RECAP + HIGHLIGHTS: York United power past FC Laval in emphatic CanChamp win

York United are moving on to the quarter-finals of this year's Canadian Championship, after they defeated FC Laval 5-0 on Tuesday night at York Lions Stadium. In a result that equalled their largest ever margin of victory, York took some time to find their rhythm but ultimately found a way to open the floodgates in the second half, and thereby book a date with Atlético Ottawa in the next round.

It wasn't an easy contest at the beginning for the Canadian Premier League side, who had their hands full in the first half especially against a feisty, physical opponent. Laval, the reigning Ligue1 Québec champions, came to Toronto with a squad full of talent, including former Montréal Carabins U SPORTS star Quentin Paumier, as well as a pair of ex-Halifax Wanderers talents in Obeng Tabi and Ludwig Amla.

The opening half hour saw Laval play a compact, well-organized style, crowding the midfield and causing problems for York's build-up. They did well to isolate the home side's central midfielders, leaving either Steffen Yeates or Kembo Kibato without many forward passing options which forced York to play backwards and recycle the ball for long stretches.

Eventually though, York's quality helped them find a way through. On the edge of halftime, Oswaldo León curled a dangerous ball into the penalty area, where Julian Altobelli stopped it dead and turned on the spot to fire it with his right foot, scoring his sixth goal in six games (all competitions) to start the season.

Just as Laval seemed like they'd be able to take the one-goal deficit into the break, though, York struck another critical blow just seconds before the half; this time, Orlando Botello sent it across the box to where his opposite-sided wingback, Max Ferrari, was running in just the right spot to head it in at the near post.

The deluge continued almost immediately after the interval, as York seemed to have figured out their opponent and dampened their confidence. Adonijah Reid entered the game for Altobelli at halftime, and he needed just six and a half minutes to find the net as Massimo Ferrin found him in front of an open goal.

Bryan Rosa added the fourth goal shortly after, picking up the ball between Laval's centre-backs and driving toward thebox. His shot wasn't the most powerful offering, but it skipped through the goalkeeper's hands and trickled in.

The final blow came with around 10 minutes to play, when York added a fifth goal via a Massimo Ferrin penalty kick.

In the end, York United were the comprehensively better side, although that only truly became clear in the second half -- by which point Laval's realistic hopes of a result were all but dashed.

The stat sheet paints a lopsided picture: York had 21 shots to Laval's six, they won 64 per cent of the duels, and won the expected goals battle 3.8 to 0.84.

Most impressive, perhaps, is York's efficiency -- turning just 28 touches in the box into 21 shots, 11 of them on target (and of course five of them in the back of the net). They also gave Laval no room to breathe on the ball; although the visiting side had a shade under half of the possession, just 36 per cent of those were in the attacking half. Despite an overall passing accuracy of 81.4 per cent, that success rate dropped to 65.6 in York's half (and 55.7 in the final third).

The Nine Stripes also managed to win possession a whopping eight times in Laval's own third of the pitch (five of those by Bryan Rosa, whose workrate in the striker position helped York continuously push the opposition backward).

All that said, credit is due to Laval, who were impressive in the first 40 minutes and seemed truly to be frustrating York with their physicality.

"It's heartbreaking to get so close to halftime against very good opposition," Laval coach Amro Radwan told the media postmatch.

"The boys worked extremely hard to stay compact and denied big chances. We had a few half-chances on the break we couldn't capitalize on. Up to that point we were very confident in our abilities and hoped to show more in the second half. But when you take two goals so late, it changes everything, and then you have to open up. When you open up against opposition like this, you don't need big chances to score. It's heartbreaking. I don't think the boys deserve that scoreline."

There was to be no fairytale upset for the Ligue1 Québec side this year, however.

Instead, it'll be York United who travel once again to the nation's capital for a battle with Atlético Ottawa, which will add a new chapter to what's already budding as one of Canadian soccer's best new rivalries.