Furious start makes way for an unsatisfying finish
Reds boot Fury from championship contention during 3-0 win in Toronto
TORONTO The Ottawa Fury showed some fire early in Wednesday night’s Canadian Championship semifinal against Toronto FC, but it was quickly extinguished.
Down 2-0 on aggregate heading into the second leg of the semifinal, the Fury played with urgency in the first few minutes into the match at BMO Field. But after TFC’s Nick DeLeon scored in the 14th minute to put the Reds ahead 3-0 on aggregate, that spark seemed to burn out save for a few moments in the second half. There was no David and Goliath story to be had on this summer night near the shores of Lake Ontario. TFC waltzed away with an easy 3-0 victory in front of a small but enthusiastic crowd of 12,683, winning the series 5-0 on aggregate.
The win booked Toronto’s ticket to the Canadian Championship final against the winner of the Montreal Impact-Cavalry FC semifinal with the first leg set for Sept. 18 and the second on Sept. 25. TFC is gunning for a record eighth Voyageurs Cup and fourth straight. The Canadian Championship winner advances to the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League.
DeLeon, who was in on all three TFC goals, picked up the brace, while Patrick Mullins also scored for the home side.
The Reds fired 22 shots at the Ottawa goal compared to nine by the Fury. TFC had seven corner kicks. Ottawa had one. The Fury was a much tougher test in the first leg Aug. 7 at TD Place. The result meant a second straight clean sheet for Toronto goalkeeper Alex Bono, who lost his starting job to Quentin Westberg in MLS play this season.
Toronto centre-backs Drew Moor and Eriq Zavaleta, starting their second games against the Fury, were also solid in the win. With a crucial MLS Eastern Conference match on Saturday in Columbus against the Crew, TFC coach Greg Vanney elected not to include any of his designated players in the starting 11 nor did he dress his two main centre-backs, Omar Gonzalez and Chris Mavinga. But that didn’t matter as the MLS representatives had their way with their United Soccer League rivals.
The Reds jumped ahead 1-0 in the 14th minute on the counter with Jonathan Osorio feeding Richie Laryea a pass in the right corner. Laryea tapped it to DeLeon in the box and the Phoenix native onetimed the shot past Ottawa keeper Callum Irving. The goal came a minute after the Fury missed a couple of scoring chances. Three minutes after that goal, Laryea set up Erickson Gallardo and the Venezuelan shot it over the goal.
In the 23rd minute, Liam Fraser hammered a shot high from a Tsubasa Endoh corner kick. Soon after, Toronto keeper Bono made an easy save off Christiano Francois, who was sent in alone. Endoh and Laryea were both impressive for TFC.
Gallardo, in his first start for the Reds, showed brilliance at times at the right wing with his pace, touch and passing. He easily could have had a couple assists.
In the 30th minute, Irving made an outstanding save on a right-footed free kick by Endoh that curved toward the top right corner. Irving came up big again in the 37th minute, leaping to deflect a Mullins header.
Seconds later, Mullins added his second goal in as many games, left-footing a shot into the goal after a pass by DeLeon.
Two minutes after, DeLeon made a couple of nifty moves to get into the clear and right-footed a shot past Irving.
Vanney replaced Jonathan Osorio with 19-year-old Noble Okello to start the second half — his first appearance for the first team. The Toronto native showed his impressive skills on a number of attacks.
DeLeon almost picked up the hat trick in the 62nd minute, left-footing a shot on a beautiful cross by Gallardo.
The match represented Carl Haworth’s 150th career match with the Fury. Despite the score, Haworth was a bright spot for the Fury on the night.
Mullins was replaced by another 19-year-old Greater Toronto Area native, Ayo Akinola, in the 71st minute. Vanney said this week that if his club took control of the match, he would get the two teenagers into the match.
Ottawa forward Jeremy Gagnon-Lapare had a few chances to score in the second half, but couldn’t put one in the back of the goal, including one in the dying seconds of the match, which he left-footed over the goal.