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HAMILTON — Malik Owolabi-Belewu scored in the 53rd minute and Forge FC advanced to the Canadian Premier League championship game with a 1-0 victory over Atlético Ottawa in the semifinals Saturday at Tim Hortons Field .

No. 1 Forge advanced to a sixth consecutive CPL final, where they will face second-seeded Cavalry FC next Saturday.
Cavalry advanced to the title match last Sunday with a 1-0 victory over Forge in the qualifying semifinals. The final will be played at ATCO Field in Calgary.

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Forge’s victory also helped Cavalry secure an automatic berth into the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup. Forge had already qualified to post the best regular season record (15-8-5), finishing two points ahead Cavalry (12-4-12).
Owolabi-Belewu headed in from a corner to give Forge the lead for good.

It was a bitter pill for Atlético to take, given that they held a decisive advantage on the stat sheet and could easily have walked away with a victory.

Ottawa had possession of the ball for 54 percent of the game and held a lead of 16-11 in shots and 5-3 in shots on target.

Atlético outscored Hamilton-based Forge 430-385, had a slight edge in passing accuracy (85 percent versus 81 percent) and even committed half as many fouls – 12-6, ne taking only one yellow card in five.

Despite this, Hamilton’s Forge is now seeking a fifth title – and third in a row – in its sixth playoff appearance.

Forge won the title in 2019, ’20, ’22 and ’23 and finished second in 2021.

Last Sunday’s loss to Cavalry was just Forge’s second loss in 14 career playoff games (10-2-2).

Fourth-seeded Atlético advanced to last weekend’s semifinal match at TD Place by beating York United FC 5-4 on penalties after the two teams drew draw 2-2 after 90 minutes.

— The Canadian Press and its staff

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