Impact 5, TFC 3: Opportunistic Montreal bests Toronto

Rudi Schuller

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Impact 5, TFC 3: Opportunistic Montreal bests Toronto image

TORONTO — It wouldn't be a Toronto FC-Montreal Impact match without high drama, and Wednesday's clash at BMO Field provided it in spades.

An uncharacteristically poor defensive performance by TFC ultimately lead to a 5-3 win for the visiting Impact, but what looked to be a rout for Montreal turned into another classic as Toronto pushed back from a four-goal deficit to make a game of it.

However, some were not convinced that the contest was as close as it ended up.

"Let’s not kid ourselves, the score line can be deceiving in some ways," TFC captain Michael Bradley said, not buying into the late Toronto resurgence. "We go down 2-0 before the game even started, they get a third, we are at 3-1 by halftime. At 3-1 you have a game. [We] make more mistakes and ultimately we gave ourselves another mountain to climb."

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Montreal's Ignacio Piatti and Anthony Jackson-Hamel and TFC's Tosaint Ricketts each scored twice in the eight-goal thriller, which kept the Impact's slim playoff hopes alive and slowed MLS-leading Toronto's chase for several league records.

"We have nothing to lose," Jackson-Hamel said. "We still want to make the playoffs. We are still going to fight until the last game and we are going to give everything."

In addition, the loss was the first at home this year for TFC, which will surely give the Impact reason to smile in a season that has not gone according to plan.

Early onslaught

You'd be hard-pressed to find anyone who would have predicted that the Impact would be the team to jump out to an early 3-0 lead, but that's exactly what the visitors did.

It all started from a botched clearance by defender Erik Zavaleta, whose outing was poor enough for him to be pulled from the game at the half-hour mark. Zavaleta's blunder inside his own penalty area forced TFC goalkeeper Alex Bono into a rushed clearance in the 10th minute, which deflected off Piatti's backside and into the net for the game's first goal.

The Impact kept the pressure on, and would soon be rewarded with a pair of screamers. 

In the 12th minute, Marco Donadel was able to stride down the middle of the field and unleash a bomb from 30 yards for a surefire goal of the week contender.

Then it was Piatti's turn, with the Argentine getting himself a proper goal thanks in large part to an untimely slip at the edge of the 18-yard box by Zavaleta.

Canadian content

The game featured eight goals, with four scored by Canadians (and a fifth created by one).

Jackson-Hamel and Ricketts each notched a double for their respective teams, in very different ways.

Montreal's Jackson-Hamel notched each of his markers on breakaways stemming from defensive miscues, essentially driving the dagger into the hearts of TFC early in the second half.

Ricketts led the charge on the late TFC fightback that ultimately fell short, putting a pair of picture-perfect headers past Evan Bush and giving the home crowd something the cheer about.

And in the first half, Jonathan Osorio undressed compatriot Samuel Piette before forcing an own goal just before the break.

All in all, it was a positive day in front of goal for the Canadian players on the field.

Rudi Schuller