Steve Milton: He’s 20, brand-new to Forge FC, and scores his first two professional goals
Faced with a ruthless schedule that keeps rearranging itself but never allows down time, Forge FC keeps coming up with creative solutions.
With some key members of this hardened-by-experience squad unavailable because of injury The Forge turned to a new defensive setup and a couple of, well, kids really, to put away Atletico Ottawa 4-0 before an announced crowd of 3,165 at Tim Hortons Field Wednesday night.
Hamilton employed a sturdy backline of just three defenders - Alex Achinioti-Jonsson, Daniel Krutzen and Maxim Tissot - to deliver penetratingly accurate passes to the attack-oriented seven in front of them, 20-year-old Canadian rookie Woobens Pacius scored his first two professional goals 17 days after joining the team, and 21-year-old backup goaltender Baj Maan earned his second shutout of the year.
The Forge opened the eight-game CPL kickoff" bubble in Winnipeg with two losses. But the two-time reigning Canadian Premier League champions are now tied for third in the eight-team league and are only three points, one win, behind first-place Pacific with a match in hand and their game seemingly rounding into full form after no quality pre-season training time.
We like what we see tonight," said head coach Bobby Smyrniotis, and he should. Now, can we continue it? We needed to get better on the attacking part of the field and did. How do we take those things into the next game?"
Which, of course, is coming up in a hurry. They're back at Tim Hortons Field Saturday afternoon against York United, trying to increase their five-point lead on the fifth-place Toronto club as they reach the halfway point in the 28-game CPL season.
But the CPL is just one of the dishes on Hamilton's crammed plate.
It's still incomprehensible to even well-versed sports fans that the Forge is entered in four separate competitions this year. That's what happens with soccer's successful club teams, and it's a punishing schedule. Especially in the time of COVID-19 with its serial quarantines and isolations.
Forge FC is likely to face multiple schedule changes in the near future to accommodate all of its commitments.
They're in the CPL, of course, the CONCACAF (North and Central America and the Caribbean) League; the 2021 Canadian Championships and still have a game pending against Toronto FC for the as yet unclaimed 2020 Canadian championship title.
They'll play Valour FC of Winnipeg at Tim Hortons Field Sept. 14 in the quarter-finals of the 2021 national championship. And having eliminated CD FAS of El Salvador, Forge FC is slated to host Panama's Independiente Sept. 21 in the round-of-16 of the CONCACAF League, with the second leg in Panama City a week later.
What the Forge did during six mid-August days in Central America to reach that round-of-16 was under-reported and underappreciated everywhere in Canada. Including right here.
Because CD FAS, the reigning champions of the tough El Salvador premier league, was not permitted into Canada without a quarantine that was too long for CONCACAF liking, the Forge had to play both ends of their CONCACAF League series in San Salvador. They won their home" game 3-1 Aug. 12, and in a game delayed partway through by lightning strikes, scored two away' goals in a 2-2 draw five days later, sending them through.
Their reward was an even more congested schedule of domestic matches because of the time they were away.
But fatigue was nowhere in evidence Wednesday night as the Forge delivered a complete performance. Krutzen, recovering from an injury incurred in the kickoff bubble, scored on a penalty kick in the 44th minute, and that opened the second-half floodgates.
Six of the Hamilton's 14 goals in league play to that point had come from the spot. Even though the Forge has struggled much of the season to converting opportunities from open play, the positive aspect of that stat is that it indicates they had been working the ball into the danger zones. In this case, Tristan Borges' dangerous foray into the box drew a foul from the overworked Ottawa defence.
But it was all open play finesse for the Forge in the second half with Pacius finishing a gorgeous cross from Kwame Awuah who's having a superb season, and perfectly timing an elusive run onto Johnny Grant's seeing-eye feed, for his two goals within seven minutes. Chris Nanco notched another, from Tissot, in added time.
The past two or three years were tough for me with injuries and everything," said Pacius, who'd been playing with FC Montreal's U-23 team. They were great passes from Johnny and Kwame. I just had to just finish the play."
Smyrniotis praised Maan for his attentive learning behind No. 1 keeper Triston Henry, the CPL's Golden Glove winner last season, and said that Pacius was brought in to do exactly what he did today."
Steve Milton is a Hamilton-based sports columnist at The Spectator. Reach him via email: smilton@thespec.com