Defending champions Toronto FC off and running

Canadian U-20 captain Doneil Henry scored the match winner and striker Andrew Wiedeman added a second as four-time defending champions Toronto FC notched a 2:0 win over Impact Montréal in the first leg of the semi-final of the 2013 Amway Canadian Championship.

Toronto’s win over Montréal on Wednesday 24 April at BMO Field sets up a daunting second-leg challenge for the Impact who will now need to win by at least two goals in regulation time to keep the tie alive.

“We put in a lot of hard work to setup this performance,” said Toronto FC coach Ryan Nelsen.

“Doneil Henry has looked very strong and his goal tonight was the icing on the cake for a solid performance over 93 minutes.

For Impact Montréal coach Marco Schällibaum the loss was the unfortunate result of too many errors by his side.

“We made too many mistakes in the second half and Toronto were the better team,” said Schällibaum.

Match Highlights: Toronto FC 2:0 Impact Montréal

The opening match of the 2013 Amway Canadian Championship featured eight Canadian players. Young Canadian defender Henry scored the game-winning goal and was named man of the match by Sportsnet.

Toronto FC started the match wtih Stefan Frei(c) in goal; Ashtone Morgan, Doneil Henry, Danny Califf and Ryan Richter across the back-line; Kyle Bekker, Jon Osorio, John Bostock and Emery Welshman through the midfield; and Justin Braun and Andrew Wiedeman up front.

Luis Silva and Hogan Emprhaim replaced Bekker and Braun in the 72nd minute.

Wiedeman received a yellow card in the 84th minute.

Impact Montréal started the match wtih Evan Bush in goal; Maxim Tissot, Hassoun Camara, Karl Ouimette and Jeb Brovsky across the back-line; Sanna Nyassi, Calum Mallace, Patrice Bernier (c), Collen Warner and Justin Mapp through the midfield; and Andrew Wenger as the lone attacker.

Andrés Romero replaced Mapp in the 60th minute; Andrea Pisanu replaced Nyassi in the 77th minute.

Calum Mallace received a yellow card in the 55th minute.

The match was played in front of a crowd of 11,043 at BMO Field.

The two teams will next come together for the second leg of the semi-final tie on Wednesday 1 May at Stade Saputo in Montréal (local kick-off 19.45).

The winner of the Toronto-Montréal semi-final will go on to face the winner of the Edmonton-Vancouver tie for the right to hoist the Voyageurs Cup. The winner of the 2013 Amway Canadian Championship will go on to be Canada’s lone representative in the 2013-14 CONCACAF Champions League.