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Canadian showdown for USL-1 title

October 7, 2009 - USL First Division (USL-1) News Release


TAMPA, FL - When the Canadian rivals Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps meet Saturday evening in British Columbia for the first leg of the USL First Division Championship Series, the two will be going toe-to-toe to become the third team in league history to capture three league championships.

Both legs will air live on Fox Soccer Channel with Saturday's contest beginning at 9:30 pm ET and the second leg at 2:30 pm ET on October 17.

The pair currently trail the Rochester Rhinos, who won in 1998, 2000 and 2001, and the Seattle Sounders, who captured the league title a record four times in 1995, 1996, 2005 and 2007. The Impact and Whitecaps are joined only by the Colorado Foxes of 1992-93 as two-time champions. Vancouver will be looking to be the first to repeat as champions since the 2000-01 Rhinos.

But while the desire to record history may be there on paper, emotion certainly is bubbling under the surface this year, particularly in Vancouver's case. The Whitecaps were poised to advance to the CONCACAF Champions League earlier this year via the Nutrilite Canadian Championship tournament, but a stunning 6-1 collapse by the previously-eliminated Impact in a game against Toronto FC in which they rested numerous players cost their league brethren in the tiebreakers. A fact that did not go over well then, and appears to still be an issue heading into the next two weeks.

"We owe Montreal some payback from the Nutrilite [Canadian Championship], so we'll see if we can go and do a job on them," captain Martin Nash told Marc Weber of The Province following their series victory over Portland Sunday.

USL-1 Semifinal Recap In a strange quirk of numbers, among several trends between the two sides over the years, the two clubs have split series victories the past two years in their two competitions. Vancouver won both meetings against Montreal in the NCC with Montreal following up the two shutouts with three victories over Vancouver in league play - the exact opposite of a year ago.

In 2008, Montreal won the two NCC fixtures while the Whitecaps took the regular season series with a 2-0-1 record. The difference in 2008 was decided in the USL-1 postseason, where Vancouver advanced 2-1 on aggregate with both clubs registering shutouts at home in the Semifinal series en route to claiming their second league championship.

The 2008 postseason was not the first time the two have met in the playoffs. In fact, the other Whitecaps championship also saw their road to the title go through Montreal as they knocked the Impact off 2-0 on aggregate with a 2-0 win in overtime on the road after a scoreless draw in the first leg of the 2006 Semifinals.

Eduardo Sebrango and Tony Donatelli scored the critical goals in that 2006 overtime session. Both now play for the Impact. They are two of seven players currently on the club rosters who have played for the other side.

Sebrango, in fact, is the all-time leader in scoring in the all-time series between the two clubs with three goals to his credit for both. His total of six is two more than any other. David Testo has scored twice, both against Vancouver since the switch, and Charles Gbeke twice, both against Montreal since his move. Along with Donatelli, Montreal's Joey Gjertsen has one goal, scoring against his former side. Nash and Montreal goalkeeper Srdjan Djekanovic, who could win a second straight title as the back-up keeper, round out the seven.

Regardless of who the players have been since the two clubs played for the first time on May 30, 1993, one trend has remained constant - close contests. In the 45 meetings between the two clubs, 30 have been decided by a goal or finished level, and 32 games have featured a shutout with four of the six draws having finished scoreless. Only once has the losing team scored twice in a game, and the biggest margin of victory has been three (four times by Montreal). Neither club has scored three goals in a game since Montreal posted a 3-0 victory at home June 11, 2004 - a span of 21 games that has also seen 18 shutouts. The one clear difference between the two is the series records. Montreal all-time is 26-13-6 with a 13-5-5 advantage at home and 13-8-1 record in Vancouver.

Four of the five meetings this year have been decided by one goal.

The lone big win, by the series standards, came in the opener when Vancouver posted a 2-0 NCC victory on the road over Montreal on May 20. Rookie phenom Marcus Haber scored in the first minute of action and 2008 USL-1 Championship MVP Gbeke doubled the advantage in the 17th minute. Jay Nolly held on for the shutout.

A week later at home, Gbeke had a penalty stopped by Matt Jordan, but another young standout made a key play as residency PDL player Ethan Gage provided the winner in the 67th minute, eliminating Montreal from NCC championship contention.

The season series in league play kicked off in Vancouver on June 7 with Montreal dishing out a little payback. Former Whitecaps Sebrango and Testo scored in the 2-1 victory. Sebrango opened the scoring 20 minutes in and Haber leveled the match three minutes before the break, but Testo answered right back two minutes later for Montreal.

Two first half goals in Montreal on June 20 propelled the Impact to a second straight win in the series, 2-1. Rocco Placentino connected in the 34th and Roberto Brown added the second five minutes later. Marlon James cut into the deficit in the 63rd, but the Whitecaps were unable to find the equalizer.

The regular season series came to a close just a month ago in a narrow 1-0 affair decided in the final moments in Montreal an September 9. Peter Byers provided the lone strike in stoppage time to give Montreal the sweep.



USL First Division Stories from October 7, 2009


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