United. They weren't bad, either, and got to dangerous areas throughout the game. However, it's rare to see Smyrniotis take both Kyle Bekker and Tristan Borges out of a match with significant time left; both left in the 70th minute, which was a surprise. At that point, down 2-1, Smyrniotis had to get drastic with his adjustments to try and throw new looks at an Ottawa team that had so far managed Forge well.
The elephant in the room, of course, is that Smyrniotis and Forge were also furious at a few key refereeing decisions. There were two moments, one in each half, where the ball struck an Atleti hand in the box, but neither was given as a penalty. There were several controversial calls throughout the match, but Forge undoubtedly feel aggrieved at not getting at least one chance from the spot.
Like last year, Forge will have to do this the hard way to get to the CPL Final. They have one more home game left, and it'll be next Sunday.
The Hammers haven't lost two games in a row all year, and Sunday was the only blemish on their home form. They have also never failed to qualify for a CPL Final in their history.
“This is the best team in the CPL this year, and I’m talking about Forge," Smyrniotis added. "That’s simple. Statistics show it. You lost one game to Ottawa, okay. And we move on; got to win another game, and we have to win another game after that. Nothing’s guaranteed in sports; you come out of these games and you’re gonna win or you’re gonna lose. We’re used to winning a lot, and sometimes you’re going to lose. So you keep on moving, you’ve got to know that you have to be a little bit better in these games, but I also say that we did enough to win this game. Credit to Ottawa, they defended hard, they defended well in the end, and we couldn’t come up with that next one. Sometimes when you’re a click better, maybe you’ll get that call.”
Though this was Ottawa's day, Forge are more motivated than ever to get back into the championship game and hit back at Atleti.
After all, Smyrniotis pointed out, nobody has won the North Star Cup yet:
"Last time I checked, nobody just lifted a trophy.”
Atleti defend well, keep Forge attack quiet in second half
A one-goal lead is rarely safe in a playoff match — just ask the Halifax Wanderers. It's doubly unsafe when playing Forge FC, especially at Hamilton Stadium.
However, Atlético Ottawa did an outstanding job on Sunday after taking the lead. They limited Forge to just three shots (one on target) in the 41 minutes including stoppage time after Sam Salter's winning goal. They attempted 10 tackles in the second half, and won the ball successfully from nine of them.
Ottawa's 20 tackles won on Sunday was tied for their most in a game this year (tying their win in Calgary all the way back in April).
In last year's Contender Semifinal in Hamilton, Atleti's season ended because they couldn't score against Forge, repeatedly turned away by the Hammers' stout defence. They may have learned a thing or two from that experience; they defended with much the same resiliency on Sunday.
The game was extremely physical and feisty over the last 20 minutes; it had the energy of a playoff game, and even though both sides knew that neither would be eliminated on Sunday, they each played as if they might be in the final moments. Ottawa did what was needed to break up Forge's possession and disrupt any rhythm; they fouled when necessary, they booted the ball downfield upon winning it, and they collapsed toward the centre of the pitch to block off passing lanes into the box.
Asked how they got it over the line, Antinoro said this one came down to mentality.
"It's a semifinal," he said. "You leave everything out there; you leave your heart, you leave your soul. I think we did that from the first minute. The important thing for us was to do the things that made us get here, that made us have a beautiful season like we had, and I think we did that."
Before this game, Ottawa's season had been punctuated by some slip-ups in the biggest moments. They lost to Forge handily last time they came to Hamilton. They were knocked out of the Canadian Championship by Vancouver FC.
However, on this stage — the biggest yet — they delivered, and did something nobody had done this season: They beat Forge in Hamilton.
And now, the CPL Final is going back to Ottawa.
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Manny Aparicio, Atlético Ottawa
Aparicio did extremely well to assist Sam Salter's game-winning goal, picking the ball up and chasing down his own touch to keep it in and play it across to Salter. However, he was key to the entire performance, with his energy in midfield making it very difficult for Forge. Aparicio created two chances and made nine passes in the final third, winning eight out of 13 duels with five recoveries. He went five-for-five in tackles attempted, and made three interceptions and three clearances as well.
What’s next?
Atlético Ottawa will host the 2025 CPL Final on Sunday, Nov. 9 at TD Place (5 p.m. ET/2 p.m. PT). Before then, Forge will have one more chance to join them in that title match, as they host either Cavalry FC or York United in the Contender Semifinal next Sunday, Nov. 2.
Watch all of the CPL Playoffs live on OneSoccer and TSN. 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.