Voyageurs Cup Matchday 1 Report and Contest Update

It's been a busy week.  This serves to explain in part why a report on Wednesday's Amway Canadian Championship matches is being published on a Sunday night.  I only watched a handful of minutes from the Whitecaps-Eddies match, and not a moment of the Toronto-Montreal snoozefest, so my analysis may be even further from the mark than usual.

On to the reports

MONTREAL 0 : 0 TORONTO

Goals: none
[match stats]

Stupid headline: Toronto FC, Impact play to scoreless draw in Amway Canadian Championship (National Post)
Even the headlines about this match were boring.

Story in pictures

Father time makes an appearance

One paragraph analysis

The conventional wisdom is that a draw favours the visitors, but it's hard to imagine either team being satisfied with the result.  Aron Winter's men (for now) parked the bus in front of Milos Kocic's goal, surely an admission that they were dealing with a more talented opponent.  Recent MLS results would support this judgment.  Still, it leaves all to play for this Wednesday, and it wouldn't be a shock for Toronto FC, who have only one win in 2012 (a 2-1 Champions League victory in Los Angeles) to get another when it matters.  Any scoring draw puts Montreal through to the final.

Attendance check: 13,405 at Olympic Stadium.

Canadian content report
I'll have to go back and check, but I can't recall any nights in past editions of the tournament when two teams failed to field a single Canadian.  Montreal (a naturalized Eddy Sebrango notwithstanding) and Vancouver did the trick on this night.  Three quarters of the TFC back line were Canadian on this night, and they managed to keep a clean sheet.

MONTREAL IMPACT
none	0
Total Mins	0
TORONTO FC
Adrian Cann	90
Ashtone Morgan	90
Doneil Henry	90
Julian de Guzman	90
Terry Dunfield	89
Total Mins	743

FC EDMONTON 0 : 2 VANCOUVER WHITECAPS

Goal:Eric Hassli 19', Atiba Harris 41'

Stupid headline: Vancouver Caps FC Edmonton (Toronto Sun)
Do headline writers live such a miserable existence that such menial puns bring them some semblance of joy?


Story in pictures:

Shaun Saiko (pictured) took an early shower in last year's V-Cup opener.  Here he is looking  sharp in FCE black.

One paragraph analysis
Few gave Edmonton much of a chance in this tie. Only two of the 40 entries in my prediction contest had them advancing, and only a handful had them getting a result in the home leg.  A 2-0 loss was possibly a bit harsh and by all accounts Edmonton keeper David Monsalve could have done better on the first goal.  Vancouver fans will be heartened by the work teenager Omar Salgado has been doing on the wing. With a comfortable lead heading home, the Whitecaps would do well to field a less experienced lineup on Wednesday.

Attendance check: 2,077 at Commonwealth is a disappointing crowd for what is arguably FC Edmonton's biggest match of the year.

Canadian content report
Vancouver had none, but Edmonton had the usual strong Canadian contingent.

FC EDMONTON
Paul Hamilton	90
Fabrice Lassonde	90
Shaun Saiko	90
Dominic Oppong	84
Kyle Porter	77
David Monsalve	90
Matt Lam	69
Chris Kooy	6
Paul Craig	13
Total Mins	609
MONTREAL IMPACT
none	0
Total Mins	0

SCORING TABLE

TOP SCORERS
Player	Team	Goals
Eric Hassli	Vancouver	1
Atiba Harris	Vancouver	1

NEXT WEEK
2012.05.09: Montreal (0) at Toronto (0) - 8 pm et / 5 pm pt
2012.05.09: Edmonton (0) at Vancouver (2) - 8 pm pt / 11 pm et

CONTEST UPDATE
It's only the first week and already we can throw the notion of a perfect tournament out the window.  With the larger glut of entries at the bottom of the table, a few have separated themselves at the top:

MATCHDAY 1
Difference	Entries
1	mulliganl, Tuscan
2	tmcmurph, ThiKuBC, Drew Shaw, Diego R, Casual Soccer Fan
3	Benjamin Massey, Theo Gauthier, Scott Bennett, Duane Rollins, Keano
4	Jamonty, jzpassion4footy, KodiakTFC, Matt, Max, zooko62000, MikeP, Pejnam, AllonThePitch
5	Sam, Mr Impact, Yvan, Soka, Kevin Elder, coxon, Clayton Annis, LUFC, Free Kick, Russell Referee, Duncan Fletcher, Latetedefred, StartingEleven, Kapoue, B_Like_Fonz
6	Papae Noel, Scottie, Yielly, TorontoSubbuteo, KZ

Co-defending champ Casual Soccer Fan is not far off in a 5-way tie for third, but Voyageurs board regulars mulliganl and Tuscan share top honours after week 1.

You can view all the entries here.