Forge look to keep their run of success going
Winners of four of first five CPL titles launch new season starting Saturday
Only one team in any league in any sport can win the championship every year. As a result, it’s probably unfair to call any result that falls short of that a failure.
But when the league you play in has been around for five years and you’ve won the title in four of those, does that change the calculus? Would not winning again indeed be a failure?
“I think everyone inside the building would feel that way,” says Forge FC captain Kyle Bekker. “It’s the gift and curse of having success.”
The Canadian Premier League champions open defence of their latest title on Saturday (kickoff is 4 p.m. at Tim Hortons Field against Cavalry FC). When the players run out onto the pitch, there will be an unveiling of the banner honouring last year’s crown. Fans in the building will get commemorative medals. It’ll be a celebration.
Another celebration.
But those same players will be carrying the weight of some incredible expectations. Because when you hoist the trophy as often as they have — the one time they didn’t back in 2021, they made it to the final before losing — people grow to assume that’s going to happen again. Fair or not.
“It’s something we’ve created,” says head coach Bobby Smyrniotis. Naturally, he doesn’t mind that. The pressure of being expected to win again is way better than the pressure of trying to finally get over the hump after years of coming up short. Or worse, scratching and clawing to crawl out of the basement.
But it is unique.
Attacker Tristan Borges says he and his teammates know they’re going to see their opponent’s best every game. Beat the champs and it’s a big deal.
They deal with this courtesy of a culture that’s been created in their dressing room. Returning players accept and embrace it. New players see it quickly and latch onto it. Because who doesn’t want to be part of a situation like that?
“When you get a little bit of that taste of glory and of winning, you really get addicted to that feeling,” Borges says. “That’s the mentality over here.”
Oddly, despite being the creator of that culture, Smyrniotis has never been named CPL coach of the year. Which seems like a rather magnificent oversight.
After all, his team hasn’t just won titles. It’s also produced individual stars and has never finished lower than second in the regular-season standings.
Simply put, it’s been the model of consistency and success. Which, again, sets some wild expectations and establishes a different standard from other teams.
“You know, Forge loses two games and it’s the end of the world,” Smyrniotis quips. “Another team goes on a two-game winning streak and it’s the best thing that’s happened.”
It’s different. The whole thing. No other team in the league comes into the season with such a huge target on its back and with such a sense of self-generated obligation to succeed.
“Every time we come in here,” Bekker says, “every group that comes in every year, the expectation is that we’re playing for trophies at the end of the year.”
And when they do it again and again, does it every get less exciting?
“Definitely not,” he says. “I mean, losing sucks, so I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
Fair enough. So can the magical run continue?
That question begins to get answered on Saturday.
Cavalry FC has been the closest thing to Forge in the league. Twice it’s finished first in the regular season. Another time it was runner-up. Twice it’s lost in the final. Last year, it finished 13 points ahead of anyone else. It’s never finished lower than third.
This is a tough way to start. But it also gives Forge a chance to do something it’s never done.
“We’ve never won on opening day,” Smyrniotis says.
Wait, really?
Sure enough, a quick check of past results shows they’ve tied, tied, lost, lost and tied. Maybe that changes Saturday.
On the other hand, one thing they have done a lot of is win on closing day.
That he doesn’t want to see change. None of them do.
Attacker Tristan Borges says he and his teammates know they’re going to see their opponent’s best every game. Beat the champs and it’s a big deal