2003 Open Canada Cup
# 2003 Open Canada Cup

The 2003 Open Canada Cup was the 6th edition of the Canadian Professional Soccer League's open league cup tournament running from mid May through early September. London City defeated Metro Lions 4-2 in a penalty shootout in the final played at Cove Road Stadium, London, Ontario. The victory gave London their first piece of silverware and brought an end to the Ottawa Wizards Canada Cup dynasty. The 2003 edition of the Canada Cup was a historical milestone achieved by the CPSL by opening the tournament to all Canadian professional and amateur clubs in order to provide a potential candidate for the CONCACAF Champions' Cup and a $10,000 reward for the champion. The last time a Canadian club competed in the Champions' Cup was in the 1976 CONCACAF Champions' Cup represented by Toronto Italia of the National Soccer League the predecessor league of the CPSL.

The tournament featured several clubs from the Ontario League, Ottawa Carleton Soccer League, Western Ontario League, and the Ligue de Soccer Elite Quebec. The Ontario amateur clubs began the tournament in the preliminary rounds and the CPSL & LSEQ clubs were given a bye to the second round. While defending champions Ottawa Wizards received an automatic bye to the quarterfinals. For the second straight year London City were awarded the hosting rights to the finals which granted them a wild card match if they were defeated in the earlier rounds. Despite the CPSL's successful attempt in organizing a national tournament the competition was without controversy. The controversy stemmed from a dispute involving Ottawa Wizards with the CPSL's board of directors over the hosting rights for the finals. After failing to confirm their participation in the later rounds of the tournament the league removed Ottawa from the competition, and in return Ottawa threatened to obtain an injunction. The dispute eventually reached the Superior Court of Justice which ruled in favor of the CPSL decision, and allowed the tournament to precede without the participation of Ottawa.

## Qualification

| Enter in Preliminary Round | Enter in Second Round | Enter in Quarter-final |
| - | - | - |
| OSL/OCSL/WOSL 5 teams/1 team/2 teams | CPSL/LSEQ 12 teams/1 team | CPSL 1 team |
| Ontario Soccer League Real Richmond Hill Toronto Benfica Toronto Peniche Whitby Iroquois SC Woodbridge Azzuri Ottawa Carleton Soccer League Kanata Western Ontario Soccer League AEK London Exeter Centennials | Canadian Professional Soccer League Brampton Hitmen Durham Flames Hamilton Thunder Laval Dynamites London City Metro Lions Mississauga Olympians North York Astros St. Catharines Wolves Toronto Croatia Toronto Supra Vaughan Sun Devils Ligue de Soccer Elite Quebec FC Levski Montreal | Canadian Professional Soccer League Ottawa Wizards |

## Final

| GK | 21 | Haidar Al-Shaibani | |
| - | - | - | - |
| RB | 2 | Erald Pope |
| CB | 34 | Marco Peeters | 121' |
| LB | 6 | Justin Medeiros |
| RM | 8 | Gentian Dervishi | |
| CM | 24 | Tonino Commisso | (c) |
| CM | 5 | Mark Boyd |
| LM | 19 | Jeff Russell | |
| ST | 10 | Andrew Loague | 97' |
| CF | 20 | Ermal Murataj | |
| ST | 11 | Eris Tafaj | |
| Substitutes: ||
| DF | 3 | Erik Elmauer | 97' |
| MF | 12 | Ken Kopko | |
| ST | 18 | Jermaine Shakes | |
| MF | 26 | Keith Andrew | |
| MF | 35 | Luan Jonuzi | 121' |
| Manager: ||
| Harry Gauss ||
| GK | 25 | Gregory Drakes | |
| RB | 14 | Kevin Ricketts |
| CB | 16 | O'Neil Brown (c) |
| LB | 4 | Jason Baker |
| RM | 12 | Michael Levkov | |
| CM | 20 | Maxim Dorneval | 72' |
| CM | 8 | Kareem Reynolds |
| CM | 7 | Caswain Mason | 117' |
| LM | 9 | Darryl Gomez | |
| ST | 19 | Craig Patton | |
| ST | 10 | Hayden Fitzwilliams | |
| Substitutes: ||
| DF | 13 | Anton Skerritt | 117' |
| MF | 22 | Christopher Clarke | |
| FW | 5 | Ilan Friedman | |
| MF | 6 | Marko Janjicek | 72' |
| Manager: ||
| Goran Miscevic ||

Man of the Match:

    Justin Medeiros (London City)
* Assistant referees:
* Amato DeLuca
* Justin Tasev
* Fourth official:
* Vito Curalli

## Top scorers

| Position | Player | Club | Goals |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Craig Patton | Metro Lions | 4 |
| 2 | Eris Tafaj | London City | 3 |
| | Darryl Gomez | Metro Lions | 3 |
| | Andrew Loague | London City | 3 |
