Defending Canadian champions were eliminated in the semi-finals of the national tournament on Wednesday following a stinging 4-0 loss to Toronto FC at BMO Field.

Ayo Akinola drove the first nails into the coffin for CF Montreal by scoring Toronto FC’s first two goals, one in each of the two halves against James Pantemis.

Within three minutes late in the game, Jesus Jimenez and Alejandro Pozuelo sealed the fate of CF Montreal.

With this triumph, Toronto FC will advance to the Canadian Championship final in July. He will face the winner of the duel presented Wednesday evening between York United, a club of the Canadian Premier League, and the Vancouver Whitecaps.

For its part, CF Montreal will be back in MLS mode on Saturday at Stade Saputo against Charlotte FC.

Toronto stands out

It didn’t take long to see scoring opportunities. After three minutes, each of the two formations had attempted a shot.

Even before the first minute was over, Jayden Nelson was able to infiltrate the right flank of the Montreal defense to make a quality shot that ended up on the vertical rod, to the left of Pantemis.

During the third minute of play, Samuel Piette threatened the fortress of Quentin Westberg, but his shot flew over the horizontal bar.

For the next 35 minutes, offensive action was scarce until Toronto struck almost unexpectedly in the 40th.

After some rough play by the Bleu-blanc-noir in the central zone, Toronto FC was able to orchestrate a push into Montreal territory.

Akinola finished the sequence by deflecting a pass from Luca Petrasso into the back of the net, despite Pantemis diving to his left.

From then on, the Toronto FC players dominated the game until the final whistle of the first half.

Pantemis had to stop shots from Nelson and Akinola, the first in the 44th minute and the second during stoppage time.

It is without forgetting the beautiful slide of Rudy Camacho in the penalty area a few moments earlier to deprive Nelson of another opportunity to score.

Nancy started the second half by sending Kei Kamara and Ahmed Hamdi into the fray to replace Zorhan Bassong and Mathieu Choinière, respectively.

However, it was Toronto FC who scored the next goal. Once again, Akinola found the back of the net with a right-footed shot from outside the penalty area in the 54th minute.

Jimenez and Pozuelo destroyed the last hopes that could remain in the Montreal camp by hitting the target in the 75th and 78th.