Jul 22 Montreal Impact Are Canada's Team! Advance to CONCACAF Champions League with Tie Vs TFC

The Montreal Impact had many reasons to pack it in last night as they met Toronto FC for the final and decisive match to see who would advance to the CONCACAF Champions League yesterday evening; Falling behind 1-0 early on in the 1st half, the intimidation of the 20,000+ crowd at BMO field, the sometimes, questionable foul calls against them by a hometown ref perhaps too eager to please the home crowd... Yes the Impact, who in 2 short days have another game against Rochester had every reason to conserve their energy in order to fight another day and let the supposed "favored team to advance" take this game and move on... They didn't.

The Impact demonstrated great resilience, and offense in the first half as well as superior defense and bench control in the 2nd half earning them a come from behind tie (1-1) against Toronto and winning the Voyageur's Cup for the 7th time in as many years, earning them a chance to represent Canada and  face Nicaragua in a home and home series starting on August 27th in Montreal.

While the pressure was on Toronto as they were in a no lose situation, it was the Impact who came out aggressive in the 1st and although Toronto threw everything they had in the 2nd, including a few unbelievable chances in the dying minutes, Montreal's defenders and `keeper Matt Jordan, the tournament's MVP, were there to shut them down.

While I don't want to harp on home town officiating and perhaps a potential bias towards the "upper tier" team, fouls were 21-11 against Montreal with a total of 5 yellow cards handed out to Montreal, including a delay of game warning to `keeper Jordan while taking a goal-kick...

Read on for the full press release :

TORONTO – The Montreal Impact (2-1-1) won the Nutrilite Canadian Championship after tying Toronto FC (1-1-2) 1-1, Tuesday, in front of 20,107 spectators at BMO Field, in Toronto. With a total of seven points – five for Toronto and four for Vancouver – the Impact also captured the Voyageurs Cup for the seventh consecutive year, thereby advancing to the CONCACAF Champions League.

Goalkeeper Matt Jordan was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

“The game tonight was a total team effort. We came here with one objective, which was to win that Cup,” said Jordan. “We came here to play and attack, not to sit back and wait. We went to the goal and we did a great job.”

Montreal Impact forward Roberto Brown scored the tying goal in the 26th minute of play. Brown headed a corner kick taken by midfielder Joey Gjertsen, beating goalkeeper Greg Sutton to the far post.

Toronto FC midfielder Rohan Ricketts opened the score in the 15th minute. Positioned deep in Montreal territory, midfielder Rohan Ricketts directed a header past Impact goalkeeper Matt Jordan thanks to a well-placed cross from TFC defender Jim Brennan.

“It did not take a long time to get back and tie the game, it made it easier for us,” said Impact head coach John Limniatis. “The tie tonight is a very positive result. I’m very proud of my players today because they are the ones who won the championship.”

“This cup is as important as the two playoff championships that we won in 1994 and 2004,” said veteran defender Nevio Pizzolitto. “Toronto FC was not in the Canadian championship in the past years so we had to prove to people that we were the best team in Canada and that’s what we did tonight”.

The Impact will play a home-and-home playoff series at the end of August and beginning of September versus the Nicaraguan champions. That series will determine which team advances to the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League.

The Impact will play its next regular season match on Friday night in Rochester against the Rhinos (8pm, FSW). Both teams will play a rematch at Saputo Stadium on Sunday (3:30 pm, CKAC Sports, THE TEAM 990, USLlive.com).

HIGHLIGHTS
31st minute – Impact midfielder Joey Gjertsen spun around to beat a Toronto FC defender and uncorked a low, powerful shot from about 20 metres out, just missing the goal to the right.

60th minute – After dribbling for several meters, Toronto FC midfielder Rohan Ricketts took a low shot from about 20 metres out, but Impact goalkeeper Matt Jordan made a diving save to his right.

60th minute – Positioned inside the Toronto penalty area, Impact striker Robert Brown took a pass from midfielder Leonardo Di Lorenzo, but deflected the one-timer just left of the Toronto net.

Tags: CONCACAF \ advance \ are \ canada \ champions \ concacaf \ impact \ league \ Matt-Jordan \ montreal \ Montreal-Impact \ team! \ tfc \ tie \ Toronto-FC \ with

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