PREVIEW: Forge FC vs. York9 FC – Match #88

The Canadian Premier League Finals matchup may have been decided already, but bragging rights between 905 Derby foes York9 FC and Forge FC are still up for grabs. The first of two matches to decide the season series kicks off on Sunday in Hamilton.

Although the Nine Stripes will be on the outside looking in for Finals 2019, the two upcoming games against Forge present a tantalizing feather they could put in their caps. York9 sits third in the table with 17 points, one up on Pacific and Valour, having drawn their most recent match 1-1 with Cavalry. The Fall season has, ultimately, turned out fairly disappointing for them despite a very positive start, but with four more games on the schedule, Y9 has their eyes on that third-place finish.


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Forge, meanwhile, want to put together as many strong performances as they can in the build-up to Finals 2019 at the end of the month. Two games against York9 and two against Cavalry provide some very high-stakes warmup clashes for Bobby Smyrniotis to get his team up to scratch in the homestretch. They've still got a grip on first place in the Fall table, with a two-point lead on Cavalry after scraping a 1-0 win in Edmonton on Wednesday.

Although Forge has had the upper hand in the 905 Derby this year, with two wins and a draw, York9 could still claim the season series on goal differential by winning these next two clashes. The Nine Stripes have yet to beat their Ontario rivals, so they'll be looking forward to these two cracks at Forge. Tim Hortons Field isn't an easy place to play, though.

York9's next contest will be the reverse of this fixture, as they meet Forge at York Lions Stadium next Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, on OneSoccer). Forge, however, has a midweek match in between, as they head out to Alberta for a Finals preview with Cavalry FC on Wednesday (9:00 p.m. ET, 7:00 p.m. MT, on OneSoccer).

• Play with passion: The inaugural match between these sides had plenty of fireworks, with Manny Aparicio's red card and Kyle Bekker's elbow on Joe Di Chiara. Since then, though, their meetings haven't been quite as feisty, despite the two teams giving plenty of indication that they don't particularly like each other. York9 came out flat in the last derby clash, lacking a certain spark. Generally, playing with an emotional edge can be dangerous, but for the Nine Stripes to get the best of Forge they could probably stand to have a little more fire in trying to win the ball.​
• Pin them back: Forge played very little of their Wednesday match against FC Edmonton in their own half. Centre-backs Dominic Samuel and Daniel Krutzen maintained a very high line, as the Hammers conceded the majority of possession but kept the Eddies well back in their own half. A similar strategy could pay off against York9, pressing them high and allowing them to play the passing game without penetrating into Forge's half. It's a fairly exhausting tactic, since it'll require Forge to be on their toes to close down space and force their opponents to recycle backwards, but it could neutralize their attack.​
• Run into space: The heat map from York9's weekend draw with Cavalry reveals that an astonishing six players (Simon Adjei, Rodrigo Gattas, Ryan Telfer, Manny Aparicio, Joe Di Chiara, and Wataru Murofushi) gravitated to the same narrow strip in the middle of the pitch. Gattas and Telfer, especially are much more effective when receiving the ball in pockets of space, and it's hard for Aparicio or Di Chiara to make decent line-breaking passes when everyone's stacked up the middle. They need to get moving more to try and stretch Forge out a little, which should be easier on the larger pitch at Tim Hortons Field.​

Forge FC: Triston Henry; Kwame Awuah, Dominic Samuel, David Edgar, Jonathan Grant; Kyle Bekker, Giuliano Frano, Daniel Krutzen; Chris Nanco, Anthony Novak, Tristan Borges

York9 FC: Nathan Ingham; Diyaeddine Abzi, Daniel Gogarty, Luca Gasparotto, Morey Doner; Joe Di Chiara, Wataru Murofushi, Manuel Aparicio; Ryan Telfer, Simon Adjei Karlsson, Rodrigo Gattas



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