2023 CPL Regular Season — Match #88
Vancouver FC vs. Forge FC
September 3rd, 2023 at 2:00 p.m. PT/5:00 p.m. ET
Willoughby Community Park in Langley, British Columbia
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When Vancouver FC and Forge take the field at Langley’s Willoughby Community Park on Sunday, it’ll be a must-win game for both teams, for vastly different reasons.

For the hosts, Vancouver, they’ll be looking to find a way to keep their slim playoff hopes alive, as well as potentially exit eighth place for the first time in a long time.

As for Forge, they’ll be looking to keep a firm grip on a playoff spot, as a loss could see them drop to sixth place in the table from. On the flip side, a win could also put them within one point of first, which just shows how tight the table is right now, as they currently sit tied for second place.

Safe to say, there’s a lot at stake for both teams, even if 15 points separate them in the table.

Returning to Vancouver, they’re looking to pick up back-to-back home wins for the first time as a club, as they did well to pick up a memorable 3-2 win over rivals Pacific in their most recent game at Willoughby Community Park.

Especially after a frustrating road loss to York last week, one they felt that they should’ve won, this game will be a good chance at revenge for them.

They know this won’t be easy, as Forge are the defending champions for a reason, but this will be a good chance for the expansion side to further prove their credentials as a team that can compete with anyone in the CPL on their day.

“We are trying to stay alive (in the playoff race), as mathematically we are still alive,” Vancouver’s head coach, Afshin Ghotbi defiantly explained this week. “We hope to keep ourselves alive as long as possible in this competition.”

“Obviously, we felt that we did enough in the last game to win and get all three points, and it was very disappointing for us how that game turned out, but our players have shown tremendous resilience this season, so we’ve regrouped and we’re very excited about meeting Forge at home again, and we hope to perform at our highest level to produce a good spectacle and to try and get all three points.”

On the other side, Forge are just looking to find a bit of form and consistency, knowing how tight the table is right now.

Winless in their last four games, they know that they’ll need to put some wins on the board, quickly, especially if they’re to keep their regular season title hopes alive.

They haven’t been struggling, per se, given that they’ve also had three straight draws coming into this one, but they’ll also know that they’ve got another gear to hit right now.

“We haven’t won in four games, but somehow we’re still around,” Forge’s head coach, Bobby Smyrniotis noted. “So you’ve always got to look at the positive side of things. But that’s kind of how the season has been this year, you’ve seen different teams go in and out of form, and every four or five games, there’s a different team on top.”

“So we have to look at that as a positive, knowing that this game on Sunday is our most important one of the year. If we can get maximum points from this game, it sets us up for what’s going to be an important game (vs. leaders Cavalry) next week.”

3 THINGS TO WATCH

• Who will claim the season series? Understandably, given Forge’s status as defending (and three-time) champions, as well as Vancouver’s designation as an expansion team, it wouldn’t have been surprising to see the season series between these two teams leaning in Forge’s favour. Yet, heading into their final meeting of the regular season, it’s worth noting that it’s actually been split right down the middle – each team has a 2-0 home win to go along with a 0-0 draw from their first clash of the season. For those keeping track at home, that means that whoever wins this game will win the season series, which while a small milestone, could be a special moment in Vancouver’s season should they make it happen. It’s never easy to defeat the champions, yet, Vancouver hasn’t been fazed by the challenge in their first attempts at it, putting up three solid performances across those first few games. Because of that, look for them to continue that in this game, allowing them to claim the series. Forge will do everything to try and stop them – for a team looking to win a regular season title, they know how important it is to claim points off teams below you in the standings – but Vancouver will know that they’ve got a chance to really disrupt the playoff race with a win in this one, which is why they’re ready to come out strong on Sunday.

• Vancouver looking to showcase growth in final round of games: Quietly, the CPL season has flown along, leaving just seven matchdays to go before the playoffs kick off in October. Especially for Vancouver, who just months ago were still finalizing the pieces on their inaugural squad, as they now sit just one round of games from completing their maiden CPL voyage. One filled with ups and downs, it’s been an important journey for them, as they’ve learned a lot along the way. Because of that, they’re undoubtedly better for it, as they’ve done well to grow as a team, shore up some key areas of the pitch and find the beginning of their identity. Now, they’ll look to prove that, as they get one last crack at each other team. There, they’ve got a big goal – claim maximum points, and try and push the playoffs. Of course, that’s a tall task, one that may prove to be impossible, but even if they don’t achieve it, make no mistake, this stretch is huge – they can both start to prepare for next year, as well as spoil other teams playoff hopes. That’s not a bad thing, especially for an expansion team, one that’s far from done growing, as they’ll now aim to prove, starting with this clash.

• Can Forge find much-needed goals without sacrificing defence? It’s been a strange couple of weeks for Forge. Starting with a 3-0 loss to Cavalry on August 4th where they struggled offensively, they then followed that up with a chaotic 3-3 draw against York, as they found their offence, but did so while sacrificing a bit defensively. Then, they’ve since followed that up with a pair of cagey draws, as they drew Halifax 1-1 at home before grinding out a 0-0 away to Atlético Ottawa, looking much better defensively in both games, but once again struggling in the attack. Therefore, the goal for them this week is to find the balance between the two. Undoubtedly, this Forge team can score, but they’ve struggled to do so with consistency this year, which along with their defence regressing a bit statistically compared to last season, has hurt their ability to grind out results. Because of that, they’ll need to find a way to change that in this game. Goals won’t be easy to come by, as Vancouver can be tough to break down, so Forge will need to find a balance between pushing numbers forward, while also not opening up too much space for Vancouver’s counter-attacking threat to make its presence heard. Safe to say, that’ll be a delicate battle for Forge to balance, one that could very well determine their fate in this game.

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

Vancouver FC (4-3-2-1): Irving; Chung, Romeo, White, Crawford; Simmons, Garcia, Fry; Bitar, Cantave; Díaz

Forge FC (4-2-3-1): Henry; Rama, James, Metusala, Owalabi-Belewu; Hojabrpour, Achinioti-Jönsson; Poku, Bekker, Badibanga; Campbell

ALL-TIME SERIES

Forge FC wins: 1 || Vancouver FC wins: 1 || Draws: 1

Last meeting:

July 28, 2023 — Forge FC 2-0 Vancouver

KEY QUOTES

“I think one of the things that makes this league very special is that on any given day, anyone can win. Obviously, Forge has set the standard in this league, and has been the most consistent team in the league’s history – even this year, though they’re not at the top of the table right now, I’ve always felt that they’ll be there at the end. And we are in a different part of our history, we’re trying to build our team, and we’re hoping to grow with each game. Now, we have this last round, we play every team one more time, and we hope to produce performances that not only get us the maximum points in these seven matches, but also set the foundation for next season. We are already trying to build our team for next season, and we feel that we’ve had a good head start compared to where we were last year this time, as we didn’t exist then, which is why we’re quite excited about this last round.” — Vancouver FC head coach, Afshin Ghotbi.

“Yeah, you have to find balance. There are two ways of going into this game – One is not quite feeling the game out, I’d say, but making sure that we try and get ourselves in a good tempo of ball movement, and number two is to just go full throttle, as sometimes you have to do that. You have to bring out the heavy metal and throw it all on the pitch, and option number two is where we are at this point in the season. It’s something we’ll contemplate over the next 48 hours until kick-off in this match, but we know that we have the tools and we have the players to be able to do different things, but a lot of times it comes down to our willingness and desire, and that’s the one thing that we’ll really need in these next few matches.” — Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis.