Wednesday September 20, 2017--Toronto FC vs Montreal Impact game review (by Rocket Robin)

Wednesday Sepember 20, 2017--Toronto FC vs Montreal Impact game review (by Rocket Robin)

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I've found that I don't have the time to do a game play by play with all the writeups I'm doing
covering other leagues. I will skip the details and maybe do that after the season is over.

Result of the Wednesday September 20, 2017 MLS game between Toronto FC and Montreal Impact
played at BMO Field in Toronto at 7:30pm.

9 min...Imp Ignacio Piatti GOAL...Imp Daniel Lovitz from 17 yard line beside left sideline
sends low cross into box. TFC Eriq Zavaletta stops ball at 12 yards on left on bounce
and turns around to keep away from Imp Ignacio Piatti and taps ball back to goalie Alex Bono.
Bono steps forward to 4 yards while even with left post and blasts clearance. Piatti is behind
Zavaleta and turns his back to goalie to flinch from shot and ball hits him on back of legs
at 6 yards and pops up and bounces into center of open net.

11 min...Imp Marco Donadel GOAL...TFC Eriq Zavaleta at 42 yard line on left side has pass
upfield blocked by Imp Ignazio Piatti and Piatti recovers and dribbles to 30 yard line
on left. Piatti stops run and turns back and rolls pass to Donadel at 33 yards. Donadel
dribbles forward and towards center and in-line with left post blasts 30 yard shot forward
into left side of net. Flying goalie gets fingertips to but pushes it to corner of net.

23 min...Imp Ignacio Piatti GOAL...Imp Laurent Ciman stops pass from TFC Michael Bradley
meant to put TFC Tosaint Ricketts through at 15 yards in Imp box. Ciman's stop deflects
forward to Imp Blerim Dzemaili at Imp 25 yard line and he turns and runs upfield cutting
to left. At TFC 40 yard line he rolls pass forward and centered to Imp Anthony Jackson-Hamel
at 25 yard line he rolls pass over to Piatti inside left side of box. Piatti at 16 yard
line cuts towards center and TFC Eriq Zavaleta slips and he steps around
TFC Steven Beitashour to get away 17 yard shot down middle into top left corner
of net beyond flying goalie.

41 min...TFC (Deian Boldor own goal) GOAL...TFC Armando Cooper at Imp 25 yard line
rolls pass into box and sliding Imp player just outside box deflects ball over to right.
TFC Jonathan Osorio rescues bouncing ball on end line and steps around Imp Samuel Piette
at 15 yards on left. He sends in low cross along 6 yard box and Imp Deian Boldor puts
foot out at 6 yards and deflects ball between right post and goalie Evan Bush into low
left corner of net.

46 min...Imp Anthony Jackson-Hamel GOAL...TFC Steven Beitashour at Imp 40 yard line
on right turns back and sends pass to TFC Drew Moor at TFC 40 yard line in middle. Moor
has to turn back and expects to tap ball back to goalie but Jackson-Hamel chases down
middle and beats him to ball at 25 yard line. He dribbles forward to 12 yards and sends
low shot past sliding goalie at 7 yards and into left side of net.

50 min...Imp Anthony Jackson-Hamel GOAL...Imp Laurent Ciman breaks up short pass
at Imp 30 yard line and taps ball to Imp Samuel Piette who rolls ball upfield
to Imp Ignacio Piatti at Imp 45 yard line. He chips short pass forward to center for
charging Imp Blerim Dzemaili at TFC 45 yard line. Dzemaili now on a 2 on 1 tries
to send pass to Jackson-Hamel and sliding TFC Chris Mavinga pops ball off his chest
at 40 yards and it deflects over to Jackson-Hamel who charges forward alone to corral
ball at 22 yards in middle and rolls 15 yarder past sliding goalie at 10 yards and
into left side of net.

76 min...TFC Tosaint Ricketts GOAL...TFC Nicolas Hasler at 30 yard line on right
sideline cuts towards middle and rolls pass to TFC Jonathan Osorio at 30 yards
in middle and he pivots and sends low pass to TFC Raheem Edwards at 18 yard line on left.
Edwards sends high cross into box and Ricketts at 8 yards in middle between Imp defenders
Laurent Ciman and Deian Boldor outjumps both and heads forward and ball hits underside
of bar on right side of net and drops over goal line.

78 min...TFC Tosaint Ricketts GOAL...TFC Jonathan Osorio at 50 yard line on right rolls
pass forward for TFC Armando Cooper at 20 yard line and he crosses into box and
Ricketts charging forward ducks and heads 6 yarder up middle into right side of net.

Final Score:....Toronto FC.....3.....Montreal Impact.....5....

Attendance was announced as another sellout of 28898. As usual with a midweek evening
game, fans were slow to arrive but filled in before halftime on this surprisingly
hot and humid night for this time of year with the temperature not dropping even with
it already being dark at kickoff.

Man of the Match (who is always a TFC player) was announced as Tosaint Ricketts who
with his two goals was an easy choice.

Referee Jair Marrufo gave out no cards this game but had complete control. Action was
intense but mostly fair without vicious tackles.

I wasn't sure at the time why TFC Eriq Zavaleta was subbed off. I knew he made the
bad backpass on the first goal and slipped on the third goal but I saw him make two
blocked saves on other Impact shooters but I expect he was frazzled. Biggest surprise
on the subbing of him was forward Ben Spencer to take his place. He barely gets playing
time with TFC II in USL play. Spencer made one too many passes and his shots and headers
missed the net. Understandable at being behind 3-0 they'd swap in a striker
at 31 minutes but another USL call-up, Jordan Hamilton, would have been a better choice.
He scores consistently at the USL level.

This was the first home loss of the season for TFC. Maybe this will humble the team
and the fans. The team thought they could rest three of their four best starters.
Media reports listed forwards Sebastian Giovinco with hamstring tightness, and
Jozy Altidore with quadriceps tightness both sat out a second game in a row. They were
joined by midfielder/freekick and corner taker Victor Vazquez who was on the bench
but had a fever for the last few days. That left only midfielder/captain Michael Bradley
as the only designated player/TAM player that saw game time tonight.

Bradley took at a freekick from 22 yards at 75 minutes and didn't miss the top
left corner by much but he would only be the team's third choice behind Giovinco
and Vazquez. Vazquez was not brought off the bench this game so I expect it was
a combination of the flu he had earlier in the week kept him out as a starter and being
so far behind so early.

I was surprised how easily Jackson-Hamel beat retreating defender Drew Moor to the ball.
I didn't realize how fast Jackson-Hamel was or how slow Moor was for what should have
been a routine tap back for the goalie to clear.

People were leaving early from the 5-1 point so missed the late rally. I knew there was
trouble when I heard mock cheers for Alex Bono at 13 minutes when he caught a routine high
cross from the right. Fans in the supporters section got bored and let off more smoke
bombs at 72 minutes with the score still 5-1. The early-to-leave fans cleaned out the
free samples of Coke Zero and took all the streetcars. I was upset later that the subway
was then clogged by Blue Jays baseball fans who had been leaking out of the nearby
(Rogers Centre stadium) anytime from the second inning as they were losing 15-5.

I expect that this city of fans had been spoiled and the soccer media everywhere has
stoked the flames with calls of "Best MLS team ever". I've ignored it as the season
is four games longer than when Los Angeles Galaxy dominated an era ago. Somewhat like
NHL records. TFC also hadn't lost a game since July 1 and were on an eleven game
unbeaten streak.

Halftime highlights were shown and only showed TFC chances and saves and the TFC goal.
I turned to the SSH beside me who'd arrived at the game late and said "I didn't seen
Impact score any goals, there must be something wrong with the scoreboard".

I suppose the history of TFC's past comebacks against Montreal kept me thinking TFC
just might come back and the two TFC goals kept many fans there until the end. Ricketts
almost scored a third but put one over the bar after his second goal.

This was the kind of lineup I like the best. Two Canadian starters on each team and
three on the bench for TFC and two for Impact. It was almost like a Canadian Championship
match where Canadian positions are mandated. Jackson-Hamel had two goals for Impact
and Ricketts had two for TFC. I thought Osorio had scored but it was ruled an own goal.
Raheem Edwards got into the game for TFC at 68 minutes and stirred things up as they
got two goals back in ten minutes. Jay Chapman and Jordan Hamilton did not get into
the game. Midfielder Samuel Piette (web stories released earlier today that he and
Jonathan Osorio are best friends from national team camps) played the whole ninety minutes.
Midfielder veteran Patrice Bernier has been red carded in two games against TFC that
I remember and back up goalie Maxime Crepeau were not used by the Impact.

Maybe there was an omen before the game with a contestant in the Sonnet (insurance company)
Sonic Top Corner Contest having to choose one out of three cartoon characters kicking
a penalty kick into the top corner. There should be a one out of three chance that the
contestant would guess correctly but this was the first time this season I remember that
the fan guessed wrong. Soldiers were on the field for the national anthem as they were
for CAF day the last home game but tonight they unfurled a large banner for the
Invictus Games starting at the end of the week here in Toronto.

In the only other MLS game tonight, Atlanta beat LA Galaxy 4-0 (same score as TFC
beat LAG on Saturday night) except it was a road game. Expansion club Atlanta has
been making noise with a long stand of home games in their new stadium and lot
of goals scored and attendance records broken.

TFC now goes on the road this weekend for a Saturday game against New England Revolution
who will be trying to impress a new coach. That would be the game I would have expected
TFC to rest Altidore and Giovinco from aggravating their leg injuries. RFK Stadium with
it's hard artificial turf was the graveyard of Danny Koevermans' career in 2013.
TFC will also get a chance at revenge with Montreal as their final regular season home
game is against them on Sunday October 15.

Montreal had lost four games in a row after a winning streak. Their first loss was
a home game against TFC and last weekend they allowed expansion club Minnesota to take
a come-from-behind win from their visit to Montreal in a 'must-win' game for the Impact.

TFC's record falls to 18 wins, 4 losses, 8 ties for 62 points. They are still quite
comfortably in first place in the Eastern Conference. The teams immediately below them
are dropping points and aren't much threat.

The win improves the Impact's record to 11 wins, 12 losses, 6 ties for 39 points and stay
in seventh place in the East. The only catchable team appears to be New York Red Bulls
who hold the last playoff spot and are three points ahead over Montreal but have
one game in hand.

Rocket Robin
robing@eol.ca
twitter @RocketRobin01

stats from MLSsoccer.com
Match Information

Goals and Assists
10' MTL Ignacio Piatti 
12' MTL Marco Donadel           Assisted By: Ignacio Piatti 
24' MTL Ignacio Piatti          Assisted By: Anthony Jackson-Hamel 
42' TOR Deian Boldor (OG)   
47' MTL Anthony Jackson-Hamel  
51' MTL Anthony Jackson-Hamel   Assisted By: Blerim Dzemaili, Ignacio Piatti 
77' TOR Tosaint Ricketts        Assisted By: Raheem Edwards 
79' TOR Tosaint Ricketts        Assisted By: Armando Cooper, Jonathan Osorio 

Disciplinary
no cards issued

Lineup

Toronto FC 
31 F Armando Cooper 
87 F Tosaint Ricketts 
25 G Alexander Bono 
33 D Steven Beitashour 
15 D Eriq Zavaleta       (32')
 3 D Drew Moor 
23 D Chris Mavinga       (69')
 2 D Justin Morrow 
18 M Marco Delgado       (56')
 4 M Michael Bradley 
21 M Jonathan Osorio 

Bench
 1 G Clint Irwin 
19 D Ben Spencer          (32')
44 D Raheem Edwards       (69')
 7 M Víctor Vázquez 
26 M Nicolas Hasler       (56')
14 M Jay Chapman 
22 F Jordan Hamilton 

Manager  Greg Vanney  

Montreal Impact 
31 F Blerim Dzemaili 
24 F Anthony Jackson-Hamel     (76')
10 F Ignacio Piatti 
 1 G Evan Bush 
36 D Víctor Cabrera 
23 D Laurent Ciman 
35 D Deian Boldor 
 6 M Hassoun Camara            (66') 
33 M Marco Donadel             (55')
29 M Samuel Piette 
 3 M Daniel Lovitz 

Bench
40 G Maxime Crépeau 
 8 M Patrice Bernier 
15 M Andrés Romero 
30 M Hernán Bernardello         (55')
18 M Chris Duvall               (66')
13 M Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla 
 7 F Dominic Oduro              (76')

Manager  Mauro Biello 

Officials
Referee  Jair Marrufo 
Assistant Referee  Corey Rockwell 
Assistant Referee  Frank Anderson 
Fourth Official  Silviu Petrescu 
Video Assistant Referee  Fotis Bazakos 

Match Information
MLS at BMO Field
Toronto, ON
Attendance 28898
Weather Clear

Team Statistics
TOR                        MTL
 16     Shots               15 
  2     Shots on Target      5 
 11     Shots off Target     5 
  3     Blocked Shots        5 
  6     Corners              1 
 26     Crosses              6 
  1     Offsides             2 
  7     Fouls                5 
  0     Yellow Cards         0 
  0     Red Cards            0 
650     Total Passes       350 
 86 %   Passing Accuracy    77 % 
 65.3 % Possession          34.7 % 
 29     Duels Won           38 
  5     Tackles Won         12 
  0     Saves                0 
  5     Clearances          34

Toronto FC starters