2015 Canadian Championship

The 2015 Canadian Championship (officially the Amway Canadian Championship for sponsorship reasons) was a soccer tournament hosted and organized by the Canadian Soccer Association. It was the eighth edition of the annual Canadian Championship, and took place in the cities of Edmonton, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver in 2015. The participating teams were Ottawa Fury FC and FC Edmonton of the North American Soccer League, the second-level of the Canadian Soccer Pyramid, and Montreal Impact, Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC of Major League Soccer, the first-level of Canadian club soccer. Montreal Impact were the two-time defending champions.

2015 Canadian Championship
2015 Amway Canadian Championship (in English)
Championnat Canadien Amway 2015 (in French)
CountryCanada
DatesApril 22 – August 26, 2015
Teams5
ChampionsVancouver Whitecaps FC (1st title)
Runners-upMontreal Impact
Matches played8
Goals scored25 (3.13 per match)
Attendance88,844 (11,106 per match)
Top goal scorer(s)Tomi Ameobi (4 goals)
George Gross Memorial TrophyRussell Teibert
← 2014
2016 →

The winner, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, were awarded the Voyageurs Cup and will become Canada's entry into the Group stage of the 2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League. This is a permanent change from procedure used in the past, where the Canadian Champion qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League beginning the same year (in this case, 2015–16).

The tournament moved to an April–August timeframe from its usual April–June timeframe[1] to accommodate the schedule of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup held in Canada. It was permanently moved to a June/July timeframe in 2016.[2]

Qualified teams
Team League Position Appearance
Vancouver Whitecaps FC MLS 9th 8th
Toronto FC MLS 13th 8th
Montreal Impact MLS 19th 8th
Ottawa Fury FC NASL 6th 1st
FC Edmonton NASL 9th 5th

Bracket

The three Major League Soccer and two NASL Canadian clubs are seeded according to their final position in 2014 league play, with both NASL clubs playing in the preliminary round, the winner of which advance to the semifinals.[1]

All rounds of the competition are played via a two-leg home-and-away knock-out format. The higher seeded team has the option of deciding which leg it played at home. The team that scores the greater aggregate of goals in the two matches advances. Vancouver Whitecaps FC, was declared champion and earned the right to represent Canada in the 2016–17 CONCACAF Champions League.[2]

Each series is a two-game aggregate goal series with the away goals rule.

Preliminary round Semifinals Final
               
3 Montreal Impact (a) 1 2 3
2 Toronto FC 0 3 3
3 Montreal Impact 2 0 2
1 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 2 4
FC Edmonton 3 3 6
Ottawa Fury FC 1 1 2
1 Vancouver Whitecaps FC[lower-alpha 1] 1 2 3
4 FC Edmonton 1 1 2
  1. Although Vancouver was originally scheduled to host the second leg, the order of legs were reversed as heavy snow caused the match in Edmonton to be postponed.

Matches

Preliminary round
Ottawa Fury FC1–3FC Edmonton
Oliver 1' Report Fordyce 83'
Laing 87'
Ameobi 90+4'
Attendance: 2,402
Referee: Geoff Gamble
FC Edmonton3–1Ottawa Fury FC
Ameobi 9'
Nyassi 15'
Fordyce 81' (pen.)		 Report Wiedeman 32'
Attendance: 1,858
Referee: Drew Fischer

FC Edmonton won 6–2 on aggregate.

Semifinals
Montreal Impact1–0Toronto FC
McInerney 68' Report
Attendance: 12,518
Toronto FC3–2Montreal Impact
Altidore 22'
Cheyrou 56'
Giovinco 58'		 Report Cooper 25'
Oduro 84'
Attendance: 21,069[4]
Referee: Mathieu Bourdeau

3–3 on aggregate. Montreal Impact won on away goals.

FC Edmonton1–2Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Ameobi 90+1' (pen.) Report Morales 9' (pen.)
Laba 90+7'
Attendance: 3,803[5]

Vancouver won 3–2 on aggregate.

  1. ^
    Edmonton had originally been scheduled to host the first leg of the semi-finals against Vancouver in Edmonton on May 6, 2015 but the match was postponed due to snow.[6]

Final
Montreal Impact2–2Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Ciman 84'
Jackson-Hamel 85'		 Report Mattocks 65'
Morales 72'
Attendance: 12,395
Referee: David Gantar
Vancouver Whitecaps FC2–0Montreal Impact
Rivero 40'
Parker 53'		 Report
Attendance: 19,616

Vancouver won 4–2 on aggregate.

Goalscorers
Rank Player Team Goals
1 England Tomi AmeobiFC Edmonton 4
2 Northern Ireland Daryl FordyceFC Edmonton 2
Chile Pedro MoralesVancouver Whitecaps FC
4 United States Jozy AltidoreToronto FC 1
France Benoît CheyrouToronto FC
Belgium Laurent CimanMontreal Impact
United States Kenny CooperMontreal Impact
Italy Sebastian GiovincoToronto FC
Canada Anthony Jackson-HamelMontreal Impact
Ghana Gershon KoffieVancouver Whitecaps FC
Argentina Matías LabaVancouver Whitecaps FC
Jamaica Lance LaingFC Edmonton
Jamaica Darren MattocksVancouver Whitecaps FC
United States Jack McInerneyMontreal Impact
The Gambia Sainey NyassiFC Edmonton
Ghana Dominic OduroMontreal Impact
Brazil OliverOttawa Fury FC
United States Tim ParkerVancouver Whitecaps FC
Uruguay Octavio RiveroVancouver Whitecaps FC
United States Andrew WiedemanOttawa Fury FC

References
  1. "Schedule for 2015 Amway Canadian Championship set" (Press release). Canadian Soccer Association. February 4, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  2. "Canada Soccer announces move to new time-frame for future Amway Canadian Championships" (Press release). Canadian Soccer Association. March 21, 2014. Retrieved October 18, 2014.
  3. "Canada Soccer confirms Amway Canadian Championship kick off times" (Press release). Canadian Soccer Association. April 9, 2015. Retrieved April 19, 2015.
  4. "Match Timeline". mlssoccer.com. Soccer United Marketing LLC. May 13, 2015. Archived from the original on May 16, 2015.
  5. "Eddies Fall Short 2-1 In Dramatic ACC Semifinal Thriller". fcedmonton.com. May 21, 2015. Archived from the original on May 21, 2015. Retrieved May 21, 2015.
  6. "Storify: Snowed out in Edmonton". Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Retrieved May 10, 2015.
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