Toronto FC, Vancouver FC ready to battle for Championship glory

It’s all come down to one game. Toronto FC will host Vancouver Whitecaps FC in the second leg of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship final on 25 May (20.00 local kick-off) with the tie level at 1-1 following a hotly contested first match in Vancouver.

With the Voyageurs Cup and the right to represent Canada in CONCACAF Champions League lying in the balance, rivals Toronto and Vancouver will lock horns for the third time this season. The stage is set for a hard-fought final battle.

Toronto FC defender Dicoy Williams knows the burgeoning rivalry between the two clubs will make for an intense affair to decide the Championship.

"It was my first game playing against Vancouver last game, you can see it is really a rivalry," said Williams. "It’s like a battlefield, it’s like war. We’ve got to go out there tomorrow and know that its not going to be easy, that it’s going to be a war game."

Toronto managed to snatch a late goal in the first leg of the final to register an all-important away goal which now puts the impetus on Vancouver to go on the offensive. Vancouver need to score in the second leg if they are to have any hope of winning the Nutrilite Canadian Championship.

Whitecaps FC Head Coach Teitur Thordarson is insistent that claiming the team’s first Voyageurs Cup is a major priority for his club.

"It means a lot to the players, the club, and the coaching staff; to everybody," said Thordarson. "The tournament has been a big goal to us."

The winner of the 2011 Nutrilite Canadian Championship will go on to face Nicaragua’s Real Estelí FC in the Preliminary Round of 2011-12 CONCACAF Champions League. Next season’s CONCACAF Champions League begins in the final week of July.