Match Thread: The Final - December 5, 2021 - Forge v Pacific

[narduch]

Doesn't Forge have about 28 players signed while the rest of the league is at 23?

[gator]

5 minutes ago, narduch said:

Doesn't Forge have about 28 players signed while the rest of the league is at 23?

I am not sure tbh, maybe they were given cap space when their marquee off season signing Jakovich was lost early on, I understand why the league has a cap for now but I don't pay too much attention to this stuff, it's business not sport! It seems teams in all salary cap leagues have found ways around it Tampa Bay Lightning did it last year to help win the cup apparently! Two of Forge's starting back 4 tomorrow will probably be midfielders so their depth may be better than other teams but still isn't great regardless of speculated numbers!

[Aird25]

Doesn’t Cavalry still have a better record overall? The league just doesn’t award the regular season for some strange reason. 

[narduch]

1 minute ago, Aird25 said:

Doesn’t Cavalry still have a better record overall? The league just doesn’t award the regular season for some strange reason. 

No Forge were 1st overall this year 

[Aird25]

1 minute ago, narduch said:

No Forge were 1st overall this year 

All seasons combined. People are complaining about lack of parity but those two teams have been pretty comparable outside of knockout games 

[narduch]

13 minutes ago, Aird25 said:

All seasons combined. People are complaining about lack of parity but those two teams have been pretty comparable outside of knockout games 

Gotcha.

Well starting in 2023 the regular season winner will probably get a Champions League spot at least 

Edited December 4, 2021 by narduch

[SoccMan]

So hopefully there will be a good crowd for this final 10000 would be a good number and I think attainable. They are playing at home in the championship final , going for three in a row and can win a championship at home unlike the other two they won. Moreover, this team has proved how good they  are going into these Central American countries and getting results . Hamilton being given the Canada World Cup qualifying game in January I think should also help getting people in Hamilton to this CPL Championship in an indirect way. The Ticats usually fill that stadium on a regular basis what 9 or 10 times of the year hopefully more  of those fans can start coming out to Forge games or the very least this final .  

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Just now, SoccMan said:

So hopefully there will be a good crowd for this final 10000 would be a good number...

They'll need to open up a lot more sections in the lower bowl to be able to manage that. As things stand at the moment only the sections they normally have active for regular season games have been on sale on ticketmaster. That's most of one half of the lower bowl and most of the mezzanine on the other side. I'm a bit surprised they haven't opened up the other side of the lower bowl as they did for games in 2019 so far but I guess there is still around 24 hours to go.

[narduch]

Just took a quick look at Ticketmaster. The lower bowl on one side of the stadium is almost sold out. Surprised they haven't opened up a few more sections.

[Bison44]

HAHA, like clockwork!!  You cant mention that you hope there will be a good crowd without him chiming in and insinuating it wont happen.  CLASSIC!!!

[gator]

33 minutes ago, SoccMan said:

So hopefully there will be a good crowd for this final 10000 would be a good number and I think attainable. They are playing at home in the championship final , going for three in a row and can win a championship at home unlike the other two they won. Moreover, this team has proved how good they  are going into these Central American countries and getting results . Hamilton being given the Canada World Cup qualifying game in January I think should also help getting people in Hamilton to this CPL Championship in an indirect way. The Ticats usually fill that stadium on a regular basis what 9 or 10 times of the year hopefully more  of those fans can start coming out to Forge games or the very least this final .  

I don't know how many Ticat fans go to Forge matches but I don't expect many tomorrow as the tabbies will be playing in the Eastern Final, most of those fans will be either at BMO or drinking beer in front of their tv watching it!

Edited December 4, 2021 by gator

[ted]

1 hour ago, narduch said:

Doesn't Forge have about 28 players signed while the rest of the league is at 23?

I believe the roster for Forge this year has been 33 total.

[gator]

14 minutes ago, ted said:

I believe the roster for Forge this year has been 33 total.

On their site they list 31, many of them haven't played or have played very little! As I previously mentioned despite the roster numbers Forge will be forced into using midfielders in the back 4, 4 trips to Central America and playing 40 games in a condensed period will do that!

https://forgefc.canpl.ca/roster

[gator]

Are there any of you Pacific fans coming to Hamilton for the match?

[narduch]

 

[CDNFootballer]

6 hours ago, SoccMan said:

So hopefully there will be a good crowd for this final 10000 would be a good number and I think attainable. They are playing at home in the championship final , going for three in a row and can win a championship at home unlike the other two they won. Moreover, this team has proved how good they  are going into these Central American countries and getting results . Hamilton being given the Canada World Cup qualifying game in January I think should also help getting people in Hamilton to this CPL Championship in an indirect way. The Ticats usually fill that stadium on a regular basis what 9 or 10 times of the year hopefully more  of those fans can start coming out to Forge games or the very least this final .  

With the sections they're using for the final at this point, there's approximately 5500-6000 including club seats apparently, so if they hold on that and don't open up more sections at this late stage, its likely to be in that range which is fine imo.

Hopefully the weather is ok so there's not too many no shows.

[jonovision]

I don't really have a problem with it because I don't think the  CPL should have a salary cap, but surely Forge are spending more than the rest of the league. Either they've found a way to go beyond the cap, or most other teams aren't spending close to it.

I have a hard time imagining any other way that Forge can amass the collection of players they have, both in terms of talent and prior professional pedigree. Forge have at least 15 guys that would be no-doubt starters on any other team in the league, and surely some would jump ship if the money was right. Someone like Chris Nanco, who barely gets a sniff with Forge, would be one of the top players for Valour or Edmonton.

Edited to add: I should have quoted someone above as this was in response to some earlier conversation in this thread. After the Motagua series I have some begrudging respect for Forge and self-proclaimed smart guy Smyrniotis, and unlike Pacific, Forge didn't walk all over Valour this year. So I'll be behind them tomorrow (although I won't be watching as I have a different sort of Winnipeg footballing interest to attend to).

Edited December 5, 2021 by jonovision

[Kent]

I just realized this game is fire (Forge) vs water (Pacific). Water typically wins that battle! This York United fan is hoping Pacific can win. More importantly I'm hoping during my busy day I can find time to replenish my beer supply and get time in front of the TV at game time!

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

Instead of opening extra sections  today they are selling seats in extra rows at the very back of the lower bowl that are usually tarped during Forge games.

[ted]

20 hours ago, gator said:

Are there any of you Pacific fans coming to Hamilton for the match?

Yup, I know three from our group who arrived by last night.

[CanadianSoccerFan]

Really discouraging to browse around the websites of the sports networks, newspapers, and even the CBC.  This game is completely in the witness protection program.

[gator]

4 minutes ago, ted said:

Yup, I know three from our group who arrived by last night.

Yes, I had a beer with those guys spoke a lot with Mikeapedia!🍺

[grasshopper1917]

Hey Gator make sure to wear your free Wanderers hat at the game today!   lol

 

[SoccMan]

1 hour ago, CanadianSoccerFan said:

Really discouraging to browse around the websites of the sports networks, newspapers, and even the CBC.  This game is completely in the witness protection program.

Yup pretty sad actually you would think with the hype around the Canadian men’s national team run there would be something but nothing . Need to come on here to get my fix . We have a very long way to go unfortunately and I’ve been at this for a long time .

[Ivan]

26 minutes ago, SoccMan said:

Yup pretty sad actually you would think with the hype around the Canadian men’s national team run there would be something but nothing . Need to come on here to get my fix . We have a very long way to go unfortunately and I’ve been at this for a long time .

To be fair to TSN, Luke Wileman had a 10 minute interview with Bobby Smyrniotis up on the main page for a few days.