FC Edmonton of the NASL and Montreal Impact, in their first season as an MLS club, will play host to the first leg matches. The second leg matches for the Canadian Championship are next Wednesday, April 9.
The Vancouver Whitecaps will head north with a 4-2-2 record in league play to face the winless FC Edmonton (0-3-1), who picked up their first point two weeks ago with a scoreless draw in Puerto Rico and ended their scoreless status in a wild 4-3 loss at their home opener 10 days ago.
Vancouver has yet to win the competition, finishing as runners-up the past three years. FC Edmonton is hoping to become the second lower division side to win the competition since the Montreal Impact accomplished the feat in the inaugural edition in 2008. It will be only the second all-Canadian match this season for Vancouver, who opened the MLS season with a 2-0 victory over the visiting Impact, who were making their league debut. Sebastien Le Toux and Camilo Sanvezzo scored in the match.
The Eddies are not the only winless side in the tournament as Toronto comes in without a single point through seven MLS matches, though they did manage to defeat the LA Galaxy, 4-3 on aggregate, in the CONCACAF Champions League Quarterfinals in March and played Santos Laguna to a 1-1 draw in the Semifinals before falling in Mexico, 6-2. Montreal, on the other hand, are 2-5-2 in MLS play.
One of the two Montreal victories came against Toronto April 7. The 2-1 victory in Montreal was historic as it was the Impact's first in MLS. Sinisa Ubiparipovic scored the opening goal in the 18th minute. Toronto FC saw Logan Emory sent off in the 65th and the deficit double through Andrew Wenger in teh 81st before Danny Koevermans found what proved to be a consolation strike in the 88th.
Last year, Toronto FC blanked Edmonton 3-0 and 1-0 in the semifinals and the Whitecaps advanced to the final with a 1-0 win in the first leg and a 1-1 draw in the second. The Whitecaps played another 1-1 draw in the opening half of the championship series, but fell 2-1 in Toronto despite leading at the break.
The Championship Series is scheduled for May 16 and 23. Last year, however, the final did not conclude as scheduled with the second leg having to be replayed due to lightning. Vancouver also led by a goal in the abandoned match before the storm interrupted play on the hour mark and eventually made the field unplayable.
It was quite the year for the Mexican duo of Monterrey and Santos Laguna as they tore through their opposition, for the most part, in the knockout stages. In the Final, the defending champions got off to a great start in the first leg at home with two goals from Chilean Humberto Suazo in the 60th and 86th minutes. In the second leg, Argentine midfielder Daniel Luduena cut the deficit in the 45th and Oribe Peralta levelled the series six minutes after the break. Argentine striker Neri Cardozo, however, gave Monterrey its second consecutive title with a goal eight minutes from time for the 3-2 aggregate tally. They are only the fourth club to repeat as the confederation's club champion (Cruz Azul 1996-97, 1969-71 and Pachuca 2007-08).
Championship Series Highlights: Leg One + Leg Two +
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