Forge FC and Nana Ampomah are targeting the road ahead, not the one behind. “At the end of the day I’m happy to be back in Hamilton now and concentrating on what I have to do here,” said the highly-skilled forward who arrived in Canada from his native Ghana a few days ago after his work visa was finally cleared. “I’m very, very glad to be back. I missed the guys so much. I missed playing and being part of the team.” Ampomah will be available for Saturday’s (4 p.m.) one-game elimination match against visiting HFX Wanderers in the first round of the Canadian Championship. They beat Halifax on the weekend in league play, which featured Kyle Bekker’s first minutes of play in the 2026 season after he had surgery for testicular cancer. Ampomah, always a potential difference-maker on the top right side of the Forge attack, is a member of last year’s CPL All-XI team and a finalist for league player of the year, and enters his third year—second full season—with the Hammers, who could definitely have used his unpredictable and liquid touch during February’s Champions Cup, especially in the opening 0-0 draw against Mexican powerhouse Los Tigres UANL. After undergoing team medicals at Hamilton Stadium the morning after his arrival, he worked through conditioning exercises on the sidelines as his teammates trained for a trip to Pacific FC, from which they returned with a win. Ampomah will be available for Saturday’s Canadian Championship first-round elimination game against HFX Wanderers. Kyle Bekker will also make his 2026 home debut against the Wanderers. The 30-year-old Ampomah and his head coach regret the long postponement of his arrival, and hope for quicker resolutions in the future, but are now looking only through the front windshield at his potential to play Saturday. “I did my best to join the team real fast,” Ampomah said. The relieved Smyrniotis added, “Obviously we’re happy to have him in the squad. We wanted him from January on; he’s been an integral part of the group the last two years in winning a couple of CPL Shields. He gives a fantastic dynamic component to our attack, not only in goals but in assists and chance-creation. He’s one of the most dangerous players in the league. We’re happy to have him here and we’ll slowly integrate him back into the squad.” In Ghana, Ampomah had periodically worked out with a local team and was following a training regimen provided by Forge’s athletic training staff, “but training alone is not the same as training with the team,” he said. “That’s another reason I’m happy to be back; to get fit.” There was also a long delay when Ampomah originally agreed to join Forge in February of 2024, but because it was his first Canadian work visa experience the club had expected to wait, and it was mid-June before he made his club debut, recording an assist in a 2-2 draw in Halifax. He started eight games the rest of the way with a goal and a couple of assists. Last year, in his first full season, he scored six times and added three helpers, in just 19 games as he suffered some leg muscle injuries, a problem which has hounded him sporadically during his career. He says he now feels strong and healthy. Early in his soccer career, Ampomah was identified as a natural attacker and played at Ghana’s national training centre run by Brazilian club Santos FC, best-known as the club which produced Pelé. When he was 20 he left Africa for Belgium to play for KV Mechelen