“This is exactly how it should feel when it’s meant to be

Time is only wasting so why wait for eventually?”

It was perfect conditions in Laval for the first ever Canadian Championship match between the winners of League 1 Ontario, Oakville Blue Devils, and Première Ligue de soccer du Québec, AS Blainville. And It was the home team that came out on top as 2-1 winners giving them the advantage going into the away leg next Wednesday at the Ontario Soccer Centre.

Quebec showed up in numbers for this important occasion, it looked like a sell out, Canadian Soccer celebs were in attendance, it even had some hardcore fans in the one corner, waving flags and chanting all game long, together giving it a big game feel. It reminded me of an FA cup tie back home, this is what a Voyageurs Cup game is meant to be like.

AS Blainville played up for the crowd immediately going on the offensive from the first whistle, chasing down every ball, pressing high, not giving Oakville any time to settle into the game. Blainville had a few pot shots from distance that didn’t really test Matt George in the Oakville net but they were getting closer as ex-Impact attacker Pierre-Rudolph Mayard had a couple effort narrowly miss the goal.

Blainville were playing pretty much Oakville at their own game, getting the ball quickly down the line using the pace and power of their forward players to cause problems for the opposition, and Oakville couldn’t cope. Maybe they were over awed by the occasion, this certainly wasn’t the Oakville I had seen boss teams in League 1.

Then Mitchell Syla put Blainville into a deserved lead in the 26th minute. Al James’ wayward forward pass was intercepted by Diyaeddine Abzi who passed out wide to Maxime Leconte who then drove inside from the right and was also intercepted but the ball fell to the dangerous Syla in the top corner of the box who struck it first time into the bottom far corner. Queue the first projectile to be thrown on the pitch in the form of a blue smoke bomb, by the jubilant home support.

Oakville only really sparked into life towards the end of the first half when they seemed to finally settle into the game and could put a few passes together. Judah Hernandez was running relentlessly the whole time he was on for Oakville and must have touched every blade of grass, breaking up plays and trying to get involved in attacks and was one of the stand out players on the night.

Against the run of play they managed to drag themselves back into the game 5 minutes before the break. Rajvir Kahlon held off one player on the right skipped past another into the middle of the park before spraying a lovely ball out to Captain Taylor McNamara who fired a cross into the box, that was initially blocked by goalkeeper Erwann Ofouya, but it squirmed away from him, and Anthony Novak was there in the right place to poke it home from a tight angle.

This goal seemed to spur the Blue Devils on as they started to look a lot more comfortable from here on, creating another good opportunity just moments later, but Brandon Duarte’s low shot was saved by Ofouya.

The second half started how the first ended with Oakville in the ascendency and they were the ones creating chances early on. Felipe Vilela had a shot deflected wide and from the resulting corner Taylor NcNamara had a stinging shot saved by Ofouya, but after a while the game evened up as both sets of players looked to be getting tired.

So the fans tried to liven up proceedings by lighting up some flares in the stands which brought the game to a halt for a couple minutes as the ref stopped the game as the smoke cleared the field.

But Blainville hit the hammer blow for Oakville in the 92nd minute in spectacular fashion. Nazim Belguendouz’s corner was missed at the near post Novak and met by captain Nafi Dicko-Raynauld who’s initial shot was stopped on the line, then follow up hit the cross bar and bounced out off the line. Mayard in the blink of an eye contorted his body and acrobatically volleyed the ball into the back of the net from close range sending the Blainville players and fans into raptures. The barrier holding the fans back broke down and supporters flooded the field to celebrate with the players as blue smoke again filled the air.

It was a great night for Blainville and they go into the 2nd leg with a nice advantage, but it isn’t over yet for the Ontarians who have a vital away goal. I’m expecting it to be another close battle and either team could be travelling to Ottawa in the next round. Either way I’m looking forward to being at the game next week and experiencing some of the cup fever that I hope will grow as the years go on.

If you are in the GTA, be sure to get tickets for the 2nd leg immediately as they are selling fast, and come down to the game next week at the Ontario Soccer Centre.

2018-06-13 – Oakville Blue Devils v AS Blainville – 19.30 ET / 16.30 PT

Also as this is for the Voyageurs Cup, I should plug the Canada vs Germany Women’s friendly game on Sunday in Hamilton. Come join the Voyageurs Supporters cheer on our girls. 2pm kick off at Tim Hortons Field.

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Dan Baldwin Dan joins us to finally get involved in doing something about the sport he loves. Born in England he has played and followed the game his whole life. After moving to Toronto in 2014, he immediately began to learn about the local soccer scene and is passionate about the development of the sport in the country. However, he can still found cheering on his beloved West Ham each weekend morning at the Dog and Bear pub.

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