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Many were calling this the greatest MLS playoff series ever by the final whistle Wednesday.

It’s also being touted as perhaps the greatest day in the history of Canadian club soccer, although those folks perhaps weren’t around in 1979, when the Caps claimed the Soccer Bowl and tens of thousands — 100,000 by some estimates — lined Robson Street for the victory parade.

It’s a fun debate and, ultimately, all positive. Around 96,000 fans took in this Eastern Conference final in person over two legs. The television numbers for leg one were around one million in average audience for TSN and RDS combined. That made it Canada’s most-watched MLS game ever.

The second leg might have topped that, although TV numbers weren’t out by press time Thursday.

Toronto FC is the first Canadian team to reach MLS Cup. They’ll host the Seattle Sounders on Dec. 10. Make that two seasons in a row for the Caps to watch a rival — or two — battle it out for the biggest prize. The Portland Timbers won MLS Cup last season.

“If you were saying you didn’t wish it was you, you’d be lying,” said Lenarduzzi, “but we can’t dwell on that. We need to figure out what we need to do between now and the start of next season to get back to the playoffs and make a deep run.

“We also have a chance now, with the Champions League (quarterfinals in February), to extend that enthusiasm in Vancouver and around the country by getting to the semifinals. We saw what happened in Montreal and Toronto (during their deep Champions League runs) and that’s something we should view as a great opportunity.”