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Harjeet Johal ,

June 26, 2016 Twitter

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VANCOUVER, B.C - Toronto FC are the 2016 Voyageurs Cup Champions after scoring at the death to earn a 2-2 aggregate result thanks to the away goals rule. The Whitecaps scored a pair of second half goals to take a 2-1 lead, but they could not shut the door. Canadian international Will Johnson played hero with the timely goal deep into stoppage time. Kendall Waston and David Ousted collided in the air and the ball fell to Johnson who smashed it into the vacated net. Toronto FC are Voyageurs Cup Champions for the first time since 2012. A crowd of 19,376 supporters at BC Place was in complete shock. It looked as if time was ticking away and Vancouver would defend their home turf. Credit to Toronto FC for not giving up until the final whistle, and pushing everything forward. Coach Greg Vanney was feeling very thankful and fortunate when he spoke to the media. "I first off want to thank the Canadian Soccer Association and Amway for what was a wonderful event and a phenomenal opponent in Vancouver. I think they are a first class organization and again, it’s two teams that just battled all the way to the wire and we were fortunate to make a big play in the end that gave us the result. But they played a great game and it could be argued that they easily could have come away with this trophy. Tribute to our guys who stuck in there until the end and competed for every last ball and made the one play at the end that made the difference. Congratulations to them for getting to this point." Will Johnson described his goal and what it means to win the Voyageurs Cup after competing for the U.S. Open Cup when he was previously a member of the Portland Timbers. "Just take a chance, when the ball was in the air I had a good feeling that it might bounce, something was going to happen. I just wanted a look and just put my foot through, try to connect well with it and obviously it happened in a great moment for us and for our club." “It’s awesome. Amazing. I've never won the U.S. Open Cup, so it’s fitting I come to Canada first year and get my hands on this trophy. I'm excited about that and I hope we’re celebrating another Canadian achievement in September.” Toronto FC captain, Benoit Cheyrou was named winner of the George Gross Memorial Trophy as tournament MVP. He shared his thoughts on winning the Voyageurs Cup. “It’s why I came here, to win a trophy, so I'm very glad to win that this year with our teammates, and this team, for the fans, for the club. It’s very important to have a winner’s spirit, and by winning that kind of trophy we can build a winning culture as well. In this club, it’s important.” On the other side of the pitch, Whitecaps gaffer, Carl Robinson looked was at a loss for words. “I'm absolutely gutted for the guys, because they gave me and the club and the organization absolutely everything. And we deserved to win, but we didn’t win. So I could talk to you about how well they played and how proud I am of them, but as I said football’s a cruel game and it was certainly cruel tonight for the guys." Whitecaps goalkeeper, David Ousted was taking all the blame upon himself. “Devastating. Obviously, not what we wanted to happen. I’ll come out and say it, I cost us that one, I cost us the championship. That’s the thing, its heart wrenching right now. Do I have to come out on that one? Definitely I do. If you want a keeper that is going to stay on his line and not take responsibility, I’m not your guy. That’s my ball. Should I have punched it? Maybe, but I would make that decision again. It’s my ball, if I hold it it’s over. But that’s the job, some days that happens and one mistake can be the difference.” The Opening 45

It was a tentative opening forty-five as both teams played cautious. Vancouver was backed by surprise goalkeeper David Ousted and Coach Greg Vanney opted to go with youngster Alex Bono in his first professional start for Toronto FC. Sebastian Giovinco was buzzing around looking to find space in behind the Vancouver back-line. Jordan Harvey and Kendall Waston did well to close him down for the time being. Giovinco was clearly not happy with perceived fouls committed by the Whitecaps. The most egregious came in the 32' minute when Kendall Waston sent Giovinco flying to the turf with a flying elbow. Referee Drew Fischer quickly gave Waston a yellow card and Giovinco set himself up for a Toronto FC free kick. The former Juventus man sent his attempt over the wall, but his shot was easily turned aside by a diving David Ousted. Fans starting to get on Giovinco and a "You'll never play for Italy" chant erupted from the supporters section behind Ousted. Vancouver's did really test Alex Bono as often as they probably should have. The Caps best opportunity to even the aggregate came in the 44' minute when former Toronto FC midfielder Matais Laba fired a direct shot on target. Alex Bono came up with a fantastic diving save to his right. The first half ended goalless with Toronto FC holding a slim 52% - 48% possession advantage. #WhitecapsFC lost the title last week in Toronto, not in the 95th tonight. We weren't brave enough to get away result. #VWFC #CanChamp — Vancouver Armada (@VancouverArmada) June 30, 2016 If you waste time in added on time, the ref is well within his right to add more time. Will scored at 94:14. Controversy? Please. #TFC #VWFC — John Molinaro (@JohnMolinaro) June 30, 2016

The Second Half

Carl Robinson elected to bring on Nicolas Mezquida for Russell Teibert before the second half kicked off. Teibert left the match with a right quad strain after a race and subsequent collision with Mo Babouli just before halftime. Vancouver's substitution quickly contributed on the score-sheet by equalizing the aggregate in the 47' minute. Nicolas Mezquida went up for an uncontested header and scored that all elusive goal the Whitecaps were after. Jordan Harvey earned an assist with his lovely delivery into the Toronto FC box. The Whitecaps took the lead in the 68' minute after Tim Parker scored what looked like the winning goal. Matias Laba played a brilliant lob up the pitch to Parker. The Whitecaps converted right-back controlled the ball off his chest and deposited the ball into the net. Justin Morrow was too slow to react for Toronto FC and Alex Bono was once again left out try dry by his back-four. Uncharacteristically Vancouver did not see the game out by parking the bus and securing a 2-1 aggregate victory. Blas Perez, Alphonso Davies entered the match and the Whitecaps continued to participate in a dangerous tack meet with Greg Vanney's players. Instead of holding the ball up, the Caps looked to score and seal the game out with an insurance marker. This tactic proved to come back to bite the Whitecaps. Can't put in to words how gutted I am. Nothing I wanted more then give our fans that trophy. Sorry to have let my teammates down. #wcfc — David Ousted (@David_Ousted) June 30, 2016

Four minutes of stoppage time went up on the board and Vancouver was still up the pitch looking to score. The four minutes had elapsed, but Toronto was given one last counter-attack. Substitute Tsubasa Endoh sent a long ball into the Whitecaps box. Kendall Waston leaped up to head the ball away. However, the Costa Rican centre-back took out his goalie, David Ousted. It appears as though Ousted did not call Waston off. Mass confusion ensued and both players were down on the pitch and out of play. The ball came to Will Johnson and he converted into the open net. Jordan Harvey raced over out of nowhere with a last-ditch effort to try to head the ball off the line, but it was simply not to be. At the death, Toronto FC came into Vancouver and snatched away the Voyageurs Cup from the holders. Man of the Match Will Johnson at the end!!! CANADIAN CHAMPIONS! pic.twitter.com/C1tGpoDsGU — Toronto FC (@torontofc) June 30, 2016



Will Johnson

Who else, bit Will Johnson. What an amazing ending to a match that turned the result on its head at the very end. Johnson was in perfect spot to capitalize on the Whitecaps defensive error. He never gave up and continued to fight for his team into stoppage time. "Everything, we put everything into it," said Johnson. "We played our strongest lineup every single game that we had, we went for it. We travelled here from Orlando, our club got us a charter from Orlando to Vancouver, we put a lot of money into it. We stayed at the nicest hotels, we got the best meals, and it paid off." Vancouver Whitecaps

Tim Parker was in the right place at the right time on the Whitecaps second goal of the match. Parker was playing out of position at right-back, but still took it upon himself to run up the pitch and control the ball like a seasoned full-back. At a time when Vancouver is having trouble scoring goals from the striker position, Parker contributed in the clutch for the Caps.

Who was your TFC Man of the Match? Who was your Whitecaps Man of the Match?





Vancouver Whitecaps Starting XI: David Ousted; Tim Parker, Andrew Jacobson, Kendall Waston, Jordan Harvey; Matias Laba, Russell Teibert 46 (Nicolas Mezquida); Christian Bolaños, Pedro Morales, Kekuta Manneh 70 (Alphonso Davies); Erik Hurtado 82 (Blas Perez). 4-2-3-1. Toronto FC Starting XI: Alex Bono; Nick Hagglund, Eriq Zavaleta, Drew Moor, Justin Morrow; Marky Delgado, Will Johnson, Benoit Cheyrou(C) 74 (Tsubasa Endoh), Jonathan Osorio 85 (Raheem Edwards); Sebastian Giovinco, Mo Babouli 72 (Jordan Hamilton). 4-4-2