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Posted by
Mat Rooney,
June 28, 2017 |
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@rooney_matthew
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It wasn’t pretty but Toronto FC pulled off a last-minute goal to defeat arch-rivals Montreal Impact to win the 2017 Canadian Championship and secure birth in the 2018 CONCACAF Champions’ League. The game was a mixture of great moments, terrible mistakes and a ref who seemed to lose control of the game in the second half.
Much of the first half seemed like Toronto’s game, Sebastian Giovinco and Tosaint Ricketts combo seemed to be working well and had Montreal on almost pure defense. But the combo would fall apart at the last moment with weak finishes and pass attempts by both men. Laurent Ciman and Maxime Crepeau (in a seemingly breakout performance) were pains for Toronto’s attack while Ballou Tabla seemed like a personal nightmare for Raheem Edwards.
The two young Canadians (admittedly Tabla’s loyalties are still unknown) seemed to have very different first halves. Edwards seemed messy and unable to find form while Tabla looked like a star and put Montreal on the board with a beautiful goal.
Both, however, were outdone by Crepeau, who gave coach Mauro Biello a reason to bench Evan Bush for at least the next game. Crepeau amazed with great saves on both Giovinco and Ricketts.
The half came to an aggressive finish with Kyle Fisher ramming into Steven Beitashour at full force. For the foul, Fisher was only given a yellow card. That call shocked many.
Entering the second half, Toronto entered Marko Delgado and Jozy Altidore, who made an immediate impact.
Toronto continued to dominate and regained it’s form quickly, with Altidore, Giovinco and Michael Bradley all looking like beasts on the field. Countering them was fellow beast Ciman, who lead Montreal’s defense in limiting Toronto’s direct chances and when they were able to reach the net Crepeau came up big.
Montreal’s attack seemed lost against Toronto’s midfield and backline. Matteo Mancosu seemed empty and early threat Tabla faded fast.
In the 54th minute, Giovinco finally beat Crepeau to level things up for Toronto and the game got tense. Both teams seemed to be in full-on hate mode and the referee wasn’t helping with questionable calls that included denying Giovinco a penalty shot.
Things reached their peak in the 88th minute when Patrice Bernier fouled Delgado. The resulting called stirred up a near-brawl on the pitch and the ref finally showed a red (an undeserved red) to Bernier. Biello would later accuse the ref of being intimidated by Toronto’s players.
“You can’t get intimidated by players on the field. Players shouldn’t be dictating what the ref’s decision should be. In the end, it’s unacceptable.”
The ref would not regain control of the game, which proceeded to run well over the time he instructed to the timekeeper for added time. This proved beneficial to Toronto.
In the 5th minute of added time, Edwards (having recovered from his early struggles) sent the ball over to Giovinco who sent it passed Crepeau to secure Toronto the title. In the ensuing celebration meet with protest from the frustrated Montreal side.
In addition to the title, Giovinco was given the George Gross Memorial Trophy as MVP of the tournament.
On the whole, it was a very dramatic night and the type of game this championship needs. 26,539 attended this game, a Canadian Championship record, and it would be nice to see more games in this competition reach that level of attendance. What’s good for the profile of the competition and the Voyageurs Cup is good for Canadian soccer.
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