| Final Score: Valour FC 0-5 Forge FC Goalscorers: Wright 9', 15', 45 (PK), Ampomah 69', Fernandez 77 (OG) Game of the 2025 season: 45 CPL Match: 641 | |
|---|---|
Match in a minute or less
Forge have extended their record unbeaten run to begin a CPL season to 11 games, as they defeated Valour 5-0 at Princess Auto Stadium on Saturday, climbing to within two points of first-place Atlético Ottawa with a game in hand.
After enduring a weather delay that pushed back kick-off by just over half an hour, Forge came out flying to begin the match, as Brian Wright first scored a breakaway in the 9th minute before adding his brace with a nice finish in the 15th minute. Then, he made it a hat trick in the 45th minute, as he stepped up to take a penalty, converting it with ease to put his team up 3-0 just before the break.
The weather would continue to cause chaos in the second half, as the match went into a weather delay in the 57th minute. Despite that, it wouldn't slow down Forge, who came back from the break and added a fourth via Nana Ampomah in the 69th minute, before an own goal from Zachary Fernandez in the 77th minute made it 5-0.
From there, Forge would cruise to victory, which is their third straight, and fourth in five games, allowing them to push up the table with a statement performance.
Three Observations
Wright finds 2024 form in first half outburst:
It was a big weekend for the CPL's Golden Boot race, as two of the league's leading scorers went head-to-head at York Lions Stadium in a clash between York United and Atlético Ottawa.
In the end, however, it wasn't the afternoon that either Ottawa's Sam Salter or York's Julian Altobelli wanted, as they were unable to add to their eight and seven CPL goals, respectively.
The big winner from that? Brian Wright, who responded in a big way with his performance in Winnipeg, as he quietly climbed up the Golden Boot list.
After having scored just three times in 10 CPL games this season, despite generating 6.08 xG, Wright had a long-awaited explosion in this game, matching his season total inside just the first half alone. Thanks to that, he's now jumped up to third in the Golden Boot race, up to six goals in CPL action, putting him right behind Salter and Altobelli.
This won't be surprising to see from Wright, however, who was the 2024 CPL Player's Player of the Year for a reason, having scored nine goals and added six assists last year for York United, but he hadn't been able to hit those heights yet for Forge after joining the club in the offseason.
Granted, he's done a good job of making timely contributions for Forge - of his three CPL goals, one was a match-winner, and two others were equalizers, meaning he's helped his team earn five points through those goals. Then, of course, there's the goal he added in the Canadian Championship, scoring the lone goal in Forge's 1-0 win vs. CF Montréal in the first leg of the quarter-final, giving them an edge heading into leg two early next month.
Plus, as Bobby Smyrniotis mentioned after the match, he's been very pleased with the work Wright is doing off the ball to lead the line, noting that he's done well to impact the game in other ways, with the dummy he had in the lead-up to Forge's fourth goal in this one a great example of what that can look like.
Yet, as seen by his xG total, it's felt like he could still hit another gear offensively, which is why this outburst will feel so important to him, as it's not as if it came out of nowhere.
Now, this could prove to be a big boost for Forge side already rolling to start 2025, having yet to lose in CPL play.
Forge have had no problem with being patient with Wright as he acclimatized to his new surroundings, knowing that they've brought Wright in to make a difference in the bigger games that are to come. He showed a sign of that in his goal vs. CF Montréal, and will hope to score many more goals like that in future Canadian Championship and CPL playoff games.
One big reason Forge were unable to win their fifth North Star Cup last fall is that they didn't have a striker to rely on after the departure of Kwasi Poku in the summer, so they'll now hope Wright can be that difference-maker in key matches to come - and perhaps this showing can be what he needs to rediscover that consistency he had with York last year, too.
All of Brian Wright's actions from this game (OPTA)
Slow starts continue to be a worry for Valour:
It's tough to get much out of any game where you trail 3-0 at half time, but especially against a Forge side who are yet to lose this season, and entered this game having conceded just seven times in 10 matches, showing why it'll have hurt Valour so much to trail like the did at the break.
Yet, this continued what has been a big issue for Valour in 2025, as these three first-half goals they conceded mean they've now allowed 14 goals in the first halves of games, which leads the CPL.
For context, three teams in the CPL have conceded fewer goals across all of their games in league play this year - Forge, Halifax and Cavalry - showing how much it's impacted Valour to have allowed as many first-half markers as they've done.
When you concede early goals, it ends up having such a big impact on the game, as it forces you to chase matches, instead of dictating play. Through that, it can make it harder for you to score, as you have to deal with teams sitting back once they go up a goal, and it makes you prone to conceding more, given that you have to commit more numbers forward to try and break down opponents.
In a sense, however, that helps explain how Valour have now conceded 26 goals, which leads the CPL, while just scoring nine goals, which is the second-lowest in the league.
It's never easy to chase games, and Valour's learned that the hard way, too many times this season.
Plus, what will frustrate them is how they conceded these first-half goals, too, especially the first two from this game.
The first one came from a simple ball over the top, one they'll feel they could've handled a lot better, while the second came off a simple low cross, one they could've done a better job of stopping, as they struggled to track a simple run into the box.
Sometimes, you can concede an early goal from a great attack, a spectacular strike or something of the like, but Valour will look back at these goals and feel they could've done much better to stop them.
Yet, that's been the story of Valour's season to date, which is why they now have just eight points from 11 games. Overall, they've had some decent performances across those 11 games and have pushed teams in each game they play, but big defensive mistakes have cost them, especially in the first half of matches, which has forced them to play most matches on a knife's edge.
As seen by their record, it hasn't been easy to balance on that edge, so look for that to be the focus heading into their next match, a clash vs. Halifax, where they'll look to play on the front foot and perhaps open the scoring for just the third time this season.
The xG map from this game, with Forge in purple and Valour in black, showing the struggles Valour had in both boxes (OPTA)
Forge's defenders prove crucial to build-up again:
With how Forge likes to play in possession, which they use to drive what they do on both sides of the ball, it requires all players to be quite comfortable at playing on the front-foot, especially given the aggressive 3-2-5 they use on the ball to attack.
At the same time, it's not as if Forge just want their defenders to play simple passes, letting their midfielders and attackers do all of the dangerous attacking work. Knowing that they've got some players who can break lines with their passing, they do a good job of allowing them the freedom to jumpstart attacks with their passing and runs.
Because of that, it shouldn't have been all that surprising to see Dan Nimick strongly involved in Wright's first two goals of this game, assisting both, as he's a prime example of what Forge's defenders can do on the ball.
Plus, interestingly, he showed that involvement can vary, as it's not as if he's just hitting long balls, which he did on the first goal, but he can also step up and join the attack, doing a great job of running into the box and creating an overload that saw him break open the space required to deliver the low cross to Wright.
Between Nimick, Malik Owolabi-Belewu and Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson, who have all deputized in at centre back for Forge this season, as well as Marko Jevremović, Ben Paton, Rezart Rama and Khadim Kane, who have earned minutes at full back, they've all shown that they can be involved in attack if needed.
In fact, after Nimick's assists in this match, that group of names above has now scored four goals and assisted five of them in CPL play this season, with Nimick (1G/3A) leading the way, followed by Kane, Rama and Achinoti-Jönsson (who have all one goal apiece), and then Paton and Jevremović (who each have an assist).
That's huge, because as seen with Forge's defensive record, that group has done a great job of doing what they'd traditionally expected to be doing as defenders, which is keep the ball out of the net, but have also proven to be more than capable of fulfilling the offensive requirements the modern defender needs to bring to the table.
For full backs, that's to fly up the pitch and create overlaps and overloads, while sometimes tucking in and strengthening the midfield in possession, while for the centre backs, it's to get on the ball and set the tempo of the game, picking out dangerous passes when they present themselves and even joining the attack on occasion.
Through that, it just adds that extra layer to an already dangerous Forge attack, given the dangerous options they already have to rely upon up front.
At the same time, those options wouldn't be as dangerous if they didn't get the service to thrive, and that all starts with the work that Forge does at the back in their build-up to help ensure they get the ball up the pitch to them, so look for them to keep building on this - while not sacrificing the great work they've done defensively.
All of the dribbles (triangles), key passes (squares) and shots (circles) from Forge's defenders in this game, highlighting their attacking involvements (OPTA)
What They Said
"I've been very happy with his play before today, and I'm happy with his play after today, as well. But I think for strikers, games like this give them more energy to keep on going. These are actions he's been doing all season. Today, he puts him in the back of the net, and it doesn't matter which game it comes in, it gives us three points today, and that's the most important" -- Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis
"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. (...) It's a total team effort. The guys up top, we were able to do our job, and the guys in the back, they were able to do their job, so it's a complete team effort, in certain moments of the game it wasn't as clean and pretty, but we showed that we're able to win games in different ways." -- Forge FC striker Brian Wright
"It was an absolute disaster. If I'm being straightforward, we can't keep conceding goals where balls are played in behind us from deep areas, with us not dealing with them. It's 1v1 defending, and we find ourselves down 2-0 early off these types of balls and plays; we have to do better, we weren't good enough. That's all. It starts with me, because I don't shy away from my responsibilities, we weren't good enough.**" -- Valour FC head coach Phil Dos Santos
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Brian Wright, Forge FC
It was a remarkably efficient offensive performance from Wright, who scored on all three of the shots he took, helping lead Forge to victory with his first-ever CPL hat trick.
What’s next?
Valour will head out on the road for their next match, as they get set to take on the Halifax Wanderers at Wanderers Grounds in Halifax for a Canada Day clash on Tuesday, July 1st (2:00 p.m. CT/4:00 p.m. AT). Meanwhile, Forge will return home for their next match, a 905 derby clash vs. York United at Hamilton Stadium on Sunday, June 29th (4:00 p.m. ET).
Watch all CPL matches live on OneSoccer. 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.