TORONTO - Alan Gordon scored in the first half as Toronto FC clinched a spot in the final round of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship on Wednesday with a 1-0 victory over FC Edmonton.
Toronto, which has won the championship the past two years, won the two-game home-and-home series 4-0 on aggregate after taking the opening game 3-0 in Edmonton on April 27.
FC Edmonton, an expansion team in the North American Soccer League, was reduced to 10 men because of a red card in the 23rd minute. Until that Edmonton had played well before an announced attendance of 17,937 at BMO Field which had large patches of empty seats.
TFC followed that win on Saturday with a non-effort 3-0 loss in a Major League Soccer game in Seattle that head coach Aron Winter referred to as "a bad game."
Edmonton also lost Saturday in its league, 5-0 to the Montreal Impact in its NASL home debut.
The opposing team will be more difficult in the final round. It will either be Vancouver or Montreal who were playing their second game Wednesday as well. Vancouver already holds a victory over Toronto in MLS play.
