CF Montréal advances to Canadian Championship Final

CF Montréal advanced to the 2023 Canadian Championship Final after a 2:0 home win over Forge FC Hamilton in the Semi-Finals on Wednesday 24 May. CF Montréal advanced on goals by Ariel Lassiter and Sunisi Ibrahim along with a clean sheet by Jonathan Sirois and his backline. Canadian Zachary Brault-Guillard was CF Montréal’s Player of the Match.

The five-time winners CF Montréal will head west to British Columbia for the 2023 Canadian Championship Final. CF Montréal previously won the competition in 2008, 2013, 2014, 2019 and 2021.

After a scoreless first half, CF Montréal opened the scoring in the 54th minute on the Lassiter strike. After he came down the left side, he cut towards the middle and fired a low shot that hit Hamilton’s Alessandro Hojabrpour and beat the goalkeeper Triston Henry.

CF Montréal then doubled their lead in the 78th minute after Sunusi Ibrahim intercepted a clearance attempt, deked past Manjrekar James and fired his shot past Henry.

Henry made a few big stops for Forge FC, but his biggest was in the 70th minute to stop a header from Nnamdi Offor from inside the six-yard box. At the other end, Sirois had to be quick in the 89th minute to stop back-to-back shots from David Choinière and Jordan Hamilton from inside the penalty area.

This marks the third year in a row that CF Montréal have eliminated Forge FC in the Canadian Championship. They previously knocked off the Hamilton side in the 2021 Semi-Finals (7-6 on kicks from the penalty mark) and the 2022 Quarter-Finals (a 3-0 win at home).