BIG ‘ O’ BRINGS BIZARRE MEMORY FOR TFC
MONTREAL MATCH WITH IMPACT REMINDER OF PITCH DISASTER
Stade Olympique. Former Major League Baseball stadium. Prospective World Cup venue. Refugee shelter. And, you’ll recall, the site of the most shocking moment in Major League Soccer’s history.
The 2016 MLS Playoffs were marred by Montreal’s inability to paint lines properly, causing an epic delay in front of an international TV audience and jam- packed stadium holding 61,000.
If the CFL has its “Fog Bowl,” this was Canadian club soccer’s most memorable fixture.
“Just a total miscalculation,” TFC coach Greg Vanney recalled to Postmedia ahead of Saturday afternoon’s Big Owe return. “That one, for me, was unique in terms of MLS.”
It brought an entirely new meaning to a common idiom. Watching paint dry became captivating.
“It unfortunately became a bit of an excuse for our poor start ( that night),” Vanney explained.
It wasn’t just an excuse. The sight of stadium staff and Impact boss Joey Saputo hurrying around the field in a panic was surreal. Meanwhile, Vanney recalled his players struggling to come to grips with a bizarre interruption that lasted far longer than anyone expected.
“Guys were trying to put it aside,” Vanney said. “But I think routines are important.”
“It’s tough to lock in, engage and reset,” Vanney added. “There’s a finite amount of time you can stay in that space. Either way, it became a unique challenge, obviously.”
But here were are again, hours from another TFC-Impact fixture inside a venue that probably shouldn’t be in use considering the shoddy turf, hard surface and, as Vanney referred to them, “trap doors” that are hidden beneath the Olympics Stadium pitch.
“The ball just rolls and rolls and rolls — especially on the turf they have, which is very flat and matted down and inconsistent. In some places it’s hard. In some places it’s soft,” Vanney explained.
“There are areas where the ball won’t bounce and there are areas where the ball bounces high. Those, to me, are some of the issues going and playing on this turf.”
The green spray paint was an especially memorable moment in a derby that’s seen more iconic moments in the last decade than any other rivalry in Major League Soccer.
The “Miracle in Montreal” started it all back in 2010.
More recently, Toronto FC’s first ever playoff appearance was spoiled back in 2015 when Didier Drogba wreaked havoc on the Reds.
A year later, the Impact did more than treat fans to an infamous pitch disaster. They were on the losing end of an Eastern Conference final that turned into an instant classic in the pouring rain.
Last year’s Canadian Championship also provided drama when Sebastian Giovinco scored a last-minute Cup- winner that sent Toronto FC to this year’s Champions League.
The pandemonium inside BMO Field that night rivalled anything we’ve seen in this series.
While Saturday afternoon’s fixture isn’t a Cup final or MLS playoff meeting, the Impact enter this weekend not necessarily desperate, but certainly concerned after losing two straight to start the season. Potentially dropping to 0-3- 0 after missing last year’s playoffs won’t do anything to restore hope in La Belle Province — especially if the Impact fall to a TFC side that’s nursing injuries and fatigue following a huge result in Mexico mid-week.
“This game is very important to the start of things for them,” Vanney said. “I’m sure there’s a sense of urgency to really seek out a result.”
The question for Vanney is whether or not he wants to push certain players on short rest and on a surface that’s far inferior to the pristine grass the Reds featured on mid-week at the Estadio Universitario.
Is risking a guy like Jozy Altidore or Victor Vazquez worth it this early in the season with a huge Champions League semifinal looming?
Or is it time for a guy like Tosaint Ricketts to start in Altidore’s place?
Then again, Ricketts called Olympic Stadium “garbage” this week, according to TFC Report’s Oliver Platt.
That says everything.