2024 CPL Regular Season — Match #71**
** Forge FC vs. Halifax Wanderers
** August 14, 2024 at 7 p.m. ET / 8 p.m. AT
** Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario
** Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca & TELUS Ch. 980** // Tickets available here
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The Canadian Premier League table will gain a little more clarity on Wednesday night in Hamilton, as Forge FC and the Halifax Wanderers play a game in hand they have on the rest of the league. Halifax and Forge were originally scheduled to meet back on Tuesday, May 7, in what would have been the Canadian Premier League’s 500th match. However, due to scheduling requirements for the Canadian Championship, Forge ended up facing CF Montréal that day in the first leg of their quarterfinal. The Wanderers, with just 16 matches played so far this season, have appeared in at least one fewer than any other team in the league this year, and two fewer than most. Forge, meanwhile, are at 17, with Pacific being the only other team beyond Wednesday’s combatants who have not yet reached 18 games played this campaign. Forge will be hoping to use this game to leap both of their Ontario rivals, Atlético Ottawa and York United and take over the top spot in the Canadian Premier League heading into the weekend. With a 3-0 win over Atleti on Saturday, they moved to within one point of the capital club, while they trail league leaders York United by three. They have the head-to-head tiebreaker on their local rivals, however, meaning a win on Wednesday would see them pass the Nine Stripes. This is just the second time this season that the Hamilton club have played back-to-back league matches at home, and they will be looking to use that to add to their league-best seven home victories this season. Despite just one loss in their past six, they have not won back-to-back games in CPL action since winning their opening three matches of the season. “The standard to be at the top is to be good at home,” said Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis. “So I think we’ve done a pretty good job at that, not only in league play but all the cup play that we’ve had. And you know, this Wednesday is just an extension of that. We know the importance. First, it’s getting maximum points at home, and then we know what those points mean in the table.” For Halifax, meanwhile, Wednesday’s match will be an opportunity for them to get out of the league basement, and claw closer to the playoff line. Following a 3-2 loss to Cavalry FC this weekend, the Wanderers currently sit seven points below Vancouver FC for the league’s fifth and final playoff spot — with the aforementioned two games in hand. A first-ever club victory in Hamilton on Wednesday would go a long way, both from a belief and points achieved standpoint, toward narrowing that gap. The Wanderers have lost on five of nine all-time visits to Tim Hortons Field, with the other four being draws and have scored just six times in those nine matches. That included a 3-0 loss to Forge in their most recent meeting at Tim Hortons Field back on July 27. The two sides also played to a 2-2 draw in Halifax on June 15. Forge’s Kwasi Poku has been a real problem for Halifax in both matches, scoring a stoppage-time equalizer in their first meeting, before picking up a brace at home. After a torrid June and July, however, August has been a little bit quieter for Forge’s leading scorer, who has been held without a shot on target in his past two matches. For Halifax, meanwhile, fellow U-21 Canadian striker Tiago Coimbra has been in excellent form of late. After struggling through a number of injuries this campaign, missing five of Halifax’s last nine matches, he has returned and scored in back-to-back games. For the first time under Patrice Gheisar, however, the Wanderers will be without goalkeeper Yann Fillion, who will serve a yellow card accumulation suspension on Wednesday in Hamilton. Fillion has played every minute of every match, in all competitions, for the Wanderers since he joined the team ahead of the 2023 season. Forge are getting healthier at the perfect time, with fixtures coming thick and fast over the next few weeks. Béni Badibanga came off the bench for the final 12 minutes on Saturday, a welcome sight for the Hamilton club, adding another weapon to an already deep and exciting attacking group.
All CPL matches are available to stream on OneSoccer, FuboTV, or on TELUS Optik TV Channel 980.
3 THINGS TO WATCH
- **A big week begins for the Halifax Wanderers: **Despite their position near the bottom of the table, the Halifax Wanderers have had a significant caveat on the rest of the league — a pair of games in hand. That will change this week as they head to Hamilton and Winnipeg for a pair of road matches, looking to not only gain ground in the table but also critically improve their record away from home. Under Patrice Gheisar, they have won just three times in 22 road matches, and only one in 2024. It certainly won’t be easy. The Wanderers have never won in Hamilton, and have won, and scored, just once in Winnipeg in club history, on the final day of the 2023 season. If they can pick up a win, or ideally two, this week it could put them in a good position both points and confidence-wise heading into back-to-back games at the Wanderers Grounds where they have won three straight and are undefeated in their last five. If they don’t, however, they could dip even further below the playoff line and lose at least one of their games in hand on the teams in front of them. * **Counter-attacking Forge: **As Forge picked up their league-leading seventh home victory of the campaign, the past two games at Tim Hortons Field have looked a little different. Instead of their usual on-ball dominance, Forge have been a little bit more direct in attack, allowing their opponents more of the ball while creating more chances from transitional opportunities. In fact, the last time they played the Halifax Wanderers they had the lowest possession any team has kept this season with just 34.5 per cent, and they held just 39.72 per cent of the ball against Atlético Ottawa. Both of those matches ended in 3-0 victories. Able to get their key attackers running into space transitionally, Forge have been absolutely lethal on the counter-attack of late. It has been very different to their usual identity, but perhaps is an evolution to allow them to be less predictable over the back half of the season. Whether or not they adopt a similar strategy on Wednesday remains to be seen, but it is undoubtedly another effective tool in their arsenal. “The important thing is, when we’re giving up a little bit of possession, it’s our football and what we want still comes out in the proper moments that we need,” said Smyrniotis. “So it’s not getting away from what we do best, it’s just doing a little bit less of it to create certain spaces in certain zones.” * Halifax’s Aiden Rushenas set for first professional start: From the start of the Patrice Gheisar era with the Halifax Wanderers, Yann Fillion has been his man between the sticks. The 28-year-old has played every minute of the past two seasons, but on Wednesday for the first time will be unavailable against Forge due to yellow card accumulation. In his place, 21-year-old Aiden Rushenas is expected to get his first-ever professional start. Rushenas, who was selected 10th overall in the 2023 CPL-U SPORTS Draft, has actually been with the club even longer than Fillion, but to date has only seen action with the Wanderers’ development team. Facing a team in Forge who have scored the most goals in the league this campaign, with 31, will be a significant first test for the young shot-stopper. Fellow CPL-U SPORTS selection Daniel Clarke, meanwhile, will be his backup on Wednesday. “100 per cent, Aiden was going to get the opportunity that he’s worked very hard for very, very soon — it didn’t have anything to do with Yann’s cautions and being suspended,” said Gheisar. “Aiden has been all I could ask for, a supporting, working hard and continuing to develop.”
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
Forge FC: Kalongo; Duncan, Achinioti-Jönsson, Metusala, Parra; Hojabrpour, Jensen; Ampomah, Borges, Choinière; Poku
**Halifax Wanderers: **Rushenas; Fernandez, Nimick, Loughrey, Alphonse, Timoteo; Callegari, Rampersad; Rea, Coimbra, Ferrin
ALL-TIME SERIES
Forge FC wins: 9 || Halifax Wanderers wins: 4 || Draws: 9
Last meeting:
July 27, 2024 — Forge FC 3-0 Halifax Wanderers
KEY QUOTES
“We made a big commitment to ourselves to make sure we’re as good as possible at home this year. When you look at our home record last year, you know it wasn’t exactly what we wanted.” — Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis “I think we’re looking for a positive response and a bounce back from some moments [against Cavalry] where we shut down mentally and lost concentration through set pieces, so we learn and we move on. And Wednesday’s a very important game, and we’re not happy about the result we had the last time we were here too. So I think it’s a few different things that we want to get right. ” — Halifax Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar