Soccer: Toronto and Vancouver to Clash for Voyageurs Cup

One semi-final went as expected, the other saw a two month famine end for the winner. Al Dannity looks back at a memorable night of action in the Amway Canadian Championship semi-finals.

Winter’s wonders finally deliver
After two months of sheer futility, Toronto FC recorded its second win of the season. For the first since that memorable win over the LA Galaxy, fans in Toronto could celebrate victory. It came in about as important a game as Toronto might play this season. The 2-0 victory over the Montreal Impact put the Reds back on course to retain the Canadian Championship.

Toronto coach Aron Winter promised to surprise Montreal and Wednesday night’s performance certainly did that. At no point this season, that win over LA aside, has Toronto FC looked like a team capable of winning. An 11 game winless streak, including a MLS record 8 straight losses, finally came to an end in the Olympic Stadium. The next step for Toronto is huge. With a place in the CONCACAF Champions League at stake, there may be no bigger games for Winter’s team this season than the two matches in the final against the Vancouver Whitecaps. It’s important to remember that this is just one game. The Reds have a long way to go before proving they are capable of getting this season back on track.

Mission accomplished
The Whitecaps did what was expected of them against NASL side Edmonton, completing a comfortable 5-1 aggregate win on Wednesday night. Having drawn the only non-MLS team in the semi-finals, the Caps were always expected to progress to the decider. Now they have a shot at the Voyageurs Cup but they will need to overcome history to lift the trophy.

Vancouver has been to the last three Canadian Championship finals and lost to Toronto FC on each occasion. Never before however have the Whitecaps looked so superior to the Reds at this stage of the season. Vancouver’s 5-2-2 record in MLS makes them early playoff contenders and, on paper, a far superior outfit to Toronto’s 0-0-8. Toronto’s Voyageurs Cup dominance means the Caps will still play the underdogs card going into the decider.

“We’re a team starting off on the bottom, scraping our way up to the top, and it’s more pressure on the best team,” said Vancouver coach Martin Rennie. “So, for us, we’re coming in there excited about what we can do, knowing we have to be at our best against a very good team, a team that’s been established in MLS for a long time.” Underdogs or no, there’s no denying the hunger in Vancouver for silverware and with it a trip to the Champions League.

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