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2019 Canadian Premier League final
Event	2019 Canadian Premier League season
	on aggregate
First leg
Date	October 26, 2019
Venue	Tim Hortons Field, Hamilton, Ontario
Man of the Match	Tristan Borges (Forge FC)[citation needed]
Referee	Pierre-Luc Lauzière
Attendance	10,486
Weather	Cloudy; 9 °C (48 °F); 76% humidity
Second leg
Date	November 2, 2019
Venue	ATCO Field, Foothills County, Alberta
Man of the Match	Daniel Krutzen (Forge FC)[citation needed]
Referee	Alain Ruch
Attendance	5,831
Weather	Mostly cloudy; 7 °C (45 °F); 57% humidity
	2020 →

The 2019 Canadian Premier League finals determined the winner of the Canadian Premier League's inaugural 2019 season. It featured Cavalry FC of Calgary, Alberta, and Forge FC of Hamilton, Ontario, and was the culmination of a rivalry that had developed between those teams.

It was contested over two legs between the winners of the spring and fall seasons, with the fall season winners choosing which leg to host.^[3] Since Cavalry won both split seasons, the team with the second-best overall season record, Forge, also competed in the Championship.^[4]

Forge won the inaugural Canadian Premier League title 2–0 on aggregate following a pair of 1–0 victories.^[5]^[6] This earned the club the right to compete in the 2020 CONCACAF League where they ultimately reached the quarter-finals.^[7]

Path to the finals

The 2019 Canadian Premier League season used a split season format where each team played 10 games in an opening spring season and 18 games in a closing fall season. At the end of the full season, the spring season winner would face the fall season winner in a two-legged tie for the league title. If one team won both the spring and the fall seasons, that team would face the team with the highest cumulative points total across both seasons for the title.^[8]

On June 26, 2019, Cavalry won the spring season and qualified for the championship.^[9] On September 28, 2019, Forge secured the second best overall season record, and thus clinched the second spot in the finals.^[10]

Spring season

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	Pts
1	Cavalry	10	24
2	Forge	10	19
3	FC Edmonton	10	14
4	HFX Wanderers	10	11
5	Pacific	10	11
6	York9	10	11
7	Valour	10	9

Source: CanPL.ca

Fall season

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	Pts
1	Cavalry	18	38
2	Forge	18	37
3	York9	18	23
4	Pacific	18	20
5	Valour	18	19
6	FC Edmonton	18	18
7	HFX Wanderers	18	17

Source: CanPL.ca

Overall table

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	Pts
1	Cavalry (S)	28	62
2	Forge (C)	28	56
3	York9	28	34
4	FC Edmonton	28	32
5	Pacific	28	31
6	Valour	28	28
7	HFX Wanderers	28	28

Source: CanPL.ca
(C) Champions; (S) Regular season winner

Cavalry FC

Cavalry started the inaugural 2019 Canadian Premier League season as one of six newly-formed teams competing in the league. They started their spring campaign with a 2–1 win over York9 FC on May 4.^[11] They went on to win the first seven games of the ten game spring season before suffering a 1–0 to Forge FC.^[12] Their 2–0 victory in their next game against York9 on June 26 clinched the spring title and a berth in the finals.^[13]

Cavalry finished the spring season with a 8–0–2 record. They also won the fall competition by one point with a 11–5–2 record, giving the finals berth for that season to the second-placed overall record.^[14]

Forge FC

Forge was another one of the newly-formed teams for the inaugural season. They finished the spring season in second place with a 6–1–3 record. In the fall season, Cavalry and Forge cemented themselves as the top two teams in the standings.^[15] Forge was able to clinch the finals berth after a 3–0 victory over Pacific FC on September 28, 2019.^[16]

Despite not clinching the fall title, Cavalry and Forge's dominance ensured that no other team could catch them in either the fall or overall standings. Forge would go on to finish second in the fall season by one point, winning the finals berth not as the fall title winner but the second-placed overall finisher.^[14]

Head-to-head

Going into the finals, Cavalry and Forge had played each other seven times in 2019; winning three matches each, with one draw, and scoring seven goals apiece. In June, Cavalry defeated Forge 3–2 on aggregate in the second qualifying round of the Canadian Championship.^[17]

In the final week of the regular season, Forge and Cavalry faced-off in Hamilton. With both teams having clinched their positions in the overall table, each side rested key players in advance of the finals.^[18] Forge won the game 1–0 but defender Dominic Samuel picked up two yellow cards and was automatically suspended for the first leg of the finals.^[18]

Venues

Forge's home of Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, with a reduced seating capacity of 10,016 hosted the first leg. Opened in 2014, the multi-purpose stadium is shared with the Canadian Football League's Hamilton Tiger-Cats. The second leg was held in Cavalry's home of ATCO Field in Foothills County. It is a 5,288 capacity stadium part of the Spruce Meadows equestrian facility.

Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton hosted the first leg

ATCO Field in Foothills County hosted the second leg

Match details

First leg

Summary

The first leg of the finals was played on October 26 at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton, Ontario. Forge FC entered the game without defenders Dominic Samuel and Bertrand Owundi who were serving suspensions.^[5] Forge had the first close chance when captain Kyle Bekker's long shot hit the crossbar in the 35th minute.^[19] Minutes later, Cavalry defender Joel Waterman handled the ball in his own penalty area while sliding to prevent a scoring chance. Waterman was sent off and Forge was awarded a penalty kick. CPL-leading scorer Tristan Borges took the penalty kick but it was stopped by Marco Carducci to keep the game scoreless. Late into first half stoppage time, Borges would beat Carducci with a left-footed strike to give Forge the lead going into halftime.^[20] Early in the second half, Forge controlled possession with the man-advantage. In the 69th minute, a challenge between Borges and Jay Wheeldon of Cavalry sent both players to the ground. As a result of the play, Borges was shown a red card and both teams finished the match with 10 players.^[5]

After the match, Cavalry and Forge appealed their respective red cards to the Canadian Soccer Association.^[21] The governing body's disciplinary committee upheld the red card to Cavalry's Joel Waterman for denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity, and confirmed he would be suspended for the second leg of the finals. The red card and suspension to Tristan Borges was overturned, with the committee citing that his actions "did not meet the threshold of a violent conduct offence."^[22]

Details

October 26, 2019

4:00 PM EDT

Forge FC	1–0	Cavalry FC
Borges 45+1'	Recap Report

Tim Hortons Field, Hamilton, Ontario

Attendance: 10,486

Referee: Pierre-Luc Lauzière

Forge

Cavalry


Forge FC:
GK	1	Triston Henry
RB	8	Giuliano Frano
CB	30	David Edgar
CB	5	Daniel Krutzen
LB	6	Kwame Awuah	63'
CM	13	Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson
CM	10	Kyle Bekker (c)
RW	3	Elimane Cissé		77'
AM	19	Tristan Borges	69'
LW	11	Chris Nanco		90+3'
CF	23	Anthony Novak		75'
Substitutes:
GK	18	Quillan Roberts
MF	7	David Choinière		77'
FW	9	Marcel Zajac		75'
DF	16	Klaidi Cela
FW	17	Kadell Thomas		90+3'
MF	20	Justin Stoddart
DF	22	Monti Mohsen
Manager: Bobby Smyrniotis


Cavalry FC:
GK	1	Marco Carducci
RB	4	Dominick Zator
CB	15	Joel Waterman	37'
CB	5	Mason Trafford	75'
LB	3	Nathan Mavila
CM	8	Julian Büscher		85'
CM	6	Nik Ledgerwood (c)	88'
RW	17	Nico Pasquotti
AM	7	Oliver	24'	46'
LW	11	José Escalante
CF	23	Dominique Malonga		61'
Substitutes:
GK	22	Niko Giantsopoulos
FW	9	Jordan Brown		61'
MF	10	Sergio Camargo		85'
DF	14	Jay Wheeldon	69'	46'
MF	16	Elijah Adekugbe
MF	20	Carlos Patiño
DF	21	Malyk Hamilton
Manager: Tommy Wheeldon Jr.

Man of the Match:
Tristan Borges (Forge FC)^{[citation needed]}

Assistant referees:
Lyes Arfa
Peter Manastrysky
Fourth official:
Yusri Rudolf

Second leg

November 2, 2019

1:30 PM MDT

Cavalry FC	0–1	Forge FC
	Recap Report	Choinière 90+5'

ATCO Field, Foothills County, Alberta

Attendance: 5,831

Referee: Alain Ruch

Cavalry

Forge


Cavalry FC:
GK	1	Marco Carducci
RB	4	Dominick Zator
CB	14	Jay Wheeldon	86'
CB	5	Mason Trafford
LB	3	Nathan Mavila		69'
CM	8	Julian Büscher
CM	6	Nik Ledgerwood (c)	51'
RW	17	Nico Pasquotti	18'
AM	10	Sergio Camargo		90'
LW	9	Jordan Brown		73'
CF	23	Dominique Malonga
Substitutes:
GK	22	Niko Giantsopoulos
FW	7	Oliver		73'
MF	11	José Escalante	75'	69'
MF	16	Elijah Adekugbe
MF	20	Carlos Patiño
DF	21	Malyk Hamilton
FW	24	Aribim Pepple		90'
Manager: Tommy Wheeldon Jr.


Forge FC:
GK	1	Triston Henry	90+2'
RB	4	Dominic Samuel
CB	30	David Edgar
CB	5	Daniel Krutzen
LB	6	Kwame Awuah
CM	13	Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson
CM	10	Kyle Bekker (c)
RW	2	Jonathan Grant		60'
AM	19	Tristan Borges
LW	11	Chris Nanco		67'
CF	23	Anthony Novak	42'	86'
Substitutes:
GK	18	Quillan Roberts
MF	3	Elimane Cissé		60'
MF	7	David Choinière	73'	67'
MF	8	Giuliano Frano		86'
FW	9	Marcel Zajac
FW	17	Kadell Thomas
DF	21	Bertrand Owundi
Manager: Bobby Smyrniotis