Toronto FC win third straight Canadian Championship

Toronto FC have retained the Voyageurs Cup, becoming Canadian Champions yet again on Wednesday night by defeating the Vancouver Whitecaps 5-2 at BMO Field for a 7-4 victory on aggregate.

It was an absolutely dominant performance from the Reds once they got going, but the night truly belonged to Jozy Altidore. The clutch big man more than made up for his sending off on the weekend by scoring a hat trick, ravaging the Whitecaps defence all night.

Altidore scored all his goals in close, putting his first one past Stefan Marinovic from a low angle after Marky Delgado played a sleek backheel to him in the box.

The next TFC marker came from Sebastian Giovinco, who scored what must be the first headed goal in his career, off a perfect chipped cross by Jonathan Osorio. Seba is now alone in first place on the Canadian Championship’s all-time scoring leaderboard, by the way.

After halftime, TFC came out strong again, and Altidore put another two past Marinovic within the first 15 minutes of the half. First, he tapped in a low cross from Seba:

Then, he decided to recreate a goal from the 2016 playoffs with a near-post header off a corner:

Vancouver would add a consolation goal not long after as Kei Kamara scored on the break, and another in the 77th minute as Brek Shea bundles it over the goal line, but it was still TFC’s night all around. Tosaint Ricketts proved that in the 80th minute by scoring Toronto’s fifth of the evening, heading in a long free kick from Michael Bradley to put it to rest.

The Reds have now secured their third straight Canadian Championship, as well as the right to represent the country in the 2019 CONCACAF Champions League.

It really was a splendid night all around for the Reds, who looked more confident than they have all season. It was as if the last few months hadn’t happened, and the 2017 version of TFC was out at BMO Field on Wednesday (even if Victor Vazquez was sidelined with injury).

All the props will go to Altidore tonight, and deservedly so, but credit must also go to Giovinco, who had two primary assists and a goal of his own in less than 70 minutes of work. Jay Chapman and Jonathan Osorio did extremely well too, providing some creative attacking sparks in midfield as well as top-notch Canadian content.

For one night, the Reds will be able to forget about their place in the MLS standings. They’re Canadian champions.