Match Thread: October 14, 2023 - Playoffs - First Semifinal (1v2) - Cavalry v Forge

[Big_M]

80' mason scores on a corner

[Big_M]

81' hamilton can make it 3-1 but hammers it above

[Big_M]

85' campbell out choiniere in

[Big_M]

88' hojabrpour out sissoko in

[Unnamed Trialist]

Glad to see the style is being cramped or let me cramp your style is on for the team leading in this one too.

[Unnamed Trialist]

Both teams seem gassed, but at least Forge has a few guys who understand what to do to hold on.

[Big_M]

forge wins 1-2 and will host the cpl final

cavalry will host pacific in the other semi-final

[Wippersuna]

Forge is both the worst and best thing for the CPL. 

[toontownman]

Haters gonna hate.. 

 

And I sure hate Forge has done it again. Fair play to them an Bobby "the master" Smyrniotis  

[Unnamed Trialist]

So that is tricky for Cavalry to have to sit at home and try to get it right next week. 

Pacific is probably a step below but after these two tight wins and three games in a week, they get to rest better this week, and then go back to Calgary. Where they lost last time. I think it'll be more even that we might think.

[toontownman]

1 minute ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

So that is tricky for Cavalry to have to sit at home and try to get it right next week. 

Pacific is probably a step below but after these two tight wins and three games in a week, they get to rest better this week, and then go back to Calgary. Where they lost last time. I think it'll be more even that we might think.

Aye. Cavs will be feeling little dejected with the potential for the bottling stigma and doubt settling in while Pacific will be in the ascendancy, buoyed by two wins when they were trending badly backwards. 

Will the extra week be of benefit or not for Forge. We shall see. Home advantage is always nice.

[gator]

So if I have this right Forge will want Cavalry to win the semi final to insure Concacaf qualification as the #2 seed no matter what happens in the final?

[Big_M]

nope if cavalry gets the double the second spot goes to second place in regular season which is forge

[gator]

1 minute ago, Big_M said:

nope if cavalry gets the double the second spot goes to second place in regular season which is forge

Which is what I just posted?

[Watchmen]

2 minutes ago, Big_M said:

nope if cavalry gets the double the second spot goes to second place in regular season which is forge

That's what @gator said.

[jonovision]

24 minutes ago, Wippersuna said:

Forge is both the worst and best thing for the CPL. 

Forge's ongoing success is good for Forge. I don't know what good it is to the rest of the CPL.

[Unnamed Trialist]

23 minutes ago, jonovision said:

Forge's ongoing success is good for Forge. I don't know what good it is to the rest of the CPL.

It's a standard the rest of the league needs to learn to respond to. 

Forge has good rosters, similar to Cavalry and Pacific I'd say, but is not unbeatable. It is not clearly privileged or anything, though I agree it's not an underdog. This year in fact another team has already lifted a trophy, they haven't. They also lost a league at home once, quite clearly too.

Real Madrid won the first 5 European Cups. It took 30 years for another club to win that many. Or another example: Rosenborg won Norway 13 years straight, 92-2004… and Rosenborg is in only the fourth largest city in Norway, rather inconveniently located too. Dynasties happen, but they also have droughts. We'll look back in 15-20 years and see this in CPL. Maybe Forge's drought starts this year.

[jonovision]

2 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

It's a standard the rest of the league needs to learn to respond to. 

Forge has good rosters, similar to Cavalry and Pacific I'd say, but is not unbeatable. It is not clearly privileged or anything, though I agree it's not an underdog. This year in fact another team has already lifted a trophy, they haven't. They also lost a league at home once, quite clearly too.

Real Madrid won the first 5 European Cups. It took 30 years for another club to win that many. Or another example: Rosenborg won Norway 13 years straight, 92-2004… and Rosenborg is in only the fourth largest city in Norway, rather inconveniently located too. Dynasties happen, but they also have droughts. We'll look back in 15-20 years and see this in CPL. Maybe Forge's drought starts this year.

It's hardly the fault of Forge, but this is a league, half a decade old, where half of the existing teams have experienced no meaningful on field success. This can only go so long without a cost.

[rkomar]

6 minutes ago, jonovision said:

It's hardly the fault of Forge, but this is a league, half a decade old, where half of the existing teams have experienced no meaningful on field success. This can only go so long without a cost.

Okay, I'm relieved that the idea isn't that Forge need to be worse for the league to succeed.

[jonovision]

2 minutes ago, rkomar said:

Okay, I'm relieved that the idea isn't that Forge need to be worse for the league to succeed.

I mean, it wouldn't hurt.

[narduch]

Don't worry. Once Smyrniotis takes over CanMNT, Forge will drop back a bit

[Watchmen]

25 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

It's a standard the rest of the league needs to learn to respond to. 

Forge has good rosters, similar to Cavalry and Pacific I'd say, but is not unbeatable. It is not clearly privileged or anything, though I agree it's not an underdog. This year in fact another team has already lifted a trophy, they haven't. They also lost a league at home once, quite clearly too.

Real Madrid won the first 5 European Cups. It took 30 years for another club to win that many. Or another example: Rosenborg won Norway 13 years straight, 92-2004… and Rosenborg is in only the fourth largest city in Norway, rather inconveniently located too. Dynasties happen, but they also have droughts. We'll look back in 15-20 years and see this in CPL. Maybe Forge's drought starts this year.

Except it's a league (similar to MLS) designed not to have dynasties.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not blaming Forge for this.  And to be fair, it's also what happened in MLS: DC United won 3 of the first 4 MLS Cups.  I'm simply saying that sometimes more established leagues can take the hit of a team building a dynasty for a time (though 13 years by Rosenborg, 9 years recently by Juventus, and 11 and counting currently by Bayern are a bit ridiculous).

[Wippersuna]

All I meant is Forge’s relative success and ability to be competitive beyond the CPL  has to add some validity to the league. Plus yeah they force the league theoretically to raise their standards. 
 

But yeah not great for the other teams and also I loathe them for it. 

[RJB]

A real shame that Cavalry is rewarded for winning the league by not hosting the final.  Fair enough I guess, they should have won the semi.

Let's call Forge a dynasty - up for debate.  But I think having teams to target and hate is better than parity. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

12 hours ago, jonovision said:

It's hardly the fault of Forge, but this is a league, half a decade old, where half of the existing teams have experienced no meaningful on field success. This can only go so long without a cost.

How about the Canadian Stanley Cup drought? What has been the terrible, devastating cost for the sport in Canada not having a winner since I watched Keon and Horton win it when I was a kid?