It’ll be strength against strength.
In tomorrow’s second annual School Day Match, the league’s top offence will tangle with the league’s top defence. Is high-octane offensive Ottawa Atlético the unstoppable force, and is extremely stingy Forge FC the immovable object?
Wrong question, says Forge head coach Bobby Smyrniotis, because it’s too early to answer it. He and his staff are concentrating mostly on their side in the first quarter of the season, spending less time analyzing the opposition than they will do once they’ve done a full cycle of league opponents.
But they’re aware that, speaking simplistically, Ottawa has been excelling at offence with a stunning 20 goals already, while Hamilton has been mostly airtight on defence, allowing a league-low three goals, half as many as anyone else.
Both things are working as Ottawa and Hamilton have yet to lose in their six CPL matches, with Ottawa in first place with 16 points from five wins and a draw and the Forge in third with two wins and three mostly unsatisfying, draws for nine points.
But Forge is coming off a four-day split of games with second-place HFX Wanderers, which saw a CPL scoreless draw on the East Coast and a convincing 3-1 victory four days later in Ontario in the first-round sudden-death Telus Canadian Championship game.
Forge has scored only six goals in league play, and Ottawa has allowed 9 goals, which is tied for the fourth most in the league.
“As per usual, we're focused on what we do,” says Forge central defender Alex Achiniotti-Jönsson, who’s having a good season working beside new defender, veteran Dan Nimick.
“Obviously, our production hasn't been where we wanted to start this year. The last Cup game against Halifax was a good indicator that we're heading the right way. It’s good we've started strong defensively. And obviously, we're going to want to keep it that way. And as a defender, that's something I take pride in: not conceding a lot of goals.
“I think we’ve been getting good situations where we could possibly create chances, but I feel like the last part isn't there in the final third of the field. But I think we also have a lot of good players to kind of unravel defences. It's just getting our attackers to mesh together and work together. And have the aggression towards the goal. We work on it and talk about it every week, so I think it will improve during the season.”
Former Halifax forward Samule Salter is off to a Player of the Year type start, tied for the league lead with five goals and tied for the top at three assists with teammate David Rodriguez, who is also third in goals with four. They also have the Nos. 1 and 3 in total passes in Loïc Cloutier and Juan Castro, sandwiched around Jönsson, who is second. They’ve also got proven offensive threats like Ballou Tabla and Kévin Dos Santos.
And Ottawa likes to shoot, with 76 scoring attempts, nearly 20 more than anyone else and 44 shots on target, 13 up on runners-up Pacific FC.
So, what are the ways Forge can defend them?
“I guess one of them is don't provide them 60 metres of space behind your back line for a breakaway, that’s a simple one,” Smyrniotis quips. “Yeah, they've been doing a good job as an attacking team. They're very forward-thinking, very aggressive in the attack. But, you know, a lot of it comes from transition moments, moments that start deep and in their own end.
“We tend to do a good job against that. But, like I've said in this first round of games, the important thing is to know what we do, not so much what the opponent does. And that's nothing against our opponents for tomorrow or any of them. That changes as we go into the second round of games.
“Ottawa has a distinct way of getting most of their goals. So you want to make sure you neutralise that as much as possible.”
With Mo Babouli coming off a good game, Brian Wright repeatedly getting in position to score, Nana Ampomah finding his groove the past two games and flanking attackers David Choiniére and Tristan Borges in complete control during the Cup win over Halifax, Forge is starting to sense a change in their offensive tide.
Although it’s an unusually early time (11 a.m.) for an official match, Forge players and their coaches are excited about a guaranteed record-breaking crowd on Tuesday morning.
“Last year, I can say none of us knew what to expect out of it,” Smyrniotis said. “Mostly, you looked at it from a sporting scenario, and you're playing this early game. But once you walked out onto the field and you saw the stands full, and you saw an energetic group of young kids looking forward to those environments and those situations. For us, it's a game like each and every other game, but this one makes it a little bit more special to go out there.
“We want to entertain. We want our fans to leave happy and have a positive experience. We'll have lots of people in the stands, and for some of them it will be their first time. And we want to make sure that they're coming back and that they're repeat supporters of the club. The players are looking forward to it. Last year, not only was the stadium full--and from what I've been told, it will be more-- the stadium was loud, and we expect them to be as loud as possible.”
His most veteran defender seconds that emotion.
“It's good for the community and everything in the city of Hamilton to bring more supporters to the game,” Achiniotti-Jönsson said. “Last year, it brought a good atmosphere, and it was a good game. So I'm hoping, tomorrow we can get a couple of new Forge fans and kind of get them in the rotation to our normal games.”