International soccer back in town
Forge FC takes on Panama squad Tuesday at Tim Hortons Field
Get out and around enough and your history grows, your web of connections expands, your path keeps crossing the paths of others.
Forge FC gets out and around, and always has during its threeyear history. Consider that when Panama’s Club Atlético Independiente comes into Tim Hortons Field on Tuesday (8 p.m.) to face Forge FC, it will be the 11th official international match ever played by a Canadian Premier League soccer team.
All of them by the Forge. And, although Tuesday’s first leg of a home-and-home series in the CONCACAF League round-of-16 will be the first time CA Independiente and Forge FC meet on the pitch, off the field they’re no strangers.
“As you globetrot, you not only play games you exchange ideas, as well,” says Costa Smyrniotis, Forge FC’s director of football.
Forge and Independiente have already exchanged a couple of ideas. Last October, the Hamilton side spent more than a week using Independiente’s training grounds in Panama to prepare for a round-of-16 match against Tauro, which it eventually won.
And, in June, the Forge obtained dynamic 27-year-old forward Omar Browne on loan from Independiente to fortify what they hoped would be deep runs through a maze of three separate competitions; CONCACAF, the CPL and the Canadian championships. So far, they’re on track in all three.
Browne, whose entry visa has taken months to process, has yet to suit up for his new team and won’t be available for Tuesday night. But the Forge management is hopeful he can play in next week’s return match in Panama, 30 kilometres from where he grew up and against the very club that actually holds his contract. Browne is a proven performer in big games and was brought in specifically for this type of competition.
This will be the first international soccer game in the city since the Forge beat Olimpia of Honduras in the opening leg of a 2019 CONCACAF round-of-16 series, which it eventually lost on aggregate, and it should be making a bigger local splash than it is. Way bigger. Forge FC has drawn fan and media attention in many Central American and Caribbean countries for its five wins, two draws and only three losses in CONCACAF play over the past 25 months. Only two of those 10 games were in Hamilton; the Olimpia win and a victory over Guatemala’s Antigua GFC a few days earlier.
The rest, because of the pandemic, have been out of the country, including an unexpected two-game aggregate victory in El Salvador over FAS this month, to reach Tuesday’s appointment with Independiente.
The return match is in Panama a week from Tuesday.
“It’s unheard of to play both legs in someone else’s home and get the win,” Smyrniotis says. “When we go down to Central America, there are all kinds of sports shows talking about our game, because it’s a special night. There’s a different kind of energy; we’re playing in the biggest tournament in our region. For such a new club, getting the respect we’re getting in the region is massive.
“You want to be able to share that with your fans in Hamilton.”
Forge FC forward David Choinière had a key goal in San Salvador, two years ago scored the only goal against Olimpia and netted the winner against Antigua.
“There is an energy to that competition that boosts me,” Choinière said of his success in CONCACAF League.
Choinière also scored the clinching goal in Forge FC’s first CPL championship in 2019, and scored in the Canadian championship quarterfinal against Valour. That win put Hamilton through to the national semifinal and, if CF Montreal beats HFX Wanderers in Halifax this week, Choinière will be playing against the MLS team he played for during three seasons. His younger brother Mathieu plays for Montreal and scored an MLS goal the same night Choinière scored against Valour.
Two more paths crossing.