By Canadian Press

Forge FC’s Bobby Smyrniotis up for CPL coach of the year for a fifth straight season

Oct 16, 2023 | 11:41 AM

Forge FC’s Bobby Smyrniotis is up for coach of the year in the Canadian Premier League for a fifth straight year.

Smyrniotis is against Patrice Gheisar of HFX Wanderers FC and Cavalry FC’s Tommy Wheeldon Jr.

The Forge coach has yet to win the award despite winning the league title in 2019, 2020 and 2022 and finishing runner-up in 2021.

Wheeldon won the coaching award in 2019, followed by Halifax’s Stephen Hart in 2020, Pacific’s Pa-Modou Kah in 2021 and Atletico Ottawa’s Carlos Gonzales in 2022.

The winner, to be decided in a vote of CPL club technical leadership and media, will be announced Oct. 26 in Hamilton, as part of the festivities leading up to the CPL final.

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Cavalry hosts Pacific FC on Saturday with the winner facing Forge on Oct. 28 in Hamilton in the CPL final with the North Star Cup on the line.

Pacific eliminated Halifax 1-0 in Saturday’s quarterfinal clash. Forge won home-field advantage for the final by downing Cavalry 2-1 at ATCO Field.

Smyrniotis, 44, led Forge (11-8-9) to second place in the regular season for the second year in a row after the team opened with a seven-game unbeaten run. The Hamilton-based club tied with York United for the most away wins (seven) and led the league for most road wins with seven while conceding just 14 away goals.

The 48-year-old Gheisar, in his first year in charge, led Halifax to franchise records for wins, points, goals scored, goal differential, goals conceded and total passes. The former Vaughan Azzurri coach from League1 Ontario revamped Halifax by bringing in 17 new players ahead of the 2023 season.

Halifax (11-8-9) had the same record as Forge but finished fourth in the standings due to a tiebreaker.

Wheeldon, 44, led Cavalry (16-5-7) to top place in the standings in record fashion, with the Calgary team’s 55 points the most by any CPL team over a 28-game season.

Cavalry’s 16 wins ties Forge’s 2021 team for the most during a 28-game season. And its five losses tie Atletico Ottawa’s 2022 side for the fewest defeats over a 28-game season.

Cavalry led the league with 46 goals and conceded a league-low 27 goals. It finished off the season in style, going undefeated the last nine games of the season.

Voting for all the CPL’s annual awards is based on performances during the regular season, not including Canadian Championship, CONCACAF or CPL playoff action.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2023

The Canadian Press