On Wednesday night, Toronto FC hosted the Montreal Impact for the second leg of the Eastern Conference Final. The first leg-- played in Montreal last Tuesday-- proved to be a thriller with a final score of 3-2. Wednesday night’s follow-up did not disappoint.
Toronto only needed to win 1-0 on Wednesday night to advance on an away goal tie breaker. But it was Montreal who found the first goal in the 24th minute by Dominic Odure. Toronto countered in the 37th minute with a goal by Armando Cooper off a corner kick. Toronto only had four goals off set pieces their entire season, but they would find two that night, with the next goal scored by Jozy Altidore after a corner kick from Sebastian Giovinco. Toronto went to the half with the lead that they needed to advance.
But in the 53rd minute, Montreal countered again with a goal from Ignacio Piatti. Toronto would have to score again to even up the number of aggregate goals and force extra time-- in the 68th minute, they found that goal off the head of Nick Hagglund. With the rest of regular time scoreless, the Eastern Conference Finals went into extra time.
In the 98th minute, Toronto found their fourth goal and third header of the night from Benoit Cheyrou. They would cap off their victory two minutes later with a goal from Tosaint Ricketts, who finished the amazing set-up by Jozy Altidore. The final score was 5-2-- Toronto FC are Eastern Conference Championships.
Whoever wins the MLS Cup on Saturday, December 10th will be lifting that cup for the first time. Toronto FC had never even won a playoff game before this season. The Seattle Sounders came in as the lowest seed in the West. They came into these playoffs as underdogs and proved everyone wrong. But only one of them can lift the cup.
As the higher seed, Toronto will host the MLS Cup at BMO Field on Saturday, December 10th. Kickoff is set for 7:00pm on Fox Sports 1.
