Put ‘em in at one end, keep ‘em out at the other.
Do that, and more often than not, you’ll find yourself exactly where Forge FC does today: the only unbeaten team in the Canadian Premier League and sprinting up the standings like a hungry quarter-horse.
The Hammers have now gone 11 games without a loss—extending their league record for the longest undefeated streak to open a season - after Sunday’s statement 5-0 victory over a disoriented Valour FC in weather-assaulted Winnipeg. It was a four-plus-hour affair, delayed several times by threatening skies, including half an hour at kickoff and a lengthy go-stop-go-again, starting in the 57th minute.
Even with the environmental disruptions, it was a significant win for Forge on many levels:
- Hamilton has often brought out the best in their fellow charter CPL members in Winnipeg, losing seven of their previous nine games in the Manitoba capital. But this one wasn’t close, essentially done by the half, as Forge led 3-0.
Their striker struck. Brian Wright scored three times to double his regular-season total and move to within two goals of the Golden Boot lead. He was set up twice by centre back Dan Nimick, and finished decisively in the ninth and 15th minutes, then scored from the spot late in the half after Hoce Massunda drew a foul in the box. It was only the second time in CPL history that a player has registered a hat-trick before the intermission.
“I feel like I’ve been saying the same kind of thing week in and week out, I’ve been annoying about it,” Wright said. “The chances have been coming, I just haven’t been as clinical as I have in past seasons. Obviously, to get three opportunities and to bury them all is nice, and to move up in the Golden Boot race, but at the end of the day, it’s the three points and a clean sheet that matter.”
- Forge has taken care of business against the league’s second-tier teams in the past month, winning against and shutting out Pacific, Vancouver and now Valour.
- Hamilton kept pace in the sandwich-tight upper half of the league table, moving into second place with 23 points from 11 games, just two points ahead of third-place Cavalry—themselves on a nine-game CPL unbeaten tear---and only two back of first-place Ottawa. They have a game in hand over both Ottawa and fourth-place Halifax, who have 21 points. Fifth-place York, whom Hamilton hosts in a 905 Derby fixture Sunday, is well in arrears at 12 points.
Forge has been scoring goals of late, with nine in their three June games. There had been concern that they weren’t finishing, but head coach Bobby Smyrniotis continually emphasized that he wasn’t worried: “Like I’ve said, when you’re not creating the chances, that’s when you have a problem. We’ve been creating chances from Game No. 1. So as long as you’re doing the right thing, and we are, the goals will go in.”
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Smyrniotis’s challenge to his team this year was for a commitment to overall team defence; attackers defending more aggressively and defenders attacking more. With Nimick’s two assists Sunday, Forge now has nine goal contributions from back-line players; four goals and five assists, with Nimick leading the way with a goal and three assists. His first assist Sunday was on a perfect long pass, and his second came after he broke the defence with a penetrating run toward the box. “And (Rezart) Rama’s play on the right side was great,” Smyrniotis said of another back, who threaded a professional pass to David Choinière that resulted in a goal called back on an inadvertent offside. “We’ve asked these guys to be a much more solid unit defensively. The whole team, not just the back four.”
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As a result of the front-of-mind defensive work, Forge has allowed only seven goals in its 11 games, two fewer than Cavalry. The third-best is 12 goals against. Forge keeper Jassem Koleilat, who had to make a couple of big saves Sunday, leads the league with a stunning six clean sheets. “It’s massive, you want to be powerful and score goals on one end, but at the same time you want to keep them out of your net,” Wright said. “Jass has been tremendous; I’m so happy for him to get another clean sheet. And obviously the backline in front of him. And Ali (Hojabrpour, midfielder) was cleaning up a lot of plays. Again, a total team effort.”
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In their last four road games, in Halifax, Victoria, Vancouver and Winnipeg, Hamilton has taken 10 of 12 points, including nine-for-nine over the last three, and has outscored the home sides by a collective 8-0.
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Forge’s five goals in Winnipeg matched the highest total in team history, established once before: July 19, 2022, in a 5-1 victory over the now-dormant Edmonton FC. On six other occasions, they’ve scored four times. But this was their largest margin of victory ever, one better than previous 4-0 wins over Atlético (2021), Wanderers (2022) and York (2023). The Hammers have given up four goals only three times, all in losses: 4-0 to York and 4-1 to Olimpia in Concacaf play, both in the inaugural season of 2019; and 4-3 to Atlético, last year.
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On Sunday, Nimick became just the fifth CPL defender to record two official assists in the same game. “Daniel had been solid for us all season and tremendous the last few weeks,” Wright said. “I’m happy for him to get those two assists, and with the passes he gave me, I was able to be clinical.”
While Wright’s triple and generally cohesive team defensive play were the signature themes of this game there were several other notables, including one by Wright himself, when he let a ball roll through him-it first appeared to be a ‘dummy’ (intentional miss)—to Mo Babouli who turned a 2-on-1 into a perfect pass to Nana Ampomah for the 4-0 goal which salted the victory.
“Honestly, I thought I was offside, so I just left the ball,” Wright said. “And Mo was able to run in behind.”
Ampomah was again slickly dangerous in this match and drove into the box to create chances, with defenders often being distracted by Wright’s looming presence. His bold dribbles from the right side helped free up Wright, who was always in a good position.
“We all know Nana is a quality player and last week we all saw what he can do,” Wright said, referring to the solid 2-0 victory in Vancouver. “He got a “hockey assist” on the first goal, and he drew the penalty kick for us on the second goal. Week in and week out in training, he’s pushing.”
Meanwhile, over on the left flank, 19-year-old Massunda continued his evolution into a winger who can’t be ignored. He ventured into the box creatively and was brought down once, which did not draw a foul call but should have, then later, when the foul was correctly whistled to put the ball on the spot for Wright’s third goal.
“We had a lot of good forward movement,” Smyrniotis said. “When we got into the box, we got in with vigour and that’s important.”
The wing play of Ampomah and Massunda has covered for injuries to veterans Tristan Borges and Choinière and allowed Smyrniotis to use Choinière judiciously off the bench on Sunday.
It also fosters internal mid-season competition for starting roles. That positional depth is a hallmark of an experienced lineup, as is the manner in which Forge dealt with the multiple lightning-inspired delays. Forge has faced such mid-game stoppages before, most memorably in last year’s second leg of the Canadian Championship semifinal in which they withheld an onslaught by CF Montréal right at Stade Saputo after a long halftime delay in a game they led 2-0.
They’ve also endured game interruptions in Concacaf play.
Smyrniotis and his staff drew some lessons from those prior brushes with unpredictable pauses in game flow.
“One is to try not to update (his players) too often, to give them something that’s a little further away, as opposed to letting them know every five minutes what’s going on,” Smyrniotis said. “It helps going into the second half that we had a good lead. We played some excellent football in the first half. In those situations, it’s easier to keep the guys’ heads straight and calm and in being prepared. We also know it’s a period where the opponent has got a little more time to bring something different to the pitch, so I’m happy with how the guys got out there.
“We wanted to create space against the opponent, and we did that.”
Smyrniotis credited Wright’s diligent play on and off the ball and says even when he wasn’t scoring, Wright was still playing the game correctly, and that on Sunday, “his movement and depth were excellent.
“The biggest thing is you want a guy who fits in with the team and does the things you need. Of course, a striker needs to score goals, but if goals are coming from other areas of the field because he’s occupying others, or he’s involved in the movement, that’s also something important for us. For each player in the attack, it’s important to contribute to goals. I’ve been very happy with his play before today, and I’m very happy after today as well. For a striker, games like this give him more energy to keep on going.”
For his part, Wright kept turning the conversation back to another three points the Hammers harvested on the road under trying conditions.
“We know what we’re capable of when we show up and play our brand of football and meet the intensity of what the game’s asking,” he said. “We know in certain areas … if we can execute, we’ll show our quality. And we saw today we were able to do just that.”