2022 CPL Regular Season — Match #90
Valour FC vs. Forge FC
September 4, 2022 at 1 p.m. CT/2 p.m. ET
IG Field in Winnipeg, Manitoba
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The Canadian Premier League playoff race gained some serious heat on Wednesday night both in the league table and on the pitch at IG Field as Valour defeated Forge 1-0. What looked for many weeks to be a reasonably comfortable four-horse race for the league’s four playoff spots has gained a late entrant as Valour has undoubtedly joined the chase. Heading into this weekend’s matches, they sit just two points behind Pacific for the league’s fourth and final postseason berth, courtesy of a Wednesday wondergoal from Matteo De Brienne.
Wednesday’s was an intense affair, which saw tensions boil over as Valour and Forge committed 31 combined fouls and picked up five yellow cards apiece. That includes a pair handed out to Valour’s leading goalscorer, Moses Dyer during a shoving match between the two sides late in added time. Adding to the playoff feel is the fact that they will now contest a “second leg” of sorts on Sunday. The match, which will also be played at IG Field represents a rare and incredibly intriguing regular season back-to-back between Forge and Valour. “We saw how heated the game was on Wednesday, and I don’t expect anything different going into this game,” said Valour FC head coach Phil Dos Santos. Coming into this two-game series, Valour was the side under significant pressure to pick up points. But that pressure has also now shifted to Forge, who is on a club-worst four-match run without a win, and three losses during that stretch. The Hamilton side is still three points ahead of Valour and has the best goal difference in the league with a game in hand, but that gap has undoubtedly been closing. Forge has perhaps been unlucky in recent matches. A long-distance strike from Kyle Bekker against Ottawa appeared to have crossed the line but was ruled no goal, while Andrew Jean-Baptiste made a brilliant goal-line clearance for Valour on Wednesday. But when Forge is at their best, they create their own luck, and with under 1 expected goal in each of their last five matches, they haven’t been nearly good enough at creating significant chances. Valour, meanwhile, has been excellent at preventing those chances, as July 30 against Pacific was the last time they conceded more than a single goal in a match. They have put together back-to-back clean sheets against top-quality sides in Pacific and Forge and have four clean sheets in their last six matches. The Winnipeg side’s win over Forge on Wednesday has actually been very much the trend in recent meetings. Valour has won five of the last six matches between these two sides, yet another statistic Forge will be looking to change on Sunday.
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3 THINGS TO WATCH
- **Forge still looking to find the right mix in their front three: **Between Wednesday’s match against Valour, and Forge’s previous game against Atlético Ottawa, Bobby Smyrniotis elected to entirely rotate his front three. Woobens Pacius, Kwasi Poku and Terran Campbell got the start against Ottawa, while Smyrniotis elected to go with Tristan Borges, Jordan Hamilton and David Choinière against Valour. It was both an impressive demonstration of the squad depth he has at his disposal, but also an indicator that Forge hasn’t quite been able to find its best attacking mix as they reach the critical part of the season. Several Forge attackers have gone uncharacteristically cold over the past few weeks. After winning the league’s Player of the Month award for July, Forge leading goalscorer Woobens Pacius hasn’t scored in four matches. Terran Campbell, who has been streaky at the best of times this season, hasn’t scored in over a month. As the club struggles to find consistent offence for the first time this season, it is crucial that Smyrniotis unlocks the best combination of Campbell, Pacius, Hamilton, Borges, Choinière and Emery Welshman. * **The importance of discipline as the games get more heated: ****With so much at stake over the next month, firey affairs like Wednesday’s contest are only likely to become more common. That intensity and pressure will bring with it a heightened need for discipline, and maturity in emotional situations on the pitch. Valour, in particular, has struggled at times staying out of the referee’s notebook this season. Only Cavalry has been shown more yellow cards this year, while Valour are now tied with York for most reds (five) in 2022. After Wednesday’s match between Valour and Forge ended in a shoving match which saw team leading goalscorer Moses Dyer sent off, Dos Santos acknowledged there is a fine line this time of year. He loved the intensity and fight his club showed in that moment, but it is also about being smart. “You need to be intelligent as well, and that’s what I told them,” said Dos Santos. “You need to recognize the fact that you already have a yellow card and you need to stay away from those types of brawls and conflicts because at the end of the day the truth is that a player like Moses Dyer won’t be able to help us on Sunday. Yes, play with passion, play with emotion. Yes, stand up for each other, be very present in the game, and be committed. But still, make the right decisions.” * Without Dyer, Valour will need other difference makers: Despite picking up all three points, Valour was dealt a difficult blow in the dying moments of Wednesday’s match as leading goalscorer Moses Dyer was sent off. Dyer will miss Sunday’s match as a result, leaving the Winnipeg side in need of its other attacking options to step up. The good news is that they have of late, particularly Sean Rea who played the pass to set up or scored all but two goals from Valour this past month. The man he set up on Wednesday, De Brienne, will also have a big opportunity to play a crucial role in this match having scored one of the most potentially important goals in Valour history on Wednesday in spectacular fashion. “We have shown that we are a team who has the ability to adjust and adapt,” said Dos Santos. “When people saw William Akio leave it is a big hole to fill. Our job as coaches is to find solutions, it is to make sure that you change players but the level of performance doesn’t drop and that’s what is going to need to happen on the weekend.”
ALL-TIME SERIES
Valour wins: 5 || Forge wins: 7 || Draws: 1
Previous match:
August 31, 2022 – Valour FC 1-0 Forge FC
KEY QUOTES
“We know that is going to be another difficult test for us. But better to approach this game in the position we are in today than maybe 10 days ago. So we are excited, we are ready for the challenge and we are looking forward to it” — Valour FC head coach Phil Dos Santos “In one way it is a little bit of a positive. You are not resetting and going after a different opponent and looking at different things. You are playing in the same stadium against the same team and we knew that brought certain challenges in that first game and now we know them a little bit better.” — Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis