There is little doubt that Vancouver and Toronto are the two epicentres of Canadian soccer.
The vast majority of national team players over the years have come from one of the two metropolitan regions, both were amongst the cities with clubs still standing at the end of the NASL era, and they are the only two Canadian cities to ever win the championship of an American D1 league.
For years, Vancouver was where the national team most often played. Now, BMO Field provides a venue that can host the world. Although fans in both cities like to claim that they are the true heart and soul of Canadian fandom, the truth is both have merit in their argument – Vancouver stuck with it when it all seemed bleak, Toronto proved that D1 soccer could draw in this country.
Through the years the two cities have faced off hundreds of times in games of varying importance. When the time came for Vancouver to book its first ever MLS game, it was only logical that it would be Toronto that should pay the visit.
Although neither city wants to admit it, and both might argue that another city is a bigger rival (Montreal for Toronto, Seattle or Portland for Vancouver), they are as linked as any two cities in the world of football.
And after all those games, and all the time that has passed, they will take to the pitch tomorrow for what is likely the biggest match they have ever played.
[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
No, really.
When you look through the archives there are really only a handful of games that are even in the same conversation. They met twice in NASL playoff action, but never after the first round of the playoffs. Vancouver won the first meeting in 1978 by beating Toronto 4-0. The Blizzard returned the favour in 1983 in what must have been an epic three game series (0-1, 4-3, 1-0).
There is little doubt that those games would have been special and that the fans that were there must have desperately wanted to win them. But, as stated, they were early in the playoffs and there were still other clubs in the way of a championship.
That wasn’t the case in 1991 when the two biggest names of the short lived Canadian Soccer League met in the championship game. As was often the case in the CSL era, that day proved to be Vancouver’s, with the 86ers taking the title in a 5-3 thriller.
That was the only time silverware was on the line at the end of Van City v T.O. – until tomorrow.
The difference now there is something else on the line too – the CONCACAF Champions League spot. And that makes the difference. Not only is there the fleeting joy of a trophy up for grabs, but also something more tangible.
So, if you are headed to the stadium tomorrow be cognizant of just how special the game is. The most special ever, even