TFC win secures Canadian title
Giovinco weaves his magic on final kick to sink Montreal Impact 3-2 Kurtis Larson
The Atomic Ant is back.
Sebastian Giovinco lifted the Reds to a 3-2 aggregate win over the Montreal Impact Tuesday night in another thriller between the two teams that gave TFC its sixth Canadian Championship and secured qualification for next year’s CONCACAF Champions League.
It was a match reminiscent of the last time these rivals met at BMO Field, when the Reds advanced from an Eastern Conference championship for the ages, perhaps with even more drama.
With Tuesday’s Cup final all square on aggregate, and time ticking away in yet another tight affair between the heated rivals, Giovinco worked to get on the end of a cross from Raheem Edwards deep in stoppage-time to score on what was the last kick of the match.
It surely was redemption for Giovinco, who has taken heat recently for a perceived reduction in production.
Not on this night. The Atomic Ant was fantastic throughout, scoring twice in yet another white-knuckle affair with the Impact, who took a lead in this title match despite early dominance from TFC.
The first two good chances of the game fell to Toronto FC’s Tosaint Ricketts in his return from a hamstring injury.
The Canadian striker lunged for a cross from Giovinco six minutes into the match but watched the effort fly over the goal inside 10 metres.
Ricketts looked sure to open the scoring in the 27th minute when he rose to meet Giovinco’s cross from the same spot only to watch Impact goalkeeper Maxime Crepeau produce the stop of the game with a diving save to his right.
Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla put the visitors ahead less than 10 minutes later when he picked up possession following a broken play near the half-circle.
Tabla turned toward TFC’s goal before bending his left-footed curling effort beyond Clint Irwin and into the upper-right corner to put the Impact up 2-1 on aggregate.
The Impact were lucky to avoid having a player sent off in first-half stoppage time when defender Kyle Fisher levelled TFC’s Steven Beitashour with a hockey-style check worthy of Don Cherry’s Rock’em Sock’em series. Fisher absolutely rammed into Beitashour along the right touchline after the Iranian international beat him to the ball. The 26,539 fans at BMO Field were in disbelief when referee David Gantar just cautioned Fisher after the play.
Coach Greg Vanney wasted no time making changes at the break, bringing on both Jozy Atlidore and Marky Delgado in an effort to jumpstart a TFC attack that struggled to break down Montreal’s progressively deeper defence.
The changes immediately paid dividends. The Reds poured forward in search of an equalizer before Crepeau was called into action again.
Giovinco’s initial deflected shot in the 53rd minute sat up perfectly for a rebound attempt the Atomic Ant put on goal — only to see the Impact’s reserve netminder make another tremendous stop.
Less than a minute later, Giovinco found an equalizer when he chested down a long diagonal from Michael Bradley, cut inside and blasted a left-footed grass-cutter that beat Crepeau at the near post.
Ex-TFC winger Dominic Oduro threatened to put the tie to bed a little more than 10 minutes from fulltime when a long corner was headed back across goal where the Ghanaian attempted a second header from close range that bounced wide of the back post.
Altidore should have done the same minutes later when he rose to meet a cross from Beitashour only to see his glancing header miss over the frame from inside the six-yardbox.
The Reds were incensed minutes from the end when Giovinco was brought down inside the area by a wild lunge from Fisher. But instead of pointing to the spot and sending Fisher off, Gantar allowed play to continue.
Things finally boiled over moments before stoppage-time when Montreal’s Patrice Bernier was sent off for a dangerous challenge that left Delgado in pain. A brief melee ensued before Gantar brandished a red card, ending Bernier’s night.
Giovinco scored moments later to lift TFC to another berth in the CONCACAF Champions League.
The Reds will enter the Round of 16 of that tournament next February.