VANCOUVER — Ali Ahmed always finds an extra gear in these kind of games.
Not only is the Vancouver Whitecaps midfielder preparing for the Canadian Championship final, but Wednesday's match will also pit him against his hometown team, Toronto FC.
“There is a little bit extra, for sure," said the 23-year-old, who grew up in Toronto and once trialled with the TFC academy.
"It’s the club that I grew up a huge, huge fan of. Now, it’s crazy to say that they’re my rivals. At the end of the day, it’s another game. But playing against your boyhood club is extra special, for sure."
The 'Caps are looking to hoist the Voyagers Cup for the third year in a row, a feat that only one other team has accomplished.
TFC won four times from 2009 through 2012, and three times between 2016 and 2018.
Toronto isn't focused on spoiling Vancouver's three-peat, though.
The team would be equally enthusiastic against any opponent as long as there's a trophy on the line, said head coach John Herdman.
"I think the rivalry piece, it doesn’t matter who’s in front of us. It’s just a cup final," he said. "For us, it’s just eyes on lifting some silverware for this club."
For Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini, the hate that breeds between clubs is part of what makes soccer special, particularly in Canada.
"It's beautiful to have a rivalry. It's beautiful to have someone that on the sports side you don’t like," he said. "I think that's the beauty of soccer, this kind of rivalry. And I think the Canadian Championship is kind of an expression of that."
Vancouver earned its way into the final with a 2-0 aggregate win over Canadian Premier League side Pacific FC in a two-legged semifinal. Toronto edged Forge FC, also of the CPL, 2-2 on away goals.
TFC comes into the final in a similar place the 'Caps were in back in the 2022 tournament, Sartini said. Both had new coaches and were pushing for playoff spots in Major League Soccer.
The mind frame could make Toronto more dangerous than ever, the coach said.
"I think that tomorrow they will come, I would say, even giving 120 per cent, not 100 per cent," he said. "So that’s the reason why I think it’s going to be a very open game and I think we need to be on top of our behaviour, on top of our level if we want to win."
Both sides are coming off league losses, with Toronto dropping a 2-0 decision to the Colorado Rapids on Saturday. The L.A. Galaxy doubled up the Whitecaps 4-2 in a result that snapped Vancouver's five-game unbeaten streak across all competitions.
The 'Caps are 13-9-7 in Major League Soccer play and currently sit seventh in the Western Conference, while TFC occupies eighth in the East with an 11-17-3 record.
One of Toronto's losses was a 4-0 drubbing by the Whitecaps in April.
"I think coming into Vancouver last time, it was pretty humbling," Herdman said. "So I think first things first, coming into a final, those little details need to be right. We’ve been together for a long period of time, I think the team know each other better now and they’ve developed a hunger because they’ve put themselves in this moment."
TFC was a group that was still trying to find its identity as a team in that April matchup, said captain Jonathan Osorio.
"A lot of time has passed, a lot of games have been played," he said. "And both teams, I think are at different points now, as far as it comes to rhythm and their form and what they’re fighting for in the league and things like that. It’s going to be a different game."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 24, 2024.
Gemma Karstens-Smith, The Canadian Press
