Excitement at a fevered pitch

Vaughan Azzuri kick off Canadian championship against HFX Wanderers

Head coach Patrice Gheisar and his players have been waiting for this day for three months.

The Vaughan Azzurri, champions of League 1 Ontario, host Halifax’s HFX Wanderers FC of the Canadian Premier League in the first round of the Canadian Championship on Wednesday.

Gheisar says his players have been waiting for this night since the Feb. 12 Canadian Championship draw.

“Excitement sets upon us like I’ve never seen,” he said. “And we’ve been in a lot of big games. But the big games we’ve been to have been League 1 finals or League 1 Cup finals.”

How excited are they? The Azzurri played Saturday night and practised less than 12 hours later.

“I wasn’t sure that everybody would show up, with Mother’s Day, fatigue, work,” said Gheisar. “Everybody came. Great mood. Great morale.” Also Wednesday, Quebec (PLSQ) champion AS Blainville hosts York 9 FC and Calgary’s Cavalry FC entertains Pacific FC in an all-CPL Canadian Championship matchup. The return legs are May 22.

The arrival of the CPL has resulted in an expanded tournament format this year with five rounds, 13 teams and 24 matches.

Teams from League 1 Ontario and Quebec’s PLSQ joined the field last year with Blainville beating the Oakville Blue Devils before falling to the USL’s Ottawa Fury. Toronto FC went on to win the title for the seventh time, earning a berth in the CONCACAF Champions League.

With more than 50 representative teams including the Azzurri, the Vaughan Soccer Club has a proud record of producing talent. Defender Kamal Miller started for Orlando City SC on the weekend, while goalkeeper Dayne St. Clair was on Minnesota United’s bench.

In his 11 years with the club, Gheisar says more than 100 alumni went to play in the NCAA, while more than10 have gone on to play pro in Europe.