| Final Score: Pacific FC 0-1 Forge FC Goalscorers: Massunda 89' Game of the 2025 season: 28 CPL Match: 624 |
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Match in a minute or less
Forge are the last remaining undefeated team in the Canadian Premier League in 2025, as they beat Pacific 1-0 at Starlight Stadium on Saturday.
For most of the match, high-quality chances were hard to come by, with both teams putting in a strong defensive performance, but Forge eventually found a breakthrough late.
After a corner, the ball fell to Hoce Massunda at the edge of the box in the 89th minute, and the second-half substitute curled a ball into the top corner to give his team a lead they wouldn't relinquish, marking his first professional goal in style.
Three Observations
Massunda's moment of magic the difference in cagey, defensive chess match:
Much like in their first meeting of the season, most of the game was contested between the boxes, as quality opportunities were hard to come by.
Despite a strong start from Pacific that suggested it could be an open match, once both teams settled into a rhythm, they did an excellent job of limiting space for each other to play into.
As a result, this became more of a defensive chess match, one where the first goal was more likely to come from a moment of magic, with defensive mistakes seeming quite unlikely.
In the end, that reality ended up manifesting itself - Massunda's goal certainly fit the description of a moment of magic, as he found the top corner with a perfect strike.
Yet, even though this match was more of a defensive battle, that didn't mean that it wasn't entertaining. Both teams showed plenty of quality on the ball, with Pacific completing 86.8% of their passes and Forge completing 87%.
On some days, a low-event match like this can come from a lack of execution from both teams, who can struggle to find that final pass, but that wasn't the case in this one.
Instead, they just didn't let each other get into those dangerous positions - Pacific had just 18 touches in Forge's box, and Forge had just 23 in theirs, despite making 61 and 56 final third entries apiece - showing that the lack of activity in the dangerous areas came more from defensive brilliance, more than anything. To further demonstrate that point, consider this: of the 21 shots taken by both teams, a 0.166 xG attempt from Pacific's Emanuel Montejano was the highest quality shot either team had.
In the end, however, that Forge was still able to get something out of this game shows where both teams are at right now, with Forge currently surging after some big results, including a win vs. CF Montréal in the Canadian Championship, while Pacific is reeling. On most days, a game like this would've deservedly finished 0-0, a result that both teams would've felt that they fully earned.
Forge didn't get that memo, though, and managed to stun the crowd at the perfect time, allowing them to bank three crucial away points that they would've felt hard pressed to get beforehand get given the travel and fatigue they were dealing with heading into this one.
Pacific's misery continues to pile up despite bounceback performance:
Following a frustrating road performance against Cavalry, Pacific knew that they needed a big bounceback, especially against a Forge side flying high after a big Canadian Championship victory in midweek.
Having let the game get away from them against Cavalry, as a 1-0 half time deficit ended up in a heavy 4-0 defeat, it was imperative that Pacific avoided making the same mistakes against a Forge side who can hurt teams in many ways.
To Pacific's credit, they did that, too - for 89 minutes, they'd put in a strong performance, looking a lot closer to the team they want to be. On the ball, they did a good job of putting together some extended spells of possession, and they kept things tight at the back.
Yet, that's why it'll make the ending of this game so tough for Pacific to swallow.
For a team that has struggled with consistency all year long, as they've struggled to maintain their best level of play for more than a half at a time, usually finding it in 10-minute bursts, this was about as complete of a performance as they've put in. That they held a team like Forge to just nine shots and 0.49 xG, while holding 49.3% of the ball (Pacific have averaged 43% in that statistic this season) shows that there was a lot for Pacific to build on in this game going forward.
Unfortunately, when a team is slumping, mistakes get magnified, and then they can compound.
The goal is a great example of that. Right before the goal, it appeared that Pacific had won a goal kick, but it was instead flagged down for a corner, a decision that understandably frustrated the hosts.
Perhaps, those frustrations had carried over into that next action, and that soon led to a mistake for Pacific.
After struggling heavily on set pieces against Cavalry, it'll feel like a kick to the gut to spoil a strong performance via a mistake in that area of their game, but it shows how mistakes can quickly be amplified when a team is struggling.
Because of that, it shows the challenge that awaits Pacific. If they can continue to put in performances like this, they should be able to stabilize their results, as they looked like the team that they want to be, but performances alone won't be enough to break out of this slump.
It's going to come down to executing in key moments, at both ends, something that once again eluded them in this game.
Forge flexes attacking depth:
It can be easy to forget the depth of options that Forge has in their attack, but a game like this serves as a reminder of that when someone like Massunda scores his first professional goal, showing immense quality for someone with less than 100 minutes of professional soccer under his belt.
On a day when Forge were without their two-time CPL Player of the Year, Tristan Borges, and David Choinière, those absences can be forgotten when Massunda steps up the way he did.
Before Massunda hit the back of the net with his finish, however, it's worth noting that another key attacking performance helped Forge slowly break Pacific down, and that's one of Nana Ampomah, who has stepped up as one of Forge's key attacking pieces amid all of the absences.
After playing less than 1000 minutes across the CPL regular season and playoffs in 2024, Ampomah's been asked to play a bigger role for Forge, and he's stepped up in a key way.
This game was another example of what that can look like, as he constantly got on the ball and drove forward, completing three dribbles, while firing four shots towards goal and completing six passes into the final third.
In the end, he wasn't able to score and was subbed off in the 86th minute, but his impact indirectly helped create the goal, as he helped tire out Pacific's defenders, which might've led to the late lapse in concentration.
Yet, that's the challenge of playing a team like Forge. On any given day, they've got several players capable of stepping up, such as Ampomah, who has over 100 appearances at levels such as the Belgian and German top flights, or other players with impressive CPL resumes such as Borges, Choinière, Brian Wright, Mo Babouli and many more.
Then, on days when they need a moment of magic, they can also rely on their bench to deliver for them, as they usually have to leave quality players out of each squad, meaning the 18-player squad they pick is usually filled with hungry and deserving players.
As Bobby Smyrniotis explained afterwards, however, that's no coincidence that they continue to get these important contributions across the roster. Knowing how deep the team is, they try their best to make life tough for Smyrniotis to make decisions in training each week.
That creates an environment where a youngster like Massunda can come into an important 0-0 game and be trusted to make a difference, something that Forge will be very pleased to see, given what it represents.
"That's something I try and stress all the time," Smyrniotis offered. "Whether you play full 90s, or if you play 10 minutes here and there, everyone is important in this group, and the players know that throughout the week, because the focus is on the 24 of them, or however many are healthy in the week."
"The focus is never on 10 or 11 guys, as sometimes coaches will talk about core players - our work is always done with every single player with the same amount of importance."
What They Said
"There are two things that we want to be better at (in 2025): set pieces on both sides of the ball, and our collective defending. If we look at last year, I think we've made a big effort defensively, and I don't know what our clean sheets are this year compared to last, but I think we're doing a pretty good job, and that's the basis to winning games." — Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis
"It's hard to get into the starting 11, because these guys are the best players in the league. I'm just trying to learn from the best, so that one day, I can be the best like them." — Forge FC attacker Hoce Massunda
"I think we deserve more out of this game, for sure, so it's frustrating. We need to make it happen, though; there are no excuses from us. For us to concede that way, it wasn't a corner, but our detail of defending the corner and conceding on another set piece is frustrating for the group. With the way that we played, the way we attacked the game with spirit, energy, and quality, with and without the ball, I thought it was very good, so it's frustrating, it's hard to lose and walk away with nothing when you're at home."— Pacific FC head coach James Merriman
CanPL.ca Player of the Match
Dan Nimick, Forge FC
In a strong defensive performance from both teams, Nimick's stood above the rest, as he was a force on both sides of the ball for Forge. On the ball, he completed 78 out of 83 passes (94%), including 13 out of 15 long balls and eight passes into the final third, as well as two dribbles, while also stepping up with one tackle, one block, six clearances, one interception, six recoveries and five out of seven duels won defensively.
What’s next?
Pacific will head out on the road for their next match, as they'll travel to Winnipeg to take on Valour FC at Princess Auto Stadium on Sunday, June 1st (1:00 p.m. PT/3:00 p.m. CT). Meanwhile, Forge will return home to take on Cavalry at Hamilton Stadium on Saturday, May 31st (3:00 p.m. MT/5:00 p.m. ET).
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