Toronto FC will look to book its place in the final of the Canadian club championship when it hosts the Ottawa Fury in the second leg of their semifinal series.
Here’s what you need to know about Wednesday’s game at BMO Field.
THE FIRST LEG
TFC earned a 1-0 win in last week’s opening leg in Ottawa courtesy of Jonathan Osorio’s goal in the fifth minute.
The Reds have a big advantage going into Wednesday’s game. Thanks to last week’s road goal, all Toronto has to do is earn a draw at home in order to move on to the final. A win, of course, would also send TFC through to the next round.
Ottawa needs to win to qualify for the final. A loss or a draw would eliminate the Fury from the competition.
WHAT’S NEXT
Either Toronto or Ottawa will advance to the final where it will meet the winner of the other semifinal series between the Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps.
The Impact earned a 1-0 home win in last week’s opening leg. The Whitecaps host Wednesday’s return match.
The two-match final is scheduled for Aug. 8 and 15. If Toronto advances, it would host either Montreal or Vancouver in the second leg.
WHO ARE THE FURY
The Ottawa Fury compete in the second-tier United Soccer League, one level below Major League Soccer.
Coached by Nikola Popovic, Ottawa currently sits seventh in the USL’s 16-team Eastern Conference with an 8-8-3 record. The Fury have won three of their last four USL games, and are coming off a 2-0 home victory over Nashville SC on the weekend.
Ottawa has a pair of former TFC players on their roster in defender Nana Atakora and midfielder Chris Manella, while general manager Julian de Guzman played in 65 MLS games for the Reds from 2009 to 2012.
TFC’S LINEUP
Defenders Drew Moor (quad) and Auro Jr. (hamstring) are still dealing with injuries, and won’t feature in Wednesday’s match. Midfielder Victor Vazquez is dealing with inflammation in his knee and will likely be rested.
In last week’s opening leg in Ottawa, coach Greg Vanney gave top scorer Sebastian Giovinco and captain Michael Bradley the night off. Look for Vanney to go with a second-string lineup again on Wednesday, as Toronto hosts the Chicago Fire in MLS action on Saturday night.
“Obviously, the position we are [in MLS], we want to try to maximize our ability to get points in the league. At the same time, we want to make sure we take advantage of the good setup game that we had [in Ottawa] so we can finish off the series,” Vanney said.
Tournament regulations state that each team must field a minimum of three Canadians in their starting lineups.
WHAT’S AT STAKE
The winner of this tournament will receive the Voyageurs Cup, which was originally funded and awarded by the Voyageurs, a Canadian soccer supporters group founded in 1996. Since 2008, the Canadian Soccer Association has presented the Voyageurs Cup to the tournament champion.
HISTORY OF THE VOYAGEURS CUP
The Montreal Impact won every Voyageurs Cup from 2002-2007 when the trophy was awarded to the best Canadian team in the old USL First Division.
A formal round-robin tournament was first held in 2008, a year after Toronto FC entered Major League Soccer. Montreal won the 2008 Cup to continue its dominance, but TFC won the next four tournaments in a row. The Impact claimed back-to-back championships in 2013 and 2014.
Vancouver knocked off Montreal in 2015 to win their first Voyageurs Cup, but couldn’t repeat as they lost a heartbreaker against Toronto in the final the following year. TFC repeated as Canadian champions in 2017.
GATEWAY TO THE CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
In addition to hoisting the Voyageurs Cup, the tournament winner earns an automatic berth as Canada’s lone representative in the CONCACAF Champions League.
TFC reached the finals of last season’s CONCACAF competition, losing to Mexican club Chivas, after winning the 2017 Canadian Championship.
GEORGE GROSS MEMORIAL TROPHY
The tournament MVP is awarded the George Gross Memorial Trophy, named after the late Canadian journalist who pioneered soccer coverage in Canada.
Dwayne De Rosario (Toronto) and Justin Mapp (Montreal) have both won the honour twice. Toronto’s Sebastian Giovinco took home the trophy last year.
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