July 25, 2018 MLS Toronto FC--Toronto FC vs Ottawa Fury (Canadian Championship semi-final) (by Rocket Robin)

................................

Result and details of the Wednesday July 25, 2018 MLS game between Toronto FC and Ottawa Fury played at BMO Field in Toronto at 7:30PM. This was the second leg of the Canadian Championship semi-final. 35 min...TFC Ayo Akinola GOAL...TFC Liam Fraser chips 35 yarder from left forward for TFC Ryan Telfer who slides on right at 5 yards near end line to keep it in play and pops ball over to left side of goal. Sliding Fury Jeremy Gagnon-Lapare partially clears. Akinola recovers ball at 8 yards on left and blasts rebound that deflects off a sliding Fury Thomas Meillur-Giguere near the left post and the ball pops into the left side of the net. 75 min...TFC Jordan Hamilton GOAL...TFC Jonathan Osorio near edge of box runs towards center and then runs away from box maintaining possession. He rolls pass from 28 yards over to left for TFC Marky Delgado at 28 yard line on left. Delgado rolls pass forward and to left for TFC Ashton Morgan who runs forward from 15 yards to near end line and rolls cross through 6 yard box past goalie Maxime Crepeau diving forward and Hamilton slides to poke 5 yarder forward into left side of net. 83 min...TFC Jonathan Osorio GOAL...TFC Jordan Hamilton rushes down right wing then stops and rolls pass back to TFC Marky Delgado. Delgado at 35 yards in middle passes over to Osorio near top left corner of box. Osorio runs to near end line but cuts back when retreating Fury Steevan Dos Santos cuts him off. He cuts shot from 10 yards between Dos Santos and defender Nana Attakora into top left corner of net banking it in off underside of bar. Final Score:...Toronto FC.......3.....Ottawa Fury........0.....TFC wins the two-game aggregate 4-0 Attendance was not announced but was listed as 18795 on the MLS website. That was a bit disappointing as TFC haven't played at home since July 1st. My section had a few empty seats and a lot of strangers many acting as first timers rather than relatives/friends of season ticket holder that I recognize. I get this idea that Toronto fans are snobs and they look down on a non-MLS team. Next season it is expectced Ottawa will play in the new Canadian Premier League but haven't announced yet because of USL commitments. As I expected TFC played better this season in this round against Ottawa as they have been using more Canadians because of all the injuries they've had this year. Last year they came into the return leg in a 2-1 deficit after losing their first game then won the return leg 4-0 loading up the team with their designated players. This year it was Ottawa who were in trouble with TFC holding a 1-0 lead and that all important road goal. I couldn't see TFC losing because their bench included designated players Sebastian Giovinco and Michael Bradley but because they increased their aggregate lead in the first half to 2-0, they brought in more Canadians instead--Hamilton, Morgan, and Osorio. The only designated player used tonight was Jozy Altidore who is returning from injury and played the first half before being replaced at halftime with Hamilton. Altidore's play was more of a run out as he passed the ball a few times but wasn't particularly memorable. TFC Justin Morrow had a few poorly timed passes and shots but a good defensive save in the second half to prevent a comeback with the game still in doubt. TFC Chris Mavinga is also recovering from injury and played the first 60 minuters in his usual backline position. I was expecting Ottawa would have a problem scoring and that was true as they only had three shots and none were on target. They've only scored 20 goals in 19 USL games. Clint Irwin earned the shutout for TFC and only had a few crosses to catch or punch away. Ottawa have pulled into a playoff position for the first time this season within the last two weeks. Fury styaed on the field long after the game was over. They still have two games in Toronto against TFC II which are very important to maintain their position. TFC II have not won a game this season. In theory some in tonight's TFC lineup may find themselves on the USL squad especially the Canadians as more players return from injury and there isn't a mandate to use them in league play. TFC goals were scored by Canadians Ayo Akinola, Jordan Hamilton, and Jonathan Osorio. Akinola was born in Detroit but moved to Brampton as a child. He counts as a homegrown player for TFC but has played internationally for the United States up to the U-17s. After the game a report said manager Greg Vanney said Canada should cap him at the senior level. In last Saturday's MLS game in Chicago, TFC had only two Canadian starters. This Saturday they host Chicago and I'll see how many Canadian players they'll use. I got home in time to watch the second half of the Vancouver-Montreal game on my computer on the CanadaSoccer.com site. The games were not available on television. Last week the sports networks presented the ESPY Awards and a rerun of Monday Night Raw (which is a surprise because their national networks don't show wrestling). Tonight they had programmed a Will Ferrell movie about stock car racing. Were past year's ratings really that bad? About the attendance again, there didn't seem to be too many empty seats in the supporter's section in the south end. There was less noise especially at the beginning but maybe that was because it was a dull game. There was no pyro allowed after fire starting last week in Ottawa but some supporters groups had drums and even banners so the ban announced last week must have been modified. TFC move on to the final. The opponents are Vancouver Whitecaps because they won 2-0 over Montreal and overturned a 1-0 deficit. The first game will be in Vancouver on Wednesday August 8th and the return leg will be Wednesday the 15th. TFC needs to win the Canadian Championship to get back to the CONCACAF club championship next Spring. TFC being in both competitions this Spring partly explains their rash of injuries caused by two games a week. They also used split squads which piled up a lot of early week losses in MLS league play. Rocket Robin robing@eol.ca twitter @RocketRobin01

stats from MLSsoccer.com
Match Information

Goals and Assists
36'  TOR   Ayo Akinola
76'  TOR   Jordan Hamilton           Assisted By: Ashtone Morgan
84'  TOR   Jonathan Osorio           Assisted By: Marco Delgado

Disciplinary
32'  OTT   Tony Taylor               Reason: Unsporting Behavior
78'  OTT   Kévin Oliveira            Reason: Unsporting Behavior

Lineup

Toronto FC
17 F Jozy Altidore          (HT)
20 F Ayo Akinola
 1 G Clint Irwin
 2 D Justin Morrow
 6 D Nick Hagglund
12 D Jason Hernandez
23 D Chris Mavinga           (61')
18 M Marco Delgado
27 M Liam Fraser
14 M Jay Chapman             (69')
54 M Ryan Telfer

Bench
25 G Alexander Bono
 5 D Ashtone Morgan          (61')
 4 M Michael Bradley
10 M Sebastian Giovinco
21 M Jonathan Osorio         (69')
87 F Tosaint Ricketts
22 F Jordan Hamilton         (HT)

Manager  Greg Vanney

Ottawa Fury FC
 8 F Steevan Dos Santos
16 G Maxime Crépeau
 3 D Eddie Edward
 4 D Nana Attakora
26 D Thomas Meilleur-Giguère
 2 D Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé
22 M Jamar Dixon                (66')
80 M Cristian Portilla
99 M Tony Taylor                (61')
88 M Kévin Oliveira
11 M Daniel Haber               (HT)

Bench
12 G David Monsalve
13 D Monti Mohsen
 5 M Chris Mannella             (66')
24 M Jimmy-Shammar Sanon        (61')
30 M Adonijah Reid              (HT)   
 6 M Sergio Manesio
14 F Gabriel Wiethaeuper-Balbinotti

Manager  Nikola Popovic

Officials
Referee                Pierre-Luc Lauziere
Assistant Referee      Michael Barwegen
Assistant Referee      Lyes Arfa
Fourth Official        Yusri Rudolf

Match Information
Canada Chmp at BMO Field
Toronto, ON
Attendance 18795
Weather Clear

Team Statistics

TFC                            Ott
 12    Shots                     5    
  4    Shots on Target           0     
  5    Shots off Target          3    
  3    Blocked Shots             2   
  9    Corners                   3      
 22    Crosses                   8    
  2    Offsides                  2     
 12    Fouls                    10    
  0    Yellow Cards              2     
  0    Red Cards                 0     
574    Total Passes            289    
 87 %  Passing Accuracy         73 %    
 66.9 % Possession              33.1 %    
 41    Duels Won                42     
  7    Tackles Won              11    
  0    Saves                     1    
 15    Clearances               30

Toronto FC starters