It’s going to be 25 degrees when they play in Monterrey Tuesday night, but Forge did train outside at Hamilton Friday afternoon in sub-zero temperatures.
They’ll depart Sunday for Mexico, where they’ll face Tigres UANL at the famous Estadio Universitario, nicknamed El Volcán for its rabidly volcanic fan base.
They head into the second leg of the total-goals opening round of Concacaf Champions Cup off an excellent—and internationally unanticipated—result in Tuesday’s first game here, an entertaining 0-0 draw.
They’re still vast underdogs but did give themselves a chance to win Game 1 and didn’t allow an away goal, which means as long as they don’t lose Tuesday, and can score a goal, they would advance to the round of 16.
“I think we have to have personality for the next game,” says 19-year-old Spanish forward Ismael Oketokoun, who started the game for Forge in the absence of veteran Nana Ampomah, who hasn’t been issued a work visa.
“We need to have pride and belief that we can win this game, that it’s an option for us. It’s a battle, and we have to win the battle.”
Oketokoun was playing just his eighth game as a senior player, after seven matches last year in the fifth tier of Spanish football, which is primarily a semi-professional league.
He worked himself into position for a couple of good chances against the 2020 Mexican league champions and 2025 finalists. He put one off target, and on another, he hung back just a step, anticipating a pass from new teammate Ben Paton, who instead put a grounded great cross across the front of the net that just needed a tap-in.
“It was a very hard game against a very good team who play at a high level, but I felt good and thought I did well,” he said. “I was just happy to play. I didn’t expect to play because I’m new and there are people here who have more experience than me. When I saw I was starting, I was happy and very surprised.”
Oketokoun was signed earlier in the month and said he came to Hamilton “because there was a wonderful opportunity to improve my play so I can become better and move to a higher level.”
He knew the names of only three players on the Monterrey-based Tigres: globally-recognized stars, André-Pierre Gignac, the French striker; Spanish midfield legend Angel Correa; and Mexico’s Diego Lainez, the smooth playmaker who spent five years in Spain’s top division.
“I can’t believe it, I was playing against them, but it’s true,” he said Friday. “The thing is, I’m playing against big stars… but I’m not less than them, so I have to stay at the same level or higher than these players.
“The first game was a good chance to learn that I have to be quicker in the next game. Sometimes I have to be more concentrated. As a striker, sometimes you score, and sometimes you don’t. But this helps me to know that I have to score the next time.”
What is the Champions Cup and why does it matter?
Facing up to a challenge:
Gignac, who played in the World Cup and Olympics for France, was, of course, a focus of attention for two players from France who will be integral to the Hammers’ chances this series and this season. He was idolized in their youth by Forge goalkeeper Dimitry Bertaud, who stole the show Tuesday, and central defender Antoine Batisse, who was part of a very disciplined back line.
Batisse threw everything, including his face, into his work. In the first half, he took a hard shot square in the face, which deflected away for a corner kick but left Batisse reeling for a few moments.
“With the cold, my eyes were crying a bit,” he conceded. “But it was fine. The game felt pretty good, and I adjusted. The hardest thing was the cold. I’ve never felt any air that cold, but I got accustomed to it, and it was great out there.”
Forge home schedule begins with a pair of redemption games
When the CPL released its full schedule this week, a few things about Forge’s calendar immediately jumped off the page.
Among them are the first two home games, the season opener on Saturday, April 4, when Atlético Ottawa visits, and Saturday, April 18, when Cavalry FC comes to town. Those, of course, are the two teams that defeated Forge in last fall’s back-to-back CPL semi-finals, as the Hammers didn’t reach the CPL championship game for the first time in their seven-year history.
The opener will also feature the first official game in which the Paton brothers—Ben for Hamilton, Harry for Calgary—will play against each other. They were teammates with Forge last fall.
The third home game, which is also the annual, high-energy, School Day Match, will be the first time that Forge plays against the expansion team FC Supra du Quebéc. Supra, which plays out of the Montréal suburb of Laval, will be led by Forge legend David Choiniére, who scored so many big goals in his seven years with the Hammers. Abu Sissoko, who played 52 games and scored six goals for Forge in 2022-23, is also with the CPL’s newest club.
On Sunday, July 7, Forge will be at York Stadium to meet the newly-rebranded Inter Toronto side (formerly York United) in the first installment of 2026’s 905 Derby. Inter comes to Hamilton Stadium for the first time on Saturday, Sept. 5
With this being the biggest year in Canadian soccer history, the CPL takes a two-week schedule intermission for the men’s World Cup, with the final game before the break on Wednesday, June 10, against HFX Wanderers. Halifax will also be here on Saturday, May 9, for the opening round of the Canadian Championship
Appropriately, Forge returns from the international break on Canada Day with a home date against Vancouver FC.
Forge’s final home game is Monday afternoon, Oct. 12, Thanksgiving Day, against Inter Toronto, and they’ll end the regular season with two games on the road, at Ottawa and Pacific.
Hot about the cold
Los Tigres were not happy after Tuesday’s game, mostly because they did not convert their chances, and partly because they were going to face some local scorn after failing to win, let alone rout, the resilient Forge, who are positioned more than 2000 places behind the Mexicans on FIFA’s international club-team ranking system.
But outspoken goalkeeper Nahuel Guzman – known as Patón, which means ‘large-footed’, was also upset, not because of snow and ice, he said, but because of cold water. He posted on social media that “it was so cold that the hot water didn’t make it to the visitors’ locker room.” The remark was seized upon by many media outlets covering the game.
