A month after the Island Games in Charlottetown, Forge FC is back on the move.
Canadian Premier League champion Hamilton will depart early Tuesday for El Salvador and a CONCACAF League start date with municipal CD Limeno.
Coach Bobby Smyrniotis’s team travels to San Salvador through Mexico City, on Thursday it will be located in the Cuscatlán Stadium in the Capital of El Salvador than in the more modest Limeno Stadium in Santa Rosa de Lima, 170 kilometers away .
If Forge wins on Thursday, he will go straight to Panama for an assembly on November 3 with Taurus FC. A loss in San Salvador and Canadians return home on Friday.
As you can imagine, traveling to Central America with a pandemic is a challenge. Added to this is the need for COVID-19 testing at the right time for the entire travel organization before traveling and the degree of difficulty is triggered.
Forge will be without defender Klaidi Cela, who tore his knee ligaments in the CPL final, and forward Chris Nanco, who suffered a hamstring injury at the Island Games. Nanco could sign for the team in Panama if he advances, according to Smyrniotis.
Unlike Forge, who has played since the last of the Island Games on September 19, Limeno has two games to his credit and played a championship game on Saturday.
“We’ve noticed some friendly (on video) that haven’t been played on the fields,” Smyrniotis said. “And now we have what we saw in the first two games. That’s what we left seeing your team.
“For them, they are evidently able to watch 11 games this year. But we saw what we needed to see. We’re sure of our organization and the football we can play and that’s what we’re going to do. “. “
He gave his week off after the CPL final.
“I can tell you that after 3 days, everyone was in a position to return to the ground,” said Smyrniotis, who continues to play with the flowing beard and the pandemic blockade evolved.
Although Forge has not noticed any action recently, he has experience in the CONCACAF League, Limeno.
Last year, Forge sent Antigua GFC of Guatemala 2-1 in the initial before wasting 4-2 in general against Olimpia de Honduras in the 16. Saprissa of Costa Rica.
The 22-team festival is a tournament that sends the winner and the next five top-ranked clubs to the 2021 SCOTIAbank CONCACAF Champions League.
Initially scheduled to take a position from July to November, the CONCACAF League was postponed due to the global pandemic, begins now on Tuesday and is expected to run until January 28.
Preliminary and 16-set physies are played in a singles game in the club’s top-ranked stadium. Everyone else will be played at home and away.
Forge, who beat HFX Wanderers FC 2-0 in the Island Games final on September 19, has the chance to qualify for the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League by beating Toronto FC in the Canadian Championship final, the date of which has not yet been announced.
“It’s a game that everyone can defend, especially on our side,” Smyrniotis said of the TFC game. “We will be more productive when that happens, be it in 2020 or 21. “
This report through The Canadian Press was first published on October 19, 2020