Forge FC to meet Haiti’s Arcahaie FC in Dominican Republic in CONCACAF League play

HAMILTON — Forge FC will meet Haiti’s Arcahaie FC in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, in their Dec. 1 CONCACAF league quarterfinal.

CONCACAF confirmed Monday that the game will take place at the Estadio Olimpico Felix Sanchez in the Dominican capital rather than in the Haiti club’s more modest home stadium.

The Haitians advanced Nov. 5 with a 3-1 win over Waterhouse FC in Kingston, Jamaica, in round-of-16 play. Forge edged Panama’s Tauro FC 2-1 on a stoppage-time penalty two days earlier in Panama City.

Arcahaie advanced to the round of 16 when Belize’s Verdes FC pulled out of their Oct. 20 preliminary-round match due to positive COVID-19 tests. That match was also scheduled for Santo Domingo.

Forge defeated El Salvador’s CD Municipal Limeno 2-1 in San Salvador on Oct. 22.

The 22-team CONCACAF League is a feeder tournament, sending six clubs to the 2021 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League. The four quarterfinal winners will qualify directly for the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League. The four losing quarterfinalists will compete in single-leg play-in games, with the two winners moving on.

The Canadian Premier League champion will also have a chance to qualify for the main CONCACAF club competition when it takes on Toronto FC in the as-yet-unscheduled final of the Canadian Championship.

Forge exited the CONCACAF League in the round of 16 last year, beaten 4-2 on aggregate by Honduras’s Olimpia.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 16, 2020

The Canadian Press