Forge FC has established a positive international reputation, with soccer insiders in Mexico and Central America widely aware of its steady rise.
And here comes the opening of Forge season number eight, as they host Canada’s first official game in the most important year in Canadian soccer history: the nation co-hosts the men’s World Cup; the women look to expand their nascent pro league; and the Canadian Premier League and Premier Soccer Leagues Canada–the broadened League 1 pro-am system—are each evolving with major rebranding.
Forge plays host to Los Tigres UANL Tuesday night at Hamilton Stadium, in the first leg of the Concacaf Champions Cup opening round, and The Hammers deserve some of the attention –meaning live attendance, despite the cold weather—from sports fans in Hamilton itself. They have made this city known in areas where Hamilton had been a name associated only with Bermuda or Scotland.
“We talk about this each year,” Forge head coach and sporting director Bobby Smyrniotis said in his pre-game media conference on Monday. “These are the important games, and these allow us to keep on growing our stature as a club within Concacaf. And that’s very important for us. We recognise the importance of this competition when we travel to Mexico every year and, in years past, participate in the Concacaf League, travelling through Central America, which highlights the significance of continental competition.
“And, I think, that message needs to be greater around our community when it comes to these matches. Our support has always been great in these games, and we want it to keep on getting bigger.
“It’s become the norm over the last few years that in February, we’re playing here at Hamilton Stadium. It’s become the norm that we play a Mexican side here in February, the beginning of February, with a Mexican team.
“It’s a little bit of Canadian cold, but let’s get more people out here. The more the better for us because our players feed off of the energy of this crowd. We take pride in playing in these big matches at Hamilton Stadium.”
We’re going to second that, loudly. This is the Year of Soccer in Canada, and Forge is kicking it off against a Tigres team that has become pre-eminent in one of the most entertaining leagues in the world. This game, and these teams, deserve our attention.
Create and take advantage of early chances
Los Tigres weren’t scheduled to arrive in Canada until Monday, so they won’t have much time to acclimatise after they played Saturday night on the road against León. It will likely be imperative for the Hammers to press them before they find their minus C legs. Both Smyrniotis and central backliner Dan Nimick, the CPL defensive player of the year, touched on that Monday.
“We know that the finer details make the difference,” Smyrniotis said. “Again, they’ve got quality across the park. They have to come in here and face different conditions, deal with what will be a little bit different atmosphere from the temperatures. And we have to take advantage of that.
“We saw that last year in our game against Monterrey. In the first 20 minutes, we had three excellent chances to be up in the score, and we didn’t take advantage of that. And that’s important in these games.
“Here’s the thing about global football: no team is undefeated. So every team has their strengths. Every team has their weaknesses at this time of the year. And I’ve said it before in these matches, we have to be at our tactical best. You know, we’re not going to outrun opponents. They’re technically very gifted all over the pitch. They’re in mid-season form. We’re four weeks into preparing to play in this match. We come from different areas, so you always have to consider those external circumstances. It’s usually about a game plan for us, but it has to be even more about that.”
Nimick’s first game as a Forge player came against CF Monterrey last year in the Champions Cup, a 2-0 loss, which opened the 5-0 aggregate final tally.
“It’s two giants in back-to-back years,” Nimick said. “I feel very lucky to be able to play against both teams. I think last year the biggest lesson was just the fine details and how locked in these big teams are on the fine details. I think, especially the first half, like last year, there wasn’t much in it.
“They just scored two great goals that come down to individual brilliance. And we were two-nil down going into the second leg, which is always going to be tough. So, I think it’s just remembering that you can put a great performance together and, and they can still do great things.”
No No Nana
Forge will be missing a key player for the opening leg because the ever-improving Nana Ampomah has not received his visa in time for the game. They do have a strong corps of wingers who can play solidly up front, but a healthy Ampomah has added a different dimension to his game and had his best season last year when he was a finalist for the CPL’s Player’s Player of the Year and made the season’s All-XI team.
In other roster news, Tigres striker André-Pierre Gignac, the 40-year-old French legend who has been capped 36 times by his native France (with seven goals), received a red card near the end of Saturday night’s match against León. Red cards carry an automatic one-game suspension, but those suspensions don’t carry over from league play to international play, so he’s eligible for Tuesday night. Gignac, who often plays on the edge, was enraged with the card being issued. Over his nearly 800 games across all competitions for club and country, this was Gignac’s first red card. He is Tigres’ all-time leading scorer with 221 goals in 427 matches.
Get the pieces set
In the same vein, Smyrniotis said it’s not only important to capitalize on any offensive chances Forge can create, but to neuter the dangerous set pieces—such as corner kicks and direct kicks—in their own end. He says that’s been one of Forge’s shortcomings against elite teams, accounting for about 50 per cent of goals against:
“It’s something we’ve talked about quite a bit with this group. We’re a team that’s fantastic in season when it comes to how we defend and attack set pieces. But it hasn’t been our best point in these matches, so you work on it a little bit more.”
Antuna is no longer in tune with Tigres
A familiar face to Forge and their fans—speedy, creative forward Uriel Antuna—will not be with Tigres for Tuesday night’s game.
Antuna (Pumas UNAM) played for LA Galaxy in MLS in 2019 on loan from Manchester City and scored six goals and added five true assists in just 31 games, prompting Guadalajara to bring him back to his native Mexico, then agreed to trade him to Cruz Azul the following season. He played against Forge in the 2022 Champions Cup and had 24 goals in just 97 games for Cruz Azul before he went to Tigres.
But he didn’t have the impact with Tigres that the Monterrey club had hoped for, and didn’t score in 23 games. Pumas had long expressed interest in obtaining him, and they signed him on Friday.
Flores flourishes
When Los Tigres beat León 2-0 on the road Saturday night to move to two wins, a loss and a draw in their opening four Liga MX games, the opening goal was scored by 22-year-old Canadian (Georgetown, Ont) Marcelo Flores in the 47th minute. It came on a world-class lead pass from Diego Lainez and was the third goal Tigres had scored in their four games, all of them from Flores. He also created several other chances and was easily the top player on the pitch, receiving an ovation from the León crowd when he was substituted off in the 62nd minute.
Late last week, Flores made huge news in Canada’s soccer world when he declared that he had decided to play internationally—meaning the World Cup—for Canada rather than Mexico, his father’s native country.
Smyrniotis noted that letting Antuna leave was a very positive message to the young eagle-eyed Canadian-Mexican with the distinctive flowing hair and headband that his time is arriving, despite technically being the backup to Angel Correa, the veteran Argentinian left winger who was a 2022 World Cup winner.
“Obviously, he’s getting his break in the lineup,” Smyrniotis said. “And you see that with a few of the moves they’ve made moving a player like Antuna that frees up more space for him. He’s been excellent to start the Clausura. For players, it’s important to have that support from the club and give them the confidence, and I think he’s a player who’s playing with a lot more confidence. He has a lot of skill playing along that left side and inverting.”
Nimick, who will often face Flores head-up if Flores plays—and it seems inconceivable that he wouldn’t play just a few kilometres from where he grew up—“There are so many great players on that team. I don’t think you can name one guy who’s the danger. They’re an attacking unit that’s very dangerous. And any of those guys in the front line can, can cause problems. If you get too focused on one guy on that team, then the other one’s going to come and score a goal.”
