Smyrniotis on Forge reaching SCCL: “It’s massive for us”
MIAMI, Florida – Forge FC may still be in their infancy as a club, but in the three short years since their first match in the Canadian Premier League in 2019, they have won a pair of CPL titles and appeared in three straight editions of the Scotiabank Concacaf League.
However, a big step forward was taken by the club earlier this month when they defeated Costa Rica’s Santos de Guapiles 4-3 on aggregate in the quarterfinals of the 2021 SCL. Not only did it mean a first ever SCL semifinal appearance, but it also qualified Forge FC for a first ever Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League.
Needless to say, it was a landmark achievement for the club.
That first ever SCCL berth nearly came during the 2020 SCL when Forge were achingly close to qualifying, narrowly losing a penalty shootout to Haitian club Arcahaie in the quarterfinals before succumbing in the Play-in Round to Honduran side Marathon.
In many ways, it served as an inflexion point for Smyrniotis and the Forge squad.
“Having those end of the year meetings players and with most of them coming back, the one thing everyone talked about was Concacaf League, everyone wanted another shot at this competition. They knew we were that close; they knew we had the ability to do it and I think that was a big driving force in what we were doing,” said Smyrniotis.
Aiding the cause has been the growth and maturation of the Forge squad, plus the addition of two key attacking players, Costa Rican Joshua Navarro and Panamanian Omar Browne, who each had a goal in Forge’s 3-0 quarterfinal second leg win versus Santos.
“In 2019 I remember playing Olimpia and nine of the 11 starters were Canadians, eight of those starters the year before were amateur players, and now the majority of that group is still around and I think we have grown through our experiences. We said we were that close in 2020, so how do we do it in 2021? Part of that strategy was getting someone like Joshua Navarro, Omar Browne, bringing in a couple players from the region who could give us another level and a different perspective when playing these matches. When we look at both of them, they have been brilliant for us in this competition,” said Smyrniotis.
Up next for Forge is a semifinal clash with 2018 and 2019 SCL Finalists Motagua of Honduras, which Smyrniotis expects to be a difficult 180 minutes of football.
“We have a CPL semifinal on Sunday, so that makes things interesting, but we’ve known the opponent Motagua for a while now and have been able to do a lot of preparation work. We know they are a strong squad in the Concacaf region and I think we’ve done a pretty good job of getting to know them as best as possible from their league games and Concacaf. They are an experienced team that has done well in this competition and it’s another big test in this competition that we’ve thoroughly enjoyed being part of in these last three years,” said Smyrniotis.
Forge will once again travel down to Central America for the semifinal second leg with Motagua on December 1 for what will be Forge’s 10 th match on Central America soil. Unlike some of their North American counterparts, Forge have a very positive record when it comes to playing in Central America, having accrued an impressive 4W-2D-3L record.
“It comes from our mentality as a club and just something that I’ve tried to instill here from the beginning. It’s getting rid of that stigma that Central America is an impossible place to play football. I always have this mentality that at the end of the day, you take away the fans, it’s 22 guys on a pitch. Going down there, it’s about relishing and enjoying the moment and I think we’ve done that. We have a team that gets on a plane and gets to Central America with a massive smile on their face and is looking forward to an excellent challenge, because that’s what it is,” said Smyrniotis.
When Smyrniotis sits back and reflects on the great success that Forge have enjoyed in such a short period of time in both the CPL and in Concacaf, he finds that it stems from having football as the main priority.
