Forge FC's pursuit of the CPL Shield continues on home turf this weekend, as the Hamilton club take on west coast foes Vancouver FC.
Just three weeks remain in the regular season, and Forge lead the Shield race by two points, sitting just in front of second-place Atlético Ottawa. The Hammers control their own destiny, but they can't afford to slip up and drop points with Ottawa in excellent form at the moment.
They're in good form coming into this one, after routing Pacific FC 4-0 at home last weekend; in fact, Forge have won six consecutive home games in CPL play.
Vancouver, meanwhile, are trying to play spoiler. They're at the bottom of the CPL table with just 18 points, and have been officially eliminated from playoff contention, but they could still end up as high as sixth.
That said, this is a different Eagles team to the one that visited Hamilton in July.
VFC were in the spotlight on Wednesday night, when they battled MLS side Vancouver Whitecaps in the TELUS Canadian Championship final. Although it didn't go Vancouver FC's way, the CPL club put up an impressive fight against one of the best teams in all of North America, scoring a couple of goals in a 4-2 defeat.
Thierno Bah and Nicolás Mezquida were particularly dangerous for VFC in that final; the pair have been excellent in recent weeks, and Bah is emerging as one of the CPL's most talented U-21 players this year.
Despite their position in the table, Vancouver have been a tough out recently. They won their last two consecutive league matches, over playoff-bound sides York United and the Halifax Wanderers. However, their last win away from home was on Aug. 5 in Halifax.
Vancouver's final three games of the season are against the current top three CPL sides, in order, which is a tough way to end the year but also an opportunity to wrap things up with a statement.
This will be the fourth and final meeting between these two sides in 2025, with Forge having won each of the last three. Vancouver's most recent trip to Hamilton was a 2-1 Forge win, thanks to a Matteo Campagna own goal and a winner from Maxime Filion.
Both clubs will be without a key piece on Saturday due to suspension; Vancouver centre-back Aidan O'Connor and Forge midfielder Alessandro Hojabrpour are sitting out for yellow card accumulation. Otherwise, Forge will likely still be missing injured winger Nana Ampomah, but Bobby Smyrniotis revealed in his prematch availability that defender Malik Owolabi-Belewu has been in full training this week, and therefore might even make the starting XI.
3 THINGS TO WATCH
-
Can anybody break Forge's home dominance?: Hamilton Stadium is an incredibly difficult place to play if you're not Forge FC. The Hammers are at their best when they're on home turf, because they have an excellent understanding of the size and speed of the pitch, the often-windy conditions, and the environment in general. They have not lost at home this season, and only did so twice in 2024. However, Vancouver FC were one of just two visiting teams to win in Hamilton last season, so they've shown it can be done. Forge are better than ever at home now, though; they haven't even conceded a goal in their last five home league matches. The last visitor to score in Hamilton? Vancouver FC, on July 5.
-
Vancouver look to capitalize on CanChamp lessons: The Eagles are playing for pride at this point of the season, with the playoffs out of reach, but that makes them a dangerous opponent for Forge. They're perhaps more confident than they've ever been this year, after a spirited performance against the Whitecaps and back-to-back home wins in the league. The challenge, now, is for interim head coach Martin Nash to encourage his side to build on that bit of momentum, and take what they learned from a difficult clash against MLS opposition into their CPL form. Forge may not exactly be an MLS opponent, but they're arguably the best side in the CPL, so it'll be another extremely difficult test for Vancouver, particularly given the short turnaround to come to Hamilton just four days after the CanChamp final.
-
Beware Hoce Massunda: Forge's 20-year-old left winger has been on a tear in recent weeks, scoring in the past two games to bring his total goal contributions up to nine for the season. He has started five of the club's last seven games, and rewarded Bobby Smyrniotis for the faith shown in him by contributing a lot to the attack. It's likely he'll get the start again on Saturday, but it'll be a difficult matchup for him against Vancouver right-back Kunle Dada-Luke, who can match his pace. That battle should be a defining feature of this game; if Dada-Luke can keep Massunda quiet and limit his space, then Vancouver have a much better chance of keeping the ball out of their net.
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
Forge FC: Koleilat; Rama, Nimick, Achinioti-Jönsson, Jevremović; Jensen, Bekker, Borges; Choinière, Klonaridis, Massunda
Vancouver FC: Irving; Dada-Luke, Campagna, Enyou, Gee; Fry, Da Silva; Pathé, Mezquida, Bah; Mbongue
ALL-TIME SERIES
Forge wins: 7 || Vancouver wins: 2 || Draws: 2
Last meeting:
Aug. 22, 2025 — Vancouver FC 0-1 Forge FC
KEY QUOTES
"We need to show the same level of professionalism and attention to detail as we did last week. I thought our energy was good last week, especially in the attacking half and the attacking third, and that allowed us to tilt the field one way for a good part of 70 minutes of the match, allowed us to get into our processes very well and defend high up the pitch. We know Vancouver is coming into this game with some good results in the past month, and although they are where they are in the table, I think they're a much better team than that shows." - Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis
"The attitude of this group has been great. We have a bunch of warriors that are going to see out the season in the right way. ... Any game in this league's winnable if you come with the right attitude and stay organized." - Vancouver FC interim head coach Martin Nash
