THE CANADIAN PRESS
EDMONTON — Maicon Santos scored twice as Toronto FC defeated FC Edmonton 3-0 in the first leg of the Nutrilite Canadian Championships on Wednesday.
Alan Gordon also scored for Toronto, with the return leg taking place in Toronto May 4.
The winner of this series will take on the victor of the other semi-final between Montreal and Vancouver for the right to represent Canada in the 24-team CONCACAF Champions League.
Toronto had the bulk of the early opportunities, the best of which came in the 10th minute on a free kick near the top of the Edmonton box but Santos sailed the shot well over the Edmonton goal.
Edmonton came close to taking the lead two minutes later on a long shot by Chris Lemire that hit the side of the net with Toronto goalie Stefan Frei well beaten.
Toronto FC had a glorious opportunity in the 21st minute as Richard Eckersley was able to bring the ball in close but sent his cross just behind the oncoming Oscar Cordon.
Edmonton’s Shaun Saiko, who scored the team’s first goal in club history, was given a red card in the 24th minute for a two-footed challenge on Cordon.
But Saiko’s dismissal seemed to give Edmonton some life as they came close twice in the 34th minute, first on a header by Conrad Smith and then a shot sailed just wide by Kyle Portrer.
However Toronto FC would take the lead a minute later as a defensive miscue by Paul Hamilton allowed Santos a shot from close range and he was able to find the bottom corner for a 1-0 lead.
Toronto nearly took a 2-0 into halftime but Santos’ 43rd minute header rebounded off of the crossbar.
It didn’t take long into the second half for Toronto to extend its lead as Alan Gordon’s shot was parried by goalkeeper Reinn Baart to Cordon. His shot was blocked by a defender to Gordon who made the most of the second chance at the 47th minute to make it 2-0.
Toronto FC went up 3-0 in the 61st minute on a gift goal as Baart flubbed a goal kick, giving the red shirts a two-on-none rush at the net, finished off by Santos for the Brazilian’s second of the match.
The fledgling Edmonton franchise came into the game with a 2-1 record in the North American Soccer League, and plays its first-ever home game on Sunday against Montreal.
Toronto FC has struggled to date to start the Major League soccer season with just one win in its first seven outings.
NOTES: This is the fourth year of the Nutrilite Canadian Championships, the first with four Canadian teams vying for the title. Montreal took the title in 2008, with Toronto winning it the last two years… Although this is FC Edmonton’s first year in the NASL, the team played a number of exhibition tune-ups last year to get this season off on solid footing, including friendly matches against England’s Portsmouth and Chile’s Colo-Colo … Toronto had 13 international players on their roster, while Edmonton has just three, with 19 of their players being Canadian and 14 from Alberta … The Canadian Soccer Association had six officials in Edmonton for the game doing a site visit in advance of the 2014 under-20 women’s world championship and the 2015 women’s World Cup.