Whitecaps, CF Montreal draw first leg of semifinal

Vancouver Whitecaps 1-1 CF Montreal

VANCOUVER, BC–For Vancouver Whitecaps to reach their fifth successive Canadian Championship Final, they will have to win at Stade Saputo on September 16th after playing CF Montreal to a 1-1 draw in the first leg at BC Place on Wednesday. The other semifinal first leg between CPL sides FC Supra du Quebec and Forge FC of Hamilton also ended 1-1 in Laval. The return leg of that semifinal will be September 15th in Hamilton.

CF Montreal took the lead on 15 minutes after a takeaway at the center line. Daniel Pereira caught Issac Boehmer off his line and the former’s shot from just inside the halfway line went in. Montreal had two goals disallowed for offside.

Apart from those chances, it was all Vancouver as they pressed for an equalizer. They would get that equalizer in the 72nd minute as Bruno Caicedo made a run down the flank and sent a low cross into the path of Ryan Gauld for the finish. Caicedo had a chance to put the Whitecaps ahead, but Sebastian Breza came out and successfully denied him. Breza would make a key save a few minutes later on Jeevan Badwal and preserve parity heading to the return leg.

Both teams return to league play on Saturday. Montreal is at Philadelphia Union (7:30pm ET, Apple TV), while Vancouver hosts St. Louis (now with Rafael Navvaro) at 7:30pm PT (Apple TV).

Photos by Gerrit te Hennepe