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Montreal Impact 2 – Toronto FC 1
Impact remains perfect to start the season; Toronto stuck on one win
The Prelude to Battle
In their home opener, the Montreal Impact played host to Canadian rivals Toronto FC as part of Major League Soccer's rivalry weekend. The Olympic Stadium, with 37 896 people, was the venue.
Impact head coach Marco Schällibaum made one switch to his starting XI. Andrés Romero made his first start of the season as a right midfielder. The rest of the squad made their third straight starts.
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Toronto FC kept the same formation and lineup that earned them a win last weekend against Sporting Kansas City. Head coach Ryan Nelson continued to use the 4-4-1-1 set up with Robert Earnshaw leading the attack. Joe Bendik made his third straight start in goal.
The Opening 45
Montreal almost took an early lead after controlling the opening minutes.
In the fourth minute, Romero received a long ball on the left side of the Toronto penalty area. His lay-off header to Di Vaio resulted in a decent shot on goal from the Italian. Bendik made a fingertip stop to deny the opportunity.
There was some concern from the home side after Nesta seemed to have picked up a slight knock. Dennis Iapichino came in to replace the 36-year-old in the 12th minute. An abductor injury was confirmed following the match.
Toronto had their first chance around the half hour mark. Newcomer John Bostock recovered a ball inside the Montreal half and squared it to Hogan Ephraim. Ephraim's first-touch set him free inside the Impact box, where he attempted to feed Robert Earnshaw on the six-yard-box. Jeb Brovsky made a last minute interception with his slide tackle.
In the 32nd minute, the first of two penalty calls of the match was awarded. Romero controlled a long ball on the right side when he made contact with Ashtone Morgan inside the TFC box. Referee Baldomero Toledo awarded the spot kick. Patrice Bernier, who led the league last year from the spot, made no mistake striking it low and away from Bendik.
Ninety seconds before halftime, Montreal doubled the lead. Davy Arnaud dribbled untouched down the center of the pitch and sent a perfect through ball in Di Vaio's path. Di Vaio side-stepped the keeper and fired top corner on the empty goal.
Despite an average opening 45 minutes, the Impact were ahead by two.
The Second Half
Toronto FC came out strong in the second half.
In the 52' minute, Ephraim made the most of an almost ruined TFC attack. After a Perkins turnover, Reggie Lambe attempted to square a ball for Ephraim just inside the Impact penalty area. The ball rolled behind to Bostock, whose deflected shot gave Ephraim an open volley from the penalty spot. The ball smashed off the crossbar.
One minute later, another Perkins turnover gave Earnshaw an open look at goal. The Welshman's low corner blast was expertly stopped by a diving Perkins.
In the 67th minute, Toronto would get their penalty. Dennis Iapichino tangled up with Terry Dunfield inside the area just as the Impact secured possession following an interception. Earnshaw knocked in his second spot kick goal of the season.
The only remaining chance went to Montreal in the 88th minute. Felipe beat Darren O'Dea on the left flank and went with Di Vaio on a two-on-one against Dunfield. Felipe kept the ball and fired a rocket wide of the goal.
The score stayed the same at the final whistle. Montreal picks up their third win in as many matches and stays top of the table in the Eastern Conference.
Post-Match Reaction
After two wins coming into this match, Impact coach Schällibaum says his side are not used to being the favourites.
"When you have six points, you have the
favourite's role," he said. "It's new for these guys. We have 40,000
people there and it was a little bit too much for the team. But, we won
and that's the important thing."
Despite the win, the Impact dressing room was
quiet. Schällibaum says his players believed they could have been much
better.
"We're not happy with the last 30 minutes and
how we closed out the game, but we're happy to get three points," said
defender Jeb Brovsky. "We always know it's not going to be the most
beautiful thing in the world, but it's three points."
In response to Montreal's slow second half,
goalkeeper Troy Perkins says the team has to keep up their level of play
for the entire match.
"I think we got too lackadaisical and little too
comfortable," he said. "We have to be a little more professional and
handle the first 15 minutes a lot better than we did."
In all three matches, Montreal has been finding a
way to the goal and has made the most of their opportunities. They have
five goals in three matches so far.
"We created some chances; every game we create
chances," said goal scorer Patrice Bernier. "If it was just the penalty
and one shot, I'd be worried. But, we did well in the first half. It was
a game that we didn't play for 90 minutes to the same tempo."
Toronto FC did not sit back after going two-nil
down. Defender Hassoun Camara expected a strong TFC side, but feels his
side could have been more organized.
"They [Toronto FC] have a good team," he said
following the game. "People think that it will be easy to play against
Toronto, but we knew it would be a tough game. We fought together, but
we are a little disappointed because we know as a team we can keep the
ball more and cause more problems."
The Final Word: The Impact make the most of few chances; Toronto struggle in attacking third
Neither side could be happy about their performance in this match. Both Montreal and Toronto were mediocre defensively and struggled transitioning from the back to the front.
The Impact were more successful dictating play in the first half, but weren't able to really dominate the match.
The ball was stuck in the midfield for most the opening half. Neither side was able get through a very congested midfield. Most attacks came from the flanks and were largely unsuccessful.
Montreal made the most of a questionable penalty kick and were able to find a second before the break. Neither club had many chances to score, however the Impact were proficient and scored their two. Toronto failed to convert on their best chance of the half.
Being two goals down at the break, the Reds had no choice but to come out firing in the second half. It should have paid off after two massive chances inside the first 20 minutes, but problems in-front of goal proved costly.
The Impact struggled for most of the second half and Toronto should have taken advantage this. Montreal made some careless mistakes in their own defensive third and looked shaky. When they had the ball, the home side failed to control the pace and this allowed Toronto to almost find an equalizer.
The midfield was the biggest problem for each team. On Montreal's side, the team was able to hold TFC off in the middle for a few times, but were beaten more times than not. When the Impact had the ball, Bernier would often start the transition. With only one striker up front, the team tried to build up through the middle, but came up short many times.
Toronto had a similar problem. They let the Impact down the middle a bit too easily, but were able to regroup most times. In possession, the Reds looked to play the flanks after having trouble down the center. Also with one man up top, Toronto ran into the same scenario as their rivals. The front man was often isolated and well covered giving the team few options.
The difference in this match came to efficiency. With two questionable penalties cancelling each other out, Montreal found the target on seven of their nine attempts. Toronto hit the goal three times on 12 attempts. A lapse at the back for TFC was all it took for Montreal to come away with the three points.
Both sides have some work to do ahead of their next matches. This was Montreal's worst performance of the young season, but they were still able to come out with three points, something which rarely happened last season. Toronto has to make the most of their two week break and come back refreshed at home against the LA Galaxy at the end of the month.
Montreal Impact Line-up
1 Perkins
5 Brovsky
14 Nesta
13 Ferrari
6 Camara
8 Bernier
31 Pisanu
7 Felipe
22 Arnaud
15 Romero
9 Di Vaio
Toronto FC Lineup
12 Joe Bendik
27 Richard Eckersley
3 Danny Califf
48 Darren O’Dea
5 Ashtone Morgan
19 Reggie Lambe
23 Terry Dunfield
7 John Bostock
25 Jeremy Hall
31 Hogan Ephraim
10 Robert Earnshaw
Substitutions: (12) Iapichino in for Nesta; (60) Bekker in for Hall; (65) Russell in for Morgan; (72) Warner in for Pisanu; (84) Osorio in for Califf; (85) Nyassi in for Romero
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