Forge FC and its drive to combine winning with beauty

Top of the table with six games left in the season, Forge FC are on the verge of taking the first step towards repeating as Canadian Premier League champions in 2024.

A win or draw away to Halifax Wanderers FC on Saturday would clinch a sixth consecutive playoff berth for the Hamilton-based club, who has won the league title five times.

At the heart of Forge FC is Bobby Smyrniotis, the only coach the team has ever known and one of the chief architects of its seemingly endless run of success. But while results matter to Smyrniotis, he's just as interested in how Forge wins.

"We all love [football]. And the more we watch it, the more beauty we want to see in it. And that's also a challenge for us as coaches these days, because as things become more physical in football, it's important not to lose the beauty. Sometimes achieving the beauty in the game is the challenging thing for us as coaches," Smyrniotis said.

In part 2 of this one-on-one interview with TFC Republic, Smyrniotis discusses how he defines Forge's identity, the importance of competing in Concacaf tournaments, his personal ambitions and much more. To read part 1 of our interview with Smyrniotis, CLICK HERE. 

This Q&A has been lightly edited and trimmed for brevity and clarity.   

Forge has had success against MLS teams in this year’s Canadian Championship. Likewise, Calvary FC and Pacific gave the Vancouver Whitecaps a hard time. I wonder what you think this says, if it says anything at all, about the gap between CPL and MLS teams? 

I've always said that there's quality players in this league. I could only talk for Forge – there's many players on this squad who could be playing in many leagues across the world, including MLS and so on. Is there a massive gap between CPL and MLS? There's a massive gap when you look at DPs and TAM-type players and so on. But after that, I don't think so. That's nothing against a player playing in MLS.  

We've been blessed to have some very good players here; very good players with good pedigree, good development, whether they're local, whether they're foreign. And it just shows also the depth of players we have in Canada, you know? And it's something that I've always believed in from the CPL in 2019 [when the league launched]: the depth of players in Canada is there, and it continues to be there. It's just that we need to give them the opportunity to go forward. Of course, there's a difference between MLS and CPL, and a lot of times the difference is money. But I've said before, bags of money don't score goals. Players do, right? And that's why it comes down to 90 minutes of football.  

In Canadian Championship matches, you can see a CPL team playing a League1 Ontario team that is coming up from the theoretically lower league, and they're super motivated and it starts becoming a difficult game. And we've lived that in Canadian Championship games playing League1 Ontario and League1 Quebec teams. We've gone out and won those games, but we've always had to make sure we're fully attentive. And that's also our philosophy. Whether it's York United on a Friday, TFC on a Tuesday or Pacific FC the following Friday, it's the same preparation. We don't differentiate and say, 'you know, we've got this special game in front of us.' It's the same preparation for each game. We've got 90 minutes of football to go out there. And I think that's helped us as a team. 

Canadian Soccer Talk: CPL and its search for global relevance

CPL executive vice president Costa Smyrniotis spoke to TFC Republic about the league’s long-term vision both on and off the field.

TFC REPUBLICJohn Molinaro

Do you think Forge gets the respect it deserves within the greater Canadian soccer community? 

To be honest, I'm not sure. I would hope so. I only say that for what these players have done, and all of the accomplishments that the club has had, because I think they have been great. Not only the CPL championships, but I always look at the continental competition as a big factor in what we're doing, because I think that's the biggest measure of who you are, of where your league is, and so on. We've played over 20 matches in the last five years in continental play. That's a lot of football, and we've had a lot of good success in doing that.  

And if there's one game I'd like to have back, it's not 2021 CPL final [Forge lost at home to Pacific FC], but 2021 semifinals [of the Concacaf League] with Motagua, because it would've been a great opportunity for us to play in the final of a continental competition in the final year of that competition. But we've still done a lot of great things.  

I don't know if we get the respect we do, but I'll say one thing, and having traveled a lot of Central America and Mexico, the club has a great name down there. That's important for me, for the club, because I always say we're temporary, the coaches, and players. But the club is permanent. Part of my goal in the first phase of this club was not only to create a great culture, but to create an identity. The game is global. It's everywhere. And to get to the top, you've got to be good in these competitions. And I think that's helped us a lot where in the Concacaf region, we're well known for what we've done, and being a very competitive club to play against in the continental competitions. 

What goals have you set for the team going forward? Is there another step to take for Forge, or is it just about maintaining its elite status within the CPL? What's the next frontier? 

To be honest, it's winning the Canadian Championship. I think that's the next frontier because that leads into Concacaf. As tough as it is, it's to be able to make a next step in Concacaf because it comes with a lot of different challenges. This year we played [Mexican club] Chivas, and we learned from that and I hope that makes our team better, because you have to set those goals. You have to strive. We can't just be happy to be somewhere we've already set the standard each year. There needs to be a trophy here of some sort, because that gives us an entry into Concacaf. And I think that's the most important thing. That's something that the players strive for and we want to make sure that this team is competing each year in the continental stage, and to be able to start making steps in that tournament.  

You mentioned before about the importance of Forge not standing still and always having to move forward and improve each year. What about you? Other career opportunities have presented themselves to you during your time at Forge. Do you have ambitions outside of the club and the CPL? 

I don't give a lot of thought about it. But, yeah, like I always say to my players, and it has to be for myself, you have to have ambition. This game will take you to Real Madrid or Manchester City, or whoever you consider the pinnacle of the game. So, whether you're a coach or you're a player, you have to think big. And that's always been my mentality from my days with Sigma FC; always thinking big. How can you develop pro players to play at these levels and so on?  

When I heard that CPL teams could play in Concacaf in the first season, that was it for me. Now we're thinking big. Now we're going to become a team that not only plays games in Concacaf, but competes for a trophy there, right? That allows you to drive yourself a little bit more forward, to not become stale or stagnant. Some people might say I should be happy that I've won a trophy, I've won a championship, and so on. But you need to evolve. You need to get better. 

The football world is massive. Good work is noticed and the market usually dictates what's coming next. So, yeah, I'll never sit here and say, as a coach I'll be at Forge forever. But as long as they want me, I'm, happy to be here. But, of course, you have ambition to keep on going up the ladder until you can get to the top. And maybe you make that step, and maybe you don't. But I think that mentality allows you to get better each and every day. 

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How would you describe Forge’s identity?  

In the simplest terms, we're a progressive, possession based attacking team who likes to be on the front foot and control matches as much as possible? As I sit as a spectator outside of the game, and I watch games, I love to be entertained. So, I want my teams to entertain. I want to make sure that the 6,000 fans that show up at Tim Hortons Field leave here, and no matter what's happened, they've had an excellent time watching football.  

And I think it's shown over the years with us leading most attacking charts as a group, but also being able to do the same thing defensively. So that's the hidden secret, to be able to do all the good things and make sure you're defensively sound. But to be honest, in simple words, it's to entertain because I think this is a beautiful game. We all love it. And the more we watch it, the more beauty we want to see in it.  

And that's also a challenge for us as coaches these days, because as things become more physical in football, it's important not to lose the beauty. Sometimes achieving the beauty in the game is the challenging thing for us as coaches. Sometimes as a coach, the trick is how you get players to produce those special moments on the pitch. Sometimes you're going to lose some of the other things that you want – the running, the pressing, this and that. But I think sometimes the people in the crowd like to see these players on the fringe, the artists, the special players that maybe don't exist as much in football anymore, and I still have a soft spot for them, and we always have a place for them in our team. 

When you look back at the last six years with Forge, what are you most proud of during your time at the club?  

To be honest, it's the development of players and we've seen that in a lot of different ways. For it's not only development in terms of players moving on from the club, whether it's for a transfer or not, to go to a team at a higher level. It's just about the players getting better, because we try to play a brand of football which needs the players to keep on pushing themselves, that needs the players to get out of their comfort zones. I think that's the biggest thing we've been able to do here, is develop the players and win at the same time.  

And that was always my biggest concern at the beginning. How do you mix these two? Because it's a fine line. In a league like the CPL, sometimes it's easier to win with anti-football, because everyone has the same rules. We don't have the big DPs where you can splash more money in different ways. We have a strict salary cap, so in our league, sometimes you can be a little bit more negative and have more results. And I think that's what I'm most proud of, that we've been able to build an identity, a way of playing that's allowed us to win it and also develop players at the same time.  

And that was always my biggest concern at the beginning. How do you mix these two? Because it's a fine line. In a league like the CPL, sometimes it's easier to win with anti football, because everyone has the same rules. We don't have the big DPs where you can splash more money in different ways. We have a strict salary cap, so in our league, sometimes you can be a little bit more negative and have more results. And I think that's what I'm most proud of, that we've been able to build an identity, a way of playing that's allowed us to win it and also develop players at the same time.

(Top photo courtesy of Jojo Yanjiao Qian/Forge FC)

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