Vancouver Whitecaps runners-up again in Canadian Championship
Altidore nets hat trick as Toronto FC scores convincing 5-2 victory over visiting Vancouver
TORONTO — A hat trick by Jozy Altidore helped Toronto FC lift the Voyageurs Cup for a seventh time Wednesday, winning the Canadian Championship final 7-4 on aggregate after a commanding 5-2 second-leg win over the visiting Vancouver Whitecaps. In a season where Toronto has been a shadow of its former self, the MLS champions turned back the clock. The TFC attack became more dangerous as the evening wore on, pinging the ball around effortlessly in overwhelming Vancouver’s defence.
The Toronto players clearly enjoyed the moment. There has been little to cheer about in a 6-12-5 league campaign.
Sebastian Giovinco contributed a goal and two assists and substitute Tosaint Ricketts added a goal as Toronto thumped the Whitecaps following a 2-2 first-leg tie last week at B.C. Place Stadium.
Kei Kamara and Brek Shea scored late goals for Vancouver to make the finish more interesting.
TFC’s Jonathan Osorio was named the tournament MVP.
Altidore’s goal spree helped the big man win his way back into TFC fans’ hearts after being sent off early for lashing out with his boot in a 3-2 loss to New York City FC on the weekend.
In winning the Canadian Championship for a third straight year, TFC consigned Vancouver to a seventh runner-up finish. The Whitecaps have won once — in 2015 — since the tournament’s inception in 2008.
The Canadian Championship final has a history of being decided late, but there was little drama Wednesday. Toronto led 2-0 at the half and 4-0 after 53 minutes. Vancouver mounted a late rally before Ricketts padded the TFC lead.
The win was worth a US$50,000 bonus and entry into the CONCACAF Champions League, the elite club competition covering North and Central America and the Caribbean.
Toronto lost the Champions League final in a penalty shootout to Chivas Guadalajara in April. Montreal also made it to the final in 2015, losing to Club America. Vancouver advanced as far as the semifinals in 2017.
For Toronto, it was a 13th victory in 14 two-legged series since 2016 in the Canadian Championship, CONCACAF Champions League and MLS playoffs.
Altidore opened Wednesday’s scoring by capping a beautiful passing sequence in the 39th minute, beating goalkeeper Stefan Marinovic with a low shot from close range after taking a nifty back-flick from Marky Delgado that put him behind the defence.
Giovinco made it 2-0 in the 44th, twisting his body for a diving header off an Osorio cross after some blue-collar work by Delgado in the buildup. It was Giovinco’s record sixth Canadian Championship goal — and a rare score using his head.
Altidore added another in the 49th by knocking in a laser-like cross from Giovinco. Vancouver had seven men in the penalty box at the time, but none of whom were able to stop the goal.
Then, in the 53rd, Giovinco and Altidore combined off a corner with Altidore’s glancing header making it 4-0.
Kamara pulled one back for Vancouver in the 63rd minute, beating goalkeeper Clint Irwin after being put behind the Toronto defence by Nicolas Mezquida.
Shea tapped in Vancouver’s second goal in the 77th before Ricketts headed in a Michael Bradley free kick in the 80th to ease the minds of the 14,994 fans at BMO Field.
The Whitecaps had been coy about the availability of Alphonso Davies, who missed Vancouver’s weekend game in Portland due to a right hip flexor strain and left practice early Tuesday.
But the 17-year-old midfielder — bound for Bayern Munich after the season — was in the starting lineup, with manager Carl Robinson saying he was pronounced fit some 4 1/2 hours before kickoff.
Injured but also starting was Vancouver defender Doneil Henry, wearing a cast on a hand broken in the aftermath of the first leg. It was Henry’s 96th-minute own goal that knotted the final score. Henry’s hand injury was apparently self-inflicted.