The Whitecaps have a 2-0 edge up ahead of the second leg and we fully expect them to keep that lead and book their place in the Canadian Championship finals.

It was a walk in the park for Vancouver in the first leg. They won 2-0, in Edmonton no less, and now have a firm advantage heading into the second encounter on their own pitch. 

Eric Hassli and Atiba Harris were the goalscorers for the Whitecaps, with Omar Salgado setting up both goals.

The win was Vancouver's fourth straight as they came into the semi-finals having won three straight MLS fixtures. That includes a fantastic 2-1 home win over the San Jose Earthquakes.

Chris Wondolowski had put the Earthquakes up early but Vancouver evened things up with a goal from Gershon Koffie. Then, deep in stoppage time Hassli got on the scoresheet again and gave the Whitecaps the three points. 

Whitecaps in very good form

Now they rest in fourth place in the Western Conference table, behind San Jose, Salt Lake and Seattle.

FC Edmonton is a NASL team and they are struggling big-time this season. Through five league games they have won just once.

The disparity between Edmonton and Vancouver is extremely high and there's little chance we'll be seeing an upset here in the second leg.

The Whitecaps have playmakers galore and there's no way Edmonton will be able to hang. It doesn't even matter if the hosts opt to field a weakened starting XI, which seems extremely likely given the advantage they're holding.

Salgado was the number one overall pick in the MLS draft and the young man is really starting to find his feet in this league. He was recently moved from striker to winger and the results have been very promising so far.

Vancouver also has at least four other guys who are quite dangerous in attack. 

Whitecaps all but a lock for final two 

Sebastien Le Toux, Camilo Sanvezzo, Eric Hassli and Davide Chiumiento have all been legitimate contributors for the Whitecaps this season. There hasn't been room for all of them in the starting XI each week, but that's a good problem to have if you're head coach Martin Rennie. 

Hassli had been struggling to find the back of the net but recently re-found his scoring touch. However, the one to really look out for is Le Toux, a French forward who played for the Philadelphia Union last season. There he had 12 goals and seven assists in 36 appearances in 2011/12.

As a whole the Whitecaps haven't really been able to match their talent to their scoring rate though. In nine league matches they have only nine goals. 

Luckily a strong defense that's allowed only seven goals has saved Vancouver. That's the second-lowest number allowed in the entire MLS behind only Seattle. 

Still, in this second leg I believe the Whitecaps break out and put at least a few past Edmonton. The NASL minnows don't have any answers for the attacking options that Vancouver will send out and the one saving grace for the Whitecaps has been their solid defensive line. 

Long story short, it's going to be another long 90 minutes for Edmonton. 

FREE Pick: Vancouver 3 Edmonton 0