By Matthew Sekeres
BURNABY, B.C. — Toronto FC did not need a result against the Vancouver Whitecaps in a Nutrilite Canadian Championship series match.
And the Reds sure played like it, lollygagging through 80-plus minutes on Wednesday before some dangerous chances from Dwayne De Rosario and Amadou Sanyang nearly clinched the title in the waning moments.
Instead, TFC will head home with a 0-0 draw, and two more chances to win its second straight Canadian championship.
“I don’t think we played very well,” head coach Predrag (Preki) Radosavljevic said. “It could be complacency, maybe a little bit of fatigue, but I don’t want to make any excuses.”
TFC was playing without star midfielder Julian de Guzman, who is out with an injury, and Preki decided to give starting goalkeeper Stefan Frei a break before 4,928 at a soggy Swangard Stadium.
The coach, who gave the nod to backup keeper Jon Conway, also substituted defender Nana Attakora at half-time, saying he had a minor strain that was not worth risking. The same logic applied to de Guzman, who is close to returning, according to his coach.
“At least we got a point, and we move on from here,” Preki said.
TFC is on the verge of earning a berth into the CONCACAF Champions League. The Canadian champion will play Honduran side Motagua, and former TFC fan favourite Amado Guevara, in the preliminary round, it was announced Wednesday after a draw at CONCACAF headquarters in New York.
The Whitecaps, meanwhile, are seeking revenge against both their Canadian rivals, but will need consecutive road victories to break through with their first domestic title. Vancouver plays the Montreal Impact at Saputo Stadium on May 26, before the three-team series concludes on June 2 at Toronto’s BMO Field.
The Whitecaps must win both games or Toronto will be crowned champion and receive the Voyageurs Cup, the trophy named after Canada’s national soccer supporters group. To do so, the 'Caps will actually need to score, something they haven’t done in three straight matches.
“It actually might play to our advantage, to have our backs against the wall, because we can come out with nothing to lose,” defender Wes Knight said. “We can go into Toronto and Montreal with a lot of eagerness to jump on top of them.”
Motivation shouldn’t be an issue for Vancouver.
After a 2-0 victory over TFC on home soil last year, the Caps looked to have the Canadian title secured. But the Impact, Vancouver’s league-mates, dressed a substandard lineup in the tournament finale and TFC won by a 6-1 margin, enough to claim the championship.
That saved face for the Major League Soccer side, which fell to the second-tier Impact in the inaugural Canadian championship in 2008.
“I’m actually expecting them to send the junior team,” 'Caps head coach Teitur Thordarson joked about Montreal’s plans for their upcoming game.
The Impact has already been eliminated from the championship after consecutive losses to TFC, and a 1-1 draw against Vancouver earlier this month.
Montreal will join MLS in 2012, and the Whitecaps are set to join the premier North American soccer circuit next season, when they will play at a renovated B.C. Place Stadium. This season, Vancouver and Montreal play in the newly formed United States Soccer Federation Division-2 Professional League, which replaced the United Soccer Leagues First Division.
