VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Whitecaps are confident they can dig themselves out of another hole.
The Whitecaps face Toronto FC on Wednesday night at BC Place with the Voyageurs Cup on the line. Vancouver lost the opening leg of the two-game aggregate Amway Canadian Championship final to their Major League Soccer rival 1-0 in Toronto last week.
Vancouver found itself in a similar position when it lost the first game of the semifinal 2-0 on the road to the USL's Ottawa Fury. The Whitecpas demolished the Fury 3-0 at home to win the series 3-2 and earn the right to defend the Canadian championship they won last year.
The Whitecaps won't need as many goals to defeat Toronto as they did Ottawa, but they are also playing a much more talented team than the Fury. Vancouver must harness a sense of offensive desperation with the patience to prevent Toronto from scoring an away goal.
"They probably have a bit more quality to punish us if we make mistakes," Whitecaps' midfielder Andrew Jacobson said prior to a training session this week.
"We don't have to score in the first 10 minutes. We don't have to be crazy. If they start hitting us on the counter, and start scoring goals, we're in trouble."
Toronto midfielder Jonathan Osorio said his team can't be timid.
"The start of the game is going to be very important for us," the Brampton, Ont., native said in an interview on the Reds' webpage. "If we can get the ball in their end, and keep it there and take the crowd out of it, we have a really good chance to hold the lead the whole game.
"We have the attacking power to go get a goal and not just sit back."
Away goals count as the tiebreaker in the series. To win, Vancouver must beat Toronto by at least two goals. Toronto can claim the championship with a win, draw or a one-goal loss with at least one away-goal.
Both teams will be lacking key players.
Toronto will be without goalkeeper Clint Irwin who was injured in FC's 3-2 loss in Orlando Saturday. He will be replaced by Alex Bono, who gave up two goals in his first MLS appearance against Orlando.
"He's a young goalkeeper that has had a lot of experience in USL," said Osorio. "I'm sure that helped him a lot.
"I hope he comes into the game and just is himself."
Whitecaps striker Octavio Rivero didn't play in Vancouver's 3-2, come-from-behind win against the Philadelphia Union on Saturday. While the Whitecaps have not said anything official, Rivero is expected to join Colo-Colo in Chile.
The Toronto player the Whitecaps will be paying the most attention to is Sebastian Giovinco. The Italian midfielder, and reigning MLS MVP, scored the winning goal in the 43rd minute in Toronto. He leads the Reds with eight goals and six assists in MLS play.
Gordon Forrest, Vancouver's assistant coach, said the Whitecaps must guard against Giovinco working his magic, but can't lose track of Toronto's other scoring threats.
"They have a lot of good players," said Forrest. "Tactically we have to think about that.
"He could pull our defensive players out of position and somebody else get on the ball. We have to keep concentrating throughout the whole 90 minutes."
The game has special meaning to Russell Teibert. The midfielder from Niagara Falls, Ont., has appeared in 16 games in the Amway series, more than any other player.
"I take pride in being a Canadian," said Teibert, a six-year Whitecaps veteran. "I have been a part of teams in the past with extremely talented players. For a number of reasons, we didn't manage to win this trophy.
"Now we go in as champions. There is pressure with that, but that pressure we can handle."
