TORONTO, Ontario - The Montreal Impact fell to Canadian rivals Toronto FC on Wednesday, at BMO Field in Toronto, by a 2-0 score in the second leg of the semifinal series of the 2012 Amway Canadian Championship, and is subsequently eliminated from the tournament.
Toronto FC opened the scoring early off of a broken play that bounced to Reggie Lambe in the 2nd minute. His shot from inside the corner of the box deflected behind goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts to his right just inside the far post.
Then, in the 38th minute, a clearing attempt by an Impact defender deflected off of a TFC player right to Ryan Johnson, whose shot bounced around before beating Ricketts to his left.
“I’d like to congratulate Aron Winter and Toronto FC, they were the better team tonight and I wish them the best moving forward,” said Impact head coach Jesse Marsch. “As for us, we weren’t ready for that game. If you show up to a game like that, it doesn’t matter who you are, you won’t win. In the end, we just got out competed.”
“Toronto has a team that has fast guys up top, who can score off the counter,” said defender Jeb Brovsky. “Thankfully Donovan [Ricketts] kept us in it, but we weren’t able to score. This is a good lesson that is coming off a great win against Sporting Kansas City. Nothing is guaranteed and we have to take every opponent seriously.”
Ricketts, who was playing his 12th consecutive game over all competitions, made three key saves to keep the Impact in the game. His first came in the 28th minute, diving to his left following a left-footed half-volley by forward Ryan Johnson. The second came in the 86th minute, when he stopped Jeremy Hall from point blank range, diving to his left. The Jamaican keeper robbed Johnson again, who broke in all alone in stoppage time and fired a one-timer off of a low cross from a two on one break.
TFC played most of the game a man down, losing defender Richard Eckersley in the 16th minute when he fouled Sinisa Ubiparipovic at midfield.
The Impact got a few scoring chances in the second half. In the 53rd minute, Collen Warner played a lateral ball to Davy Arnaud, whose blast from inside the box was stopped by TFC goalkeeper Milos Kocic.
Forward Sanna Nyassi beat his defender down the left flank five minutes later, and played a short cross, far post, where Bernardo Corradi’s header was scooped up by Kocic.
In the 79th minute, midfielder Justin Mapp, who came on at half, fired a left-footed shot from the top of the box that hit the crossbar.
With the loss, the Impact’s unbeaten streak ends at four games over all competition, while its shutout streak ends at 290 minutes.
Including the 0-0 draw in the first leg last Wednesday in Montreal, the Impact is still looking for its first win against TFC in the Canadian Championship (0-6-2).
Highlights: TOR 2, MTL 0
Next games
The club returns to Montreal to meet the LA Galaxy on Saturday at 4pm at Olympic Stadium. Only 5,000 tickets are left for the game versus the reigning MLS Cup Champion. Affordable seats for this game are still available, and tickets can be purchased via admission.com, by calling 1-855-790-1245 or at the Olympic Stadium ticket office. Management recommends that those attending Saturday’s game arrive at least an hour before start time, in order to avoid missing the beginning of the game. Please note that stadium doors open at 2pm ET.
On the following Saturday, May 19, the Impact will play its final game at Olympic Stadium, at 7:30pm, against the New York Red Bulls. On that day, the Impact will be avenging its loss to New York on March 31.
The club will play its first game at Stade Saputo, expanded to 20,341 seats, on June 16 against the Seattle Sounders FC. New 12-game season ticket packages for all matches at Stade Saputo are available via impactmontreal.com, or by calling 514-328-3668.
LINE UPS:
MTL – GK-Donovan Ricketts, D-Jeb Brovsky (Hassoun Camara 75’) , D-Matteo Ferrari, Shavar Thomas (Justin Mapp 45’), Tyson Wahl, M-Sinisa Ubiparipovic, Patrice Bernier (Felipe 45’), (c) Davy Arnaud, Collen Warner ; F–Bernardo Corradi, Sanna Nyassi
Unused Subs: GK – Greg Sutton; D – Nelson Rivas, Lamar Neagle; Justin Braun
TOR – GK – Milos Kocic; D-Richard Eckersley, Adrian Cann, Doneil Henry, Ashtone Morgan; M- (c) Torsten Frings, Julian de Guzman, Eric Avila (Terry Dunfield 57’), Joao Plata (Jeremy Hall 67’); F-Reggie Lambe (Nick Soolsma 73’), Ryan Johnson
GOALS:
TOR – Lambe 2’
TOR – Johnson 38’
CAUTIONS:
MTL – Nyassi 23’
TOR – Cann 41’
EJECTION:
TOR - Eckersley 16’
