Final Score: Pacific FC 0-2 Forge FC
Goalscorers: Kane 44′, Achinioti-Jönsson 60′
Game of the 2025 season: 5
CPL match: 601

Match in a minute or less

Forge continued their strong start to the 2025 CPL season on Saturday, as they defeated Pacific 2-0 at Starlight Stadium.

After coming close to opening the scoring on a few occasions early in the game, Forge finally found their breakthrough in the 44th minute, as Khadim Kane found the net with a cool finish following an intricate set-piece routine from his teammates.

Then, Forge doubled their lead in the 60th minute, and it also came off a corner, as Tristan Borges found Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson at the near post, and he headed home into the top corner to make it 2-0, a lead his team wouldn’t relinquish the rest of the way en route to victory.

Three Observations

Set piece magic paces Forge victory:

On a Starlight Stadium pitch that’s a bit smaller than usual, teams have to be creative to score goals.

There are many ways to find those goals, but it’s not as if teams have to reinvent the wheel to get chances – usually, the big difference comes down to execution.

With a lack of space, decisions have to be made a little faster and passes have to be a little harder – the margins are much tighter, after all.

To Forge’s credit, they found a way to make the most of their opportunities in this game, and they did so by using the moments in the game where teams have the extra time to take those decisions – on set pieces.

There, they showed off some impressive routines, which they executed perfectly on a couple of occasions, allowing them to find the goals they needed to win.

In particular, their first goal will be one that both their players and coaching staff will take pride in – there, they put together a sequence on a direct free kick that saw three different players touch the ball before Kane slotted home, as they completely caught Pacific off guard defensively.

GOAL 🔨

Khadim Kane opens the scoring for @ForgeFCHamilton with a great set-piece routine ⚽️

🔴 Watch LIVE on @onesoccer & TSN 5 pic.twitter.com/Z44IgZ4gYV

— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) April 12, 2025

On a sequence where most teams might’ve tried to fire a low-percentage shot toward goal or a cross toward Pacific’s defenders, they showed good creativity to drag Pacific’s players out of position by playing a short pass and then a cross, before further catching Pacific by surprise by flicking that subsequent cross onto the foot of a wide-open Kane, who had drifted into an open space in the box.

Given how prepared teams usually are on defensive set pieces, making it hard to generate shots, a play like that makes you wonder why some teams don’t attempt something like that more often – perhaps Forge themselves will be willing to do so when seeing the impact it had on this game.

Certainly, Forge will feel they left some goals on the table in open play in this one, as it’s not like these were the only goals breaking open a cagey game – but they won’t mind that in the end, as sometimes you need to rely on moments like this to make a difference in matches like this.

As Forge noted afterwards, this is a side that wants to be more dangerous on these set-plays, so look for them to make routines like this a staple of their play going forward, which could add another layer to a team that is usually pretty dangerous in open play, too.

Pacific struggles to find rhythm in possession:

After a smooth, free-flowing attacking performance from Pacific in their opening match, one that looked very different from the team that struggled to score goals in 2024, some old habits resurfaced in this loss.

In particular, they just never seemed to find their rhythm in possession in this match, as they were unable to break down Forge’s resolute defensive shape.

The numbers tell the story – they finished with just five shots, for a total of only 0.4 Expected Goals (xG), as they didn’t threaten Forge’s defensive line as much as they would’ve hoped on the day.

Credit has to go to Forge for that – they did a great job of limiting space behind their backline, which Pacific was looking to target, having done so to great success against Valour.

Yet, at the same time, Pacific will feel they could’ve been much more dangerous than they were, as they got to the final third, but didn’t execute with their chances – that they had 52 final third entries (one more than Forge), but had just 19 touches in their box, shows that.

That’ll be the challenge for them going forward, however – this is a team that can be very dangerous in transition, something they also proved in week one. In possession, however, they’ll want to find ways to break open set defences with more regularity, as they’ll want to avoid making games like this a habit, or else they’ll have to get used to facing a steady diet of low blocks in games going forward.

Given that it’s still early in the season, they won’t be too worried about it becoming a trend, but it’s something to watch, as they’ve struggled with this in the past.

They’ve got the pieces to break down a low block – they’ll be pleased that someone like Marco Bustos had 70 touches, for example, as in most games he’ll turn that into more than the one shot and two chances he created on the day – so they’ll now just focus on putting more robust patterns of play together and steading the attack around Bustos, making sure that these choppy offensive performances don’t turn into a trend like they often were in 2024.

Forge’s right side shines amid changes:

Forced to tweak their lineup after the suspension of Zayne Bruno, who was sent off after earning a second yellow against Cavalry in the season opener, Forge decided to completely alter the composition of their right side in this match.

Having deployed David Choinière in front of Bruno in that game, they instead went with Nana Ampomah in his position, with Khadim Kane filling in for Bruno at right back. The decision to go with Ampomah wasn’t shocking to see – he’ll look to feature regularly after scoring two goals and adding two assists in his first season with Forge in 2024 – but the insertion of Kane certainly came as a surprise.

Given that he’d almost exclusively played as a central midfielder for Forge before, it was going to be interesting to see how he’d be deployed in and out of possession, however.

Turns out, Forge would use his skills to their advantage. Instead of building out in a back four as they did against Cavalry, they used more of a back three, with Kane dropping in as a centre back alongside Dan Nimick and Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson, giving them a different look in possession.

There, he tried to help give his team a different look on the ball, as they looked to break down Pacific’s press. Knowing that Pacific would press in a 4-4-2, Forge tried to create triangles around Pacific’s two forwards and wingers, who would press together in a four.

By dropping Kane in as a centre back, and their use of two wing backs and two central midfielders, that ensured that everyone on the ball would have at least two options in possession – one centrally and one either in front or behind them, depending on who received the ball.

That ended up giving Forge a big edge on the ball – they carved through Pacific’s press on several occasions – showing the benefit of dropping Kane into that position.

Of course, for all of the work that Kane looked to do in possession, however, he also had to put a lot of focus into his defensive play, too, where he was tasked with a tough assignment, as Pacific shifted Ronan Kratt over to the left wing after deploying him on the right last week.

To his credit, he held his own there, too, keeping Kratt off the board after he scored a great goal last week, which is a credit to the work Kane did to keep him contained anytime he received the ball, doing so confidently and assertively.

That confidence rubbed off his teammates, and none more than Ampomah, who had an excellent game in front of Kane – he created three chances, completed two dribbles and had seven touches in the box in a top showing, as he certainly benefited from the freedom his right back gave him to push forward.

Because of that, look for Kane to build off this performance going forward, as he’ll offer something different for Forge at that right back position. Plus, this could be a good move for him, personally, – given his ability on the ball, size and defensive ability, he could profile nicely in a deeper role on the pitch, as this game gave a glimpse of.

Given how competitive Forge’s midfield is, it won’t be the worst thing for him to use a role like this to earn more minutes – which perhaps could help pave the way for a switch back to the middle down the road, too.

What They Said

“For the most part, tactically, I think we were very good, we controlled the tempo, and moved the ball around to certain areas of the field. We knew that would not only help us create opportunities, but also neutralize specific counter-attacking situations. That’s important, as what we do on the ball is not just about how we attack, but it’s about how we defend, and I thought for the most part, we controlled those situations.” — Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis

“We’ve done a lot of stuff with our set pieces this year, and on this one, it all worked perfectly. I think we saw how it’s supposed to work, and you hope to at least get at least one chance a game from your set pieces, you want to catch them off guard, which we did, but when everyone executes their roles like that, that’s what happens. “ — Forge FC defender Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson

“They were tough to break down. They were solid, but we were also very loose with the ball, we had a difficult time with our final pass, and our combinations. The transitional moments were there in the first 30 minutes, but when you don’t capitalize on them, you’re not going to see the ball much, and we ended up defending more than we wanted here, especially in the first half, and then to concede two set pieces (on top of that), was disappointing as well.” — Pacific FC head coach James Merriman

CanPL.ca Player of the Match

Khadim Kane, Forge FC

Kane put in a complete performance at a new position, scoring his first professional goal, completing 53 out of 61 passes (87%), including two passes into the final third, while also chipping in with two tackles, four interceptions, seven recoveries, winning six out of nine duels and drawing two fouls.

What’s next?

After playing their first two matches at Starlight Stadium, Pacific will head out for their first road match of the season, which will come against the Halifax Wanderers at Wanderers Grounds on Saturday, April 19th (12:30 p.m. PT/4:30 p.m. AT). Meanwhile, Forge will return to Hamilton for a clash against Valour FC at Tim Hortons Field later that same Saturday (5:00 p.m. CT/6:00 p.m. ET).

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