- Home
- Premier Soccer Leagues Canada
- Inter Toronto 0-1 CS St-Laurent: CSSL Produces Another Cupset
Photo Credit: John Jacques
Inter Toronto 0-1 CS St-Laurent: CSSL Produces Another Cupset
By It was not a good week for Toronto-based teams in the Canadian Championship.
First, Toronto FC fell to Atletico Ottawa in a shocker, before Woodbridge Strikers followed suit on Friday versus Supra. Now, Inter Toronto is heading out of Canada’s national cup competition.
The CPL side fell 1-0 at home to LS PRO Quebec side CS Saint-Laurent, meaning there are no more teams left based in Canada’s largest city following the opening round.
Both teams came into the match unbeaten on the year. Inter’s most recent showing came in a 4-1 defeat of CPL playoff winners Atletico Ottawa. There were just two changes to that side who started that match, with Julian Altobelli and Tomasz Skublak dropping to the bench for Ollie Bassett and Sebastian Gonzalez.
For St-Laurent, they came into the match with a 2-3-0 record from domestic play. Their only league win from four matches came at the expense of CS LaSalle, who they beat 4-1 in their most recent match.
It only took about 90 seconds for Inter Toronto to have their first chance of the match. Carlos Guzman played the perfect pass into Shola Jimoh, with the winger left one-on-one with Martin Cantona. However, the St-Laurent keeper made the first of his 13 saves.
About 10 minutes later, Juan Cordova was picked out by Max Ferrari. Open in the box, his header was a disappointing one, making it an easy save for Cantona.
The St-Laurent shotstopper was busy throughout the 90 minutes, as expected. He made a double save moments later, keeping out both Ferrari and Cordova. The latter save in particular was impressive, diving to his left to keep his opponent out.
While the visitors did not create much in the first half, they did make the most of their biggest opportunity. The ball went thorugh to Younesse El Mehdi Chibane, who got past his opponent – somehow keeping the ball – before slotting his effort past Diego Urtiaga and in to give St-Laurent a shock lead.
Right from kickoff, Inter went back on the attack. This time, it was Luca Accettola who had the shot. Yet, once more, it was a fairly routine stop for Cantona.
Just before the break, the Frenchman was called into action once more. After St-Laurent failed to clear their lines, the ball fell to Bassett in a promising position. However, the former Pacific and Atletico Ottawa man could only muster a weak shot straight at the keeper.
By the time the referee blew his whistle for the interval, Toronto had amassed 22 shots, with half of them on target. In stark contrast, CSSL had just three attempts, two of which were on goal.
In the second half, the Nine Stripes continued to apply pressure on their guests, having more than 70% of the possession. It took them half of the period to finally have another shot on target, as Julian Altobelli had his shot. Cantona was again equal to it, diving to his right to deny the substitute.
Minutes later, the versatile striker tried his luck from well out. It was a better attempt, forcing the St-Laurent goalkeeper into a diving stop. This time, the crossbar came to the visitor’s rescue, with Cantona tipping the ball onto the frame of the goal and out.
For all of their defending and trying to hold onto their lead, St-Laurent nearly added a second towards the end. Ryan Eid rounded Urtiaga and tried to lay it back to his teammate, but there were enough Toronto players in the box to get the ball cleared.
Inter’s last meaningful chance came five minutes from time. Ferrari’s cross found Skublak, who had come in as a sub. The attacker’s header went just wide of the goal, leaving his side agonizingly close to levelling the score.
CSSL had another opportunity as Aylan Khenoussi was one-on-one with Urtiaga. This time, the goalie was in the right spot to make the save and keep his team in the game.
Two years on from beating HFX Wanderers on penalties, St-Laurent managed to knock out another Canadian Premier League team. Handing Inter their first loss of the year, they will move on to face Forge in the quarterfinals. The Hammers had defeated the Wanderers in their opening round clash on Saturday.
Inter will return to the pitch next Sunday as they go out west to face Pacific, who also lost in the first round of the Canadian Championship. As for St-Laurent, their next game will be back in action next Saturday as they face AS Gatineau in Ligue 1 Quebec.
Header Image Photo Credit: John Jacques
1 Comment
Was disappointed in the result for Inter Toronto. They played well but couldn’t find the back of the net. CS Laurent played very well but there were some good offensive plays that ended in easy saves for the keeper.
Hope that IT uses this result to ignite the rest of their season.