The Canadian Championship semifinal draw produced a pair of provincial rivalry matchups with Toronto FC playing Canadian Premier League title-holder Forge FC and the defending champion Vancouver Whitecaps facing the CPL’s Pacific FC.
The draw for the two-legged semifinals was made Wednesday night at halftime of Pacific’s 2-1 win over Atletico Ottawa in the second leg of their quarterfinal in Langford, B.C. The teams played to a scoreless draw in the first leg May 8 at TD Place.
Ayman Sellouf, from the penalty spot in the 28th minute, and captain Josh Heard, in the 34th, gave Pacific a 2-0 lead at Starlight Stadium in the return leg. Substitute Sam Salter pulled one back for Ottawa in the 59th.
Ottawa unsuccessfully pressed for a second goal through five frantic minutes of stoppage time, which would have given it the series win on the away goals rule.
Ottawa currently tops the CPL standings at 5-0-2 with Pacific third at 3-2-2.
The draw also determined that the winner of the Vancouver-Pacific semifinal will host the stand-alone championship game.
Pacific and Vancouver have met in the cup competition twice before. Pacific defeated the Whitecaps 4-3 in the preliminary round of the 2021 tournament. Vancouver won 3-0 when they met in last year’s semifinal.
Toronto defeated Forge by a penalty shootout in the pandemic-delayed 2020 championship game, which was actually played in June 2022.
The winner of the 14-team Canadian Championship hoists the Voyageurs Cup, collects $50,000 from Canada Soccer in prize money and qualifies for the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the confederation’s elite men’s club competition.
The Canadian Championship is sponsored by Telus.
READ ALSO: Whitecaps wary of CF Montreal ahead of Canadian Championship final