Forge v Vancouver FC — prediction, stats and goal analysis

Canadian Premier League · Wednesday, 1 July 2026. Final score 3–2 (half-time 0–2). Rebuilt from the season as it stood that morning, our rating would have been 50% for over 2.5 goals. This match is older than our frozen ratings ledger, which keeps 30 days, so that figure is a reconstruction from pre-match data rather than a number we published at the time — a distinction worth making, because only the frozen ones prove what we actually said beforehand.

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Our ratings for this match

MarketYesNoOur call
Over 2.5 goals50%50%Over
Over 3.5 goals30%70%no pick
Both teams to score51%49%Yes

The result model puts Forge at 58%, the draw at 27% and Vancouver FC at 15%, from expected goals of 1.52 and 0.63.

How we got this number

The league sets the starting point. Canadian Premier League has produced over 2.5 goals in 58% of its matches, and that is where a team with no record of its own would sit.

Each side's own record. Forge have 3 in 10 this season (0 of 5 at home), Vancouver FC 3 in 10 (1 of 4 away). Those records are pulled toward the league rate with the weight of about 24 matches — enough that two or three unusual games cannot swing a rating — giving 50% and 50%.

Last season still counts, briefly. With 10 and 10 games played this season, last season's rates are still blended in and fade out entirely by game 40 — the point at which our testing showed they stop adding accuracy. A single season is part luck, so each club's record is first pulled toward the league average by 34 games' weight. That moves the two figures to 52% and 56%.

The mix. Weighted 40% home side, 40% away side and 20% league — the split that beat every alternative across 30,582 matches of testing — that gives 55%.

Head to head. These sides have met 11 times in three years, producing over 2.5 goals in 55%. That nudges the number 5% of the way toward the head-to-head pattern — deliberately small, because fixtures change more than reputations do — landing on 55%.

Goal expectation. Separately a Poisson model built from attack and defence strength — using real expected-goals data where the league has it — puts this match at 36%, from expected goals of 1.52 for Forge and 0.63 for Vancouver FC. Folding in 30% of that view gives 49%.

Calibration. Tested against 97,729 past matches, our ratings below 55% have run consistently too pessimistic — a figure in the high 30s, for instance, has come in about four points higher. So ratings in that range are lifted part-way back, giving 50%.

This breakdown is generated from the same inputs the rating uses, so it cannot describe a calculation we did not perform. The full model is set out in the methodology.

Season form

TeamGamesO2.5O3.5BTTS
Forge1030%20%30%
Vancouver FC1030%10%50%

Head to head

13 Apr 26Vancouver FC 0–1 ForgeU2.5
4 Oct 25Forge 1–1 Vancouver FCU2.5
23 Aug 25Vancouver FC 0–1 ForgeU2.5
5 Jul 25Forge 2–1 Vancouver FCO2.5
15 Jun 25Vancouver FC 0–2 ForgeU2.5
21 Sept 24Vancouver FC 1–3 ForgeO2.5

More: Forge season stats · Vancouver FC season stats · Canadian Premier League table and form. Ratings are calibrated probabilities, not tips — a 60% call is expected to miss two times in five.