Toronto FC stuns Vancouver with late goal to win Canadian Championship

Will Johnson scored a goal late in added time as Toronto FC snatched the Voyageurs Cup out of the Vancouver Whitecaps' hands on Wednesday.

The game ended with Vancouver ahead 2-1, but the two-game, Amway Canadian Champion series ended in a 2-2 draw with Toronto winning the Voyageurs Cup on aggregate due to its away goal.

"We put everything into it," said Johnson, a Canadian international. "We played our strongest lineup every single game. We went for it."

"You just take a chance," Johnson said about the goal. "When the ball was in the air I had a good feeling it might bounce, something is going to happen.

"I just wanted a look. I just put my foot through it, tried to connect well. Obviously it happened at a great moment for us and our club."

Defender Tim Parker, in the 68th minute, and midfielder Nicolas Mezquida, in the 47th minute, had given Vancouver a 2-0 lead. The crowd of 19,376 at Vancouver's BC Place were on their feet convinced the Whitecaps would defend the title they won last year.

Toronto opened the final with a 1-0 win at BMO Field on June 21. Forward Sebastian Giovinco scored the lone goal in the 43rd minute.

In the second leg, Parker thrilled the crowd with a goal in the 67th minute that started on an innocent looking play. Midfielder Matias Laba lofted a long ball into the box. A streaking Parker took the ball off his chest, then fired a left-footed shot past the Toronto goalkeeper.

Before that, Mezquida put Vancouver on the board in the 47th minute. Just minutes after subbing in for the injured Russell Teibert, he took a cross from defender Jordan Harvey and headed the ball into the net past Bono's outstretched fingers. 

The score was 0-0 at halftime, but the Whitecaps had several good scoring chances.

The best came in the 40th minute when Laba found the ball at his feet in the box and blasted a shot, which Bono dived to stop.

Atomic Ant nearly strikes

Giovinco, who is also known as the "Atomic Ant," had two good chances for the Reds.

Waston earned a yellow card for a hard foul on the Italian in the 33rd minute. Giovinco took the free kick and curved a ball that Ousted managed to stop.

In the 10th minute, Giovinco finished a long run with a low, hard shot that just missed the goal.

The Whitecaps advanced to the final with a 3-2 aggregate victory over the Ottawa Fury. The Whitecaps lost the opening game 2-0 in Ottawa but demolished the Fury at home at week later.

Toronto opened their semifinal series against Montreal with a 4-2 home victory, then settled for a 0-0 draw on the road to advance to the final.

TFC played without goalkeeper Clint Irwin who will be out six weeks with a quadriceps strain suffered last weekend.