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Posted by
Steve Bottjer,
June 28, 2012
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@bottjerRNO
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Toronto FC 3 – 0 Montreal Impact
The Prelude to Battle
The Montreal Impact and Toronto FC renewed their rivalry with their fourth match of 2012 with a midweek clash at Stade Saputo on Wednesday night. In the previous three encounters, Montreal delivered a decisive win over Toronto in the league, while a draw and win over the Impact in the other two fixtures was enough to see Toronto eliminate Montreal from the 2012 Canadian Championship.
While Toronto was coming off two matches in which they had to settle for draws due to last minute defensive breakdowns, Montreal came into this match with an excellent record at home, where the team had been pretty much unbeatable.
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This fixture also marked the debut of Montreal’s first Designated Player, Marco Di Vaio. The Serie A veteran and former Italian International brings an excellent pedigree as a goal scorer and many pundits expect that his signing could ultimately end up being the move that could spur Montreal to a playoff appearance in their first year in the league.
That said, Toronto came into this match with the services of the hottest DP in the league in the form of Danny Koevermans, who entered playing having scored five goals in his last five matches.
The Opening Forty-Five
This one kicked off looking like it had the makings of goalfest, as Toronto almost opened the scoring in the 1st minute of play when TFC striker Ryan Johnson was stopped in close by an excellent reaction save by Impact keeper Donovan Ricketts.
In the early going, Montreal looked they were going to pick up right where they had left off in their last match against Houston, Di Vaio, Felipe and the Impact pushing forward with a clear intent. Impact midfielder Lamar Neagle had Montreal’s best scoring chance of the half when he blasted a shot from distance just inches over the net of TFC keeper Milos Kocic.
Neither side would dominate the initial forty-five minutes, as scoring chances were few and far between after the first fifteen minutes of play.
The biggest fireworks of the opening half came in the 25th minute when Impact defender Hassoun Camara attempted a bicycle kick in the Toronto box and ended up delivering a karate kick directly to face of TFC right back Jeremy Hall. While unintentional, Camara earned a yellow card and Hall showed excellent toughness in shrugging off the kick and playing out the first half even though he later took a cross to the face a few minutes after the initial shock to his system.
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I had a feeling @torontofc would not leave empty handed, but didn't see a 3-0 scoreline vs. @impactmontreal. #TFC responding to new coach.
- @Nigel_Reed |
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The Second Half
Hall was replaced by Nick Soolsma to start the second half on a move that saw Richard Eckersley move to right back and Torsten Frings taking up a place in central defence.
The second half would be all Toronto FC, as Torsten Frings and Ryan Johnson showed excellent leadership to lead their team to a near dominating final forty-five minutes of play.
Toronto opened the scoring in the 52nd minute after Johnson had earned his team a foul just outside the Montreal penalty area. Fring stepped up a delivered a blistering free kick shot for his first MLS goal.
With Montreal pressing for an equalizer, the Reds doubled their lead in the 72nd minute when a Johnson delivered a fantastic chip with two defenders in front of him that beat Ricketts in the top right hand corner.
With Toronto having given up two goals leads in their last two matches, the visiting team did not sit back and continued to press forward and put Montreal back on their heels.
TFC sealed the win in the 78th minute when Johnson set up fullback Ashtone Morgan, who then proceeded to deliver a pinpoint cross that a hard charging Danny Koevermans finished in an authoritative fashion.
The Final Word: A night of firsts for Mariner and TFC
With the victory, Toronto FC ruined Marco Di Vaio’s MLS debut and became only the second team to beat Montreal at home in the MLS this year. On a night of firsts for TFC, the Reds earned their first MLS road win of 2012 and picked up both their first win and their first clean sheet with Paul Mariner as Head Coach.
Aside from Toronto’s performance away against Los Angeles in the Champions League in March, this was TFC’s best performance of the season. While Montreal actually had more possession in this game, Toronto delivered a truly complete performance and was the better team in pretty much every facet of the game. Toronto’s offense continued to click under Mariner and all three goals were of a very high quality, as Ryan Johnson and Danny Koevermans continued to show that when they are on their game, they are a top notch strike pair with intimidating size, physicality and finishing ability. The back line and team defense were solid as well, as defenders like Morgan, Doneil Henry, Richard Eckersley and Logan Emory kept things simple and compact on the back line.
Ultimately, this match was won in the midfield, as Torsten Frings, Terry Dunfield and Julian de Guzman did an excellent job of shutting down the much heralded and very athletic trio of Felipe, Patrice Bernier and Collen Warner. TFC attacking midfielder Eric Avila also delivered a strong two way game and made a number of strong defensive plays to support the three defensive midfielders Toronto fielded. Add in another strong performance by keeper Milos Kocic, who came up big when Montreal was pressing forward in the hope of getting back into the game, and you had a win that was truly the sum of the performances of every player that took to the pitch for TFC.
This victory by Toronto should not come as a major surprise to those that watched Toronto’s previous two matches that ended in disappointing draws. The Reds had already shown in those games that an offense that had been on life support for much of the season was now back on track. The midfield foursome of Frings, Dunfield, De Guzman and Avila also illustrated in those games that they had the experience and quality to win the midfield battles and deliver quality set up play for the offense and an excellent shield for the back line. The only real differences in this game was that Toronto both avoided glaring defensive breakdowns and did not sit back and attempt to simply absorb pressure when the opposition made a run to get back in the game. There has been clear improvement under Mariner and the three points earned in his match were a just reward for both the Head Coach and his players.
While Montreal Head Coach Jesse Marsch will undoubtedly be very unhappy with his team’s performance in this match, this game did have something of a transitional feel to it, as Designated Player Marco Di Vaio played his first MLS game after a six week layoff from competitive football and really did not look like he was match fit or in tune with his new teammates. Di Vaio is a world class player and Marsch has shown himself to be an excellent manager, so there is little doubt that the former Italian International will have a much greater impact in future fixtures.
Generally, it was a muted performance by the entire Montreal team and you have to wonder if they might have been a little overconfident when considering TFC’s struggles and their own impressive record when playing at home. Whether the end result was due to an off night by the entire team, the excellence of TFC or a combination of both variables, there is no reason to doubt that Marsch will straighten his team out and the Impact will be back on form on Saturday.
TFC Line-up
30 Kocic
25 Hall
27 Eckersley
2 Emory
5 Morgan
22 Frings
6 De Guzman
8 Avila
23 Dunfield
9 Johnson
14
Koevermans
Substitutions:
(46) Soolsma in for Hall; (57) Henry in for De Guzman; (73) Lambe in for Avila.
Montreal Impact Line-up
1 Ricketts
15 Brovsky
3 Thomas
6 Camara
19 Valentin
25 Neagle
18 Warner
8 Bernier
22 Arnaud
7 Felipe
9 Di Vaio
Substitutions:
(55) Nyassi in for Di Vaio; (65) Sebrango in for Valentin; (76) Ubiparipovic in for Neagle.
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