Achi news desk-
Forge FC pulled off a historic 2-1 win over Montreal CF at Stade Saputo on Wednesday night to book their ticket to the Canadian Championship semi-finals.
Daniel Farah and Kwasi Fuko scored in the first half for the Canadian Premier League’s Forge, who upset the Major League Soccer side with a 3-2 victory in a two-leg quarterfinal.
Victor Wanyama answered for Montreal, without a win in eight games in all competitions.
Forge won after being eliminated by Montreal in the previous three years of the tournament.
They will face Toronto FC, Vancouver Whitecaps or the winners of the match between Pacific FC and Atlético Ottawa in the semi-finals.
“We did a good job of reading the opposition early in the game and we have great players in our lineup, and then it comes down to execution,” Forge coach Bobby Samirniotis said. “In that first half, our guys came out and did it perfectly. Some of them have run away from us before, especially here, so it’s great to get that result.”
Forge and Montreal tied 1-1 during the first leg in Hamilton, meaning Forge technically trailed in away goals entering Wednesday’s game.
The CPL team started the night on the front foot and scored the opening goal in the 14th minute.
Parra found space on the penalty kick and fired a shot that was picked off by Montreal goalkeeper Sebastien Barza to give Forge a 2-1 aggregate lead.
Just 10 minutes later, Forge added a second goal with a direct shot that sent Foucault into the net.
He made no mistake and put Montreal on the ropes with the home team needing three goals from this point on to advance.
“I can’t explain (this performance). I’m ashamed,” Montreal coach Laurent Courtois said. “It’s hard for me to justify such a shallow first half. We are ambitious and need to match these ambitions with actions, but I didn’t see it and it’s disappointing.”
Montreal took control of the game as Forge dropped to a low block to protect their lead but couldn’t find a way through before halftime.
The game was delayed two hours at halftime due to lightning on a stormy night in Montreal.
Montreal used the extended break to regroup mentally before coming out and dominating the game in the second half.
“We moved a few years ago in CONCACAF (Champions League) and I think the difficult thing is that you go into this second part is that two teams need something very different,” Samirniotis said. “It always favors the team that needs more and that was Montreal so sometimes that can be a problem. We defended a lot more than we wanted to, but we talked about it at halftime and tried to make everyone aware of that situation.”
The hosts pressed high up the pitch and pulled one back when Wanyama got on the end of a corner in the 66th minute to give the fans some hope.
Instead of allowing the floodgates to open, Forge was able to mitigate any other threats.
Narrowly missed chances and some excellent saves by Forge goalkeeper Christopher Colengo helped negate any chance of a miraculous Montreal comeback.
“It’s a mental game and even when we got to know each other, we talked on the field to put everyone’s minds at ease and it went well after that,” said Forge defender Garvan Metuzela, who grew up in Montreal’s academy. “(It) shows the quality we have in this team and in this league. We know we have a lot of guys who can play at this level and it’s always satisfying to prove it on the field.”
— This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on May 23, 2024.
