October 5, 2019 Canadian Premier League--PREVIEW: Forge fc vs York9 FC - Match #88 (from canpl.ca website)

  
PREVIEW: Forge FC vs. York9 FC – Match #88 
2019-10-05 

Canadian Premier League — Match #88
Forge FC vs. York9 FC
October 5, 2019 — Tim Hortons Field (3:30 p.m. ET)
Watch Live: OneSoccer.ca

The Canadian Premier League Finals matchup may have been decided already, but bragging rights between 
905 Derby foes York9 FC and Forge FC are still up for grabs. The first of two matches to decide 
the season series kicks off on Sunday in Hamilton.

Although the Nine Stripes will be on the outside looking in for Finals 2019, the two upcoming games 
against Forge present a tantalizing feather they could put in their caps. York9 sits third in the table 
with 17 points, one up on Pacific and Valour, having drawn their most recent match 1-1 with Cavalry. 
The Fall season has, ultimately, turned out fairly disappointing for them despite a very positive start, 
but with four more games on the schedule, Y9 has their eyes on that third-place finish.

Forge, meanwhile, want to put together as many strong performances as they can in the build-up to Finals 
2019 at the end of the month. Two games against York9 and two against Cavalry provide some very high-stakes 
warmup clashes for Bobby Smyrniotis to get his team up to scratch in the homestretch. They’ve still got 
a grip on first place in the Fall table, with a two-point lead on Cavalry after scraping a 1-0 win 
in Edmonton on Wednesday.

Although Forge has had the upper hand in the 905 Derby this year, with two wins and a draw, York9 could 
still claim the season series on goal differential by winning these next two clashes. The Nine Stripes 
have yet to beat their Ontario rivals, so they’ll be looking forward to these two cracks at Forge. 
Tim Hortons Field isn’t an easy place to play, though.

York9’s next contest will be the reverse of this fixture, as they meet Forge at York Lions Stadium next 
Saturday (3:30 p.m. ET, on OneSoccer). Forge, however, has a midweek match in between, as they head out 
to Alberta for a Finals preview with Cavalry FC on Wednesday (9:00 p.m. ET, 7:00 p.m. MT, on OneSoccer).

KEYS TO THE MATCH

Play with passion: The inaugural match between these sides had plenty of fireworks, with Manny Aparicio’s 
red card and Kyle Bekker’s elbow on Joe Di Chiara. Since then, though, their meetings haven’t been quite 
as feisty, despite the two teams giving plenty of indication that they don’t particularly like each other. 
York9 came out flat in the last derby clash, lacking a certain spark. Generally, playing with an emotional 
edge can be dangerous, but for the Nine Stripes to get the best of Forge they could probably stand 
to have a little more fire in trying to win the ball.

Pin them back: Forge played very little of their Wednesday match against FC Edmonton in their own half. 
Centre-backs Dominic Samuel and Daniel Krutzen maintained a very high line, as the Hammers conceded 
the majority of possession but kept the Eddies well back in their own half. A similar strategy could 
pay off against York9, pressing them high and allowing them to play the passing game without penetrating 
into Forge’s half. It’s a fairly exhausting tactic, since it’ll require Forge to be on their toes 
to close down space and force their opponents to recycle backwards, but it could neutralize their attack.

Run into space: The heat map from York9’s weekend draw with Cavalry reveals that an astonishing 
six players (Simon Adjei, Rodrigo Gattas, Ryan Telfer, Manny Aparicio, Joe Di Chiara, and Wataru Murofushi) 
gravitated to the same narrow strip in the middle of the pitch. Gattas and Telfer, especially are much more 
effective when receiving the ball in pockets of space, and it’s hard for Aparicio or Di Chiara to make decent 
line-breaking passes when everyone’s stacked up the middle. They need to get moving more to try and stretch 
Forge out a little, which should be easier on the larger pitch at Tim Hortons Field.

PROJECTED LINEUPS
Forge FC: 
Triston Henry; 
Kwame Awuah, Dominic Samuel, David Edgar, Jonathan Grant; 
Kyle Bekker, Giuliano Frano, Daniel Krutzen; 
Chris Nanco, Anthony Novak, Tristan Borges

York9 FC: 
Nathan Ingham; 
Diyaeddine Abzi, Daniel Gogarty, Luca Gasparotto, Morey Doner; 
Joe Di Chiara, Wataru Murofushi, Manuel Aparicio; 
Ryan Telfer, Simon Adjei Karlsson, Rodrigo Gattas

HEAD TO HEAD
April 27 – Forge FC 1-1 York9 FC
May 25 – York9 FC 0-2 Forge FC
September 8 – Forge FC 2-1 York9 FC

STATS LEADERS
Tristan Borges – 11 goals (Forge FC)
Rodrigo Gattas – 8 goals (York9 FC)

INJURIES
Kadell Thomas (Forge FC) – Doubtful
Roger Thompson (York9 FC) – Doubtful
Cyrus Rollocks (York9 FC) – Doubtful
Michael Cox (York9 FC) – Questionable

INTERNATIONAL DUTY
None

SUSPENSIONS
None

ACCUMULATION
(Players are suspended for one match 14 days after accumulating a 4th Yellow Card)
Kwame Awuah (Forge FC) – 4 – (will miss Oct. 12 vs. Y9)
Bertrand Owundi Eko’o (Forge FC) – 3
Luca Gasparotto (York9 FC) – 3
Steven Furlano (York9 FC) – 3

REFEREES
Referee: Fabrizio Stasolla
ARs: Peter Pendli & Gérard-Kader Lebuis
4th Official: Scott Bowman

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