Final Score: Forge FC 3-2 Valour FC
Goalscorers: Hamilton 33′, Bekker 50′, Poku 77′; Williams 30′, Samake 74′
Game of the 2023 season: 17
CPL match: 384
Match in a minute or less
Forge FC remained at the top of the CPL table on Saturday as they won a third straight league match, defeating Winnipeg side Valour FC 3-2 at Tim Hortons Field. Although Valour opened the scoring thanks to Kian Williams, Jordan Hamilton equalized almost immediately and the sides went into halftime tied. Kyle Bekker put Forge in front shortly after the interval with a deflected shot from the box, and he later assisted what turned out to be the winner by Kwasi Poku. Valour had a brief moment where they drew level again in the 74th minute thanks to Abdou Samake, but Poku’s goal three minutes later put the hosts in front for good.
Three Observations
Forge attack space behind fullbacks, create space
The Hamilton club have developed a reputation for identifying tactical nuances in an opponent that they can exploit to find attacking opportunities. This time, it seemed that the key area of focus was the space behind Valour’s fullbacks. For Valour, Matteo De Brienne on the left is a more attack-minded fullback who looks to get forward, and Saturday’s right-back Dante Campbell has played most of his minutes this season in central midfield where the space behind him is typically occupied by centre-backs. Forge therefore had Tristan Borges and Terran Campbell look to get in behind via quick combinations with either their own fullbacks or midfielders Kyle Bekker and Aboubacar Sissoko. Just over 80% of Forge’s possession on Saturday came down the outer thirds of the pitch as they sought opportunities to attack those spaces. Borges and Campbell had plenty of chances to dribble at or past a fullback — they had seven and five Forge’s second goal, in particular, came from a moment where Rezart Rama moved inside to receive a pass from Tristan Borges and then played it back out wide to Sissoko in behind De Brienne, from where Sissoko was ruthlessly quick sending in his cross — which fell for Bekker’s finish.
The third goal, similarly, had roots in the wide area. Rama, again, cut in from the right and found David Choinière behind the defence. Bekker identified a gap yet again behind the fullback, and he ran into the space to receive the ball and cross over to Kwasi Poku.
Bobby Smyrniotis explained postmatch that Forge had indeed worked in training this week on exploiting those spaces behind the fullbacks. “Those are the danger zones in football, you get into those areas of the field and you’re going to create some very good opportunities,” Smyrniotis said. “I thought for all the times we got in there we need to be sharper, sometimes in the final task. We caught a lot of space in behind De Brienne, he’s an aggressive player sometimes jumping a little bit out of place. When the guys were clinical in how they moved the ball there we really got into the spaces on that side, and we did it the same way on the left side. “It’s something we worked on on the training pitch. It’s good to see that it’s coming out, and we want a little bit more output from those situations.”
Valour find danger moments via directness
Many of Valour’s best performances, especially away from home, under Phillip Dos Santos have been built on direct, vertical play to get the ball forward as quickly as possible. Valour had a lot of that quality about them on Saturday, which was how they managed to generate a number of chances in the first half especially. With four attack-minded players on the pitch up front — wingers Walter Ponce and Pacifique Niyongabire, number 10 Kian Williams, and striker Anthony Novak — they looked very deliberate with playing forward or driving the ball themselves as much as possible. The match’s opening goal came from that kind of play, as Niyongabire received the ball from a quickly-taken free kick and ran directly through midfield, perhaps catching Forge off-guard a little. He spotted the right pass to an onside Williams, and Williams made the correct simple play by shooting and he was rewarded for it.
In the second half, Dos Santos actually changed things a bit and instructed his side to stay on the ball a bit more to threaten the spaces they’d picked out earlier in the game, and ultimately he was frustrated to score twice and not get at least a point — something that hasn’t happened yet in this CPL season. Still, Valour will take some solace in the lively play of their front four, which saw Williams have five shots and four players have at least three dribbles. Niyongabire in particular was probably the brightest player going forward for the Winnipeg club, with the way he ran directly at midfielders and defenders — he was matched up on the flank against Forge fullback Malik Owolabi-Belewu, who’s more naturally a centre-back. Novak’s hold-up play was also strong in this game, and it may only be a matter of time before those final touches in the attacking chemistry start to click for a side whose attack is wholly different from last season.
Hot afternoon still produces wide-open second half
Prior to this game, few would be likely to predict a five-goal thriller full of attacking football. With the temperature about 25 degrees — though it felt hotter at field level with the sun reflecting of the turf — this was always likely to be a match where both sides began to tire late in the contest. That was, in fact, the case, but it wasn’t the cagey affair that many games in heat turn into. Valour coach Phillip Dos Santos suggested it was, in fact, “too open” for his tastes, which might have played a role in Forge being able to find their way back to score within moments of conceding both times. “I don’t like that,” Dos Santos said. “I get it, we were chasing and then when we start getting some possession in their half some spaces are going to open up for them. But it was a bit too open, it became a bit chaotic. We have to deal with those games, things won’t always be structured. How can we impose our rhythm in our game and bring things to a cool when they’re too chaotic for our tastes?” Valour hadn’t conceded more than once in a CPL game yet this year, but Forge managed to get through them three times — though, on the other side of the coin, it’s rare for the Hammers to concede twice in the way they did. Both sides broke double digits in total shots, and in the second half as players on both sides began to wilt with fatigue a little the game became more back-and-forth with more forward passes seeking to bypass areas of the pitch “Fatigue definitely set in; we got some fresh guys out there,” Jordan Hamilton told reporters. “[Valour] got better from last year, they have some real quality in the attack … When you have quality in attack on both sides like that it can seem like it’s back and forth. When we attack, we attack with purpose and then they attack with purpose, and it’s real hard on the backlines to catch their breath.” The more open pace of play in the second half ultimately suited Forge, although Valour do have the attacking quality to compete in a game like that — Hamilton singled out Pacifique Niyongabire, Kian Williams and Anthony Novak as difficult players to defend in transition. Forge, however, deserve the most credit simply because — yet again — they demonstrated their ability to flip a switch and attack ruthlessly when they concede. Just like they did against Cavalry FC in the home opener, they scored within minutes of letting one in twice; in this game, they trailed for a total of three minutes, and were level for about 20 after Williams’ opening goal.
CanPL.ca Pla****yer of the Match
Kyle Bekker, Forge FC
The captain put in a vintage performance, especially in the second half, as he produced a goal and an assist, covering plenty of ground on a hot afternoon and winning possession a team-high 10 times.
What’s next?
Forge’s next outing will be next Friday, May 19 when they welcome Vancouver FC to Tim Hortons Field for the first time (7 p.m. ET). Valour, too, will be back at home next weekend as they take on Pacific FC on Saturday, May 20 (4 p.m. CT/5 p.m. ET). Watch all 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.