Forge FC players celebrate their second-half goal yesterday at Tim Hortons Field. Photo by Jojo Yanjiao Qian /FORGE FC PHOTOSArticle content

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

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No. 1 Forge advanced to a sixth straight CPL final, where it will play second-seeded Cavalry FC next Saturday.Cavalry advanced to the title game last Sunday with a 1-0 win over Forge in the qualifying semifinal. The final will be played at ATCO Field in Calgary.

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Forge's victory also helped Cavalry earn an automatic berth in the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup. Forge had already qualified for posting the best regular-season record (15-8-5), finishing two points ahead of Cavalry (12-4-12).Owolabi-Belewu scored with a header off a corner kick to put Forge ahead for good.

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It was bitter pill for Atletico to take considering it held a decided edge on the statistics sheet and could easily have come away with a victory.

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Ottawa had possession of the ball for 54 per cent of the match and held a 16-11 edge in shots and 5-3 in shots on target.

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Atletico out-passed the Hamilton-based Forge 430-385, had a slight edge in passing accuracy (85 per cent to 81 per cent and even took half as many fouls - 12-6, taking only one of five yellow cards.

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Despite that, Hamilton's Forge is now looking for a fifth title - and third straight - in its sixth post-season appearance.

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Forge won the title in 2019, '20, '22 and '23 and was runner-up in 2021.

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

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The fourth-seeded Atletico qualified for the semifinal game last weekend at TD Place when it defeated York United FC 5-4 on penalty kicks after the two teams had played to a 2-2 draw following 90 minutes.

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- The Canadian Press and Staff

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