THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — Toronto FC took the first step towards winning a third straight Nutrilite Canadian Championship, but the next part of the task will be a lot tougher.
Alan Gordon scored in the first half as Toronto FC clinched a spot in the final round of the tournament on Wednesday with a 1-0 victory over FC Edmonton.
TFC won the two-leg series with an aggregate score of 4-0.
TFC will face a more experienced opponent in the final in fellow MLS team Vancouver. The Whitecaps already have beaten Toronto in the Major League Soccer play.
Vancouver advanced with a 2-1 aggregate win over the Montreal Impact.
Toronto is in its fifth MLS season and has had the more experienced team on the pitch on Wednesday.
"We were a better team," Toronto FC head coach Aron Winter said. "We had a lot of opportunities and scored only once."
Edmonton is an expansion team in the North American Soccer League. Head coach Harry Sinkgraven said his starting lineup had only two veterans at the professional level.
"The other nine guys played as amateurs last year," he said. "If you play games like this where speed of the game is higher and the spaces are smaller then of course you develop.
"We are not as good now. We have young players. I think the future of our team is pretty good."
TFC is going through some development as well as Winter tries to rebuild a team that has yet to reach the MLS playoffs.
"We making improvements every game and that’s most important," he said.
Winter said he did not know the extent of a possible injury to Gordon, who left the game in the 65th minute.
"We will have to wait until tomorrow," he said.
Toronto won the opening game of the series 3-0 in Edmonton on April 27 but in that game FC Edmonton was reduced to 10 men because of a red card in the 23rd minute.
TFC followed with a non-effort 3-0 loss Saturday in an MLS game in Seattle.
"Against Seattle we were afraid to play soccer," Winter said. "Today was different. Now we saw team spirit we were battling and that’s why it’s a pity we scored only one goal."
Sinkgraven also felt his team played better than it did in losing to Montreal 5-0 in NASL action on the weekend.
"We did pretty well," he said. "It was much better organized than Sunday, especially in the back. The goal against us, I don’t know if it was offside but I think it was."
The goal in question came in the 21st minute, as Gordon placed a left-footed shot high into the left corner past goalkeeper Lance Parker on a nifty setup by Joao Plata.
Plata played with energy and almost scored late in the game and might be earning more playing time in MLS games.
"It’s pity that he didn’t score," Winter said. "He’s doing well. He has good skills."
Winter said he puts equal importance on games in the MLS or the Canadian championship.
"Both are important to me, one is not important than the other one," he said. "I’m a guy who wants to win every game."
Gordon also scored in the first leg, with Maicon Santos scoring the other two. Santos came into Wednesday’s game as a second-half substitute before an announced attendance of 17,937 at BMO Field which had large patches of empty seats.
Parker made a good save early in the second half as Toronto tried to control the tempo with cautious play. A few minutes later, Edmonton applied some pressure at Toronto’s goal, as ‘keeper Stefan Frei had to make a save on an Edmonton free kick.
Parker had a couple of adventures in the second half. He was almost caught out on a long shot and then strayed out of his goal during a scramble but Toronto did not get a direct shot.
Later in the half, the energetic Plata whistled a shot just wide.
Notes: Toronto is home to Houston in an MLS game at BMO Field on Saturday, its fifth game in 14 days. …The Nutrilite final also will be two legs, May 18 and 25. …Edmonton was without Shaun Saiko for Wednesday’s match because he was serving a suspension for his red card in the first game for his tackle on Oscar Cordon. ..This was Edmonton’s first appearance in the Nutrilite Canadian Championship. Montreal, Vancouver and Toronto competed in the first three with Montreal winning in 2008 before Toronto took the next two titles.