FT: Toronto FC 0-1 Montreal Impact—Match Thread, Starting XI, How to Watch

Live Match Thread

FT: Toronto FC 0 - 1 Montreal Impact — The Reds lose for the first time in 2020.

90+2—RED CARD! That’s a dirty tackle on MB4. Bradley leaves the pitch with an injury, while the Red is reduced to a Yellow!

90’—Doesn’t look to great for the Reds here...

85’—CHANCE! Ayo Akinola gets up at the back post of a great Gallardo cross, but his header goes over the net. The Reds still searching for an equalizer here.

80’—Chris Mavinga and Jozy Altidore make way for Erickson Gallardo and Tsubasa Endoh. TFC have 10 minutes to score...

73’—Super Sub Nick DeLeon checks into the match for TFC. I thought Piatti was decent tonight, but DeLeon gives them an extra bit of coverage in the midfield with Akinola and Altidore both going for goal.

70’—It’s Pozuelo, but he skies it. 20 minutes for the Reds to salvage something here...

68’—Free kick from about 26 yards out coming for Toronto FC. This was prime-time Seba range. Who will step up now? Jozy? Poz? Piatti?

64’—Penalty (Handball) shout for TFC! This is being checked by VAR.....nothing comes of it. Montreal milking every second they can get now

61’—CHANCE! You can’t make this stuff up. Moments after Akinola checks into the match, he gets into the box, which creates a room for Jozy who comes up just shy of deflecting in the Reds’ equalizer. Here comes Toronto....

60’—Ayo Akinola is preparing to check into the match for the Reds. We’ll see if he’s playing up top with Jozy or not. Yup! Ayo checks in for Marky! The sub #TFCLive wanted to see.

59’—Tweeted this out & it’s picking up some decent traction, so I’ll put it in here too: this match is screaming Ayo Akinola.

52’—Already a few yellow cards for Montreal after the restart. I wonder if anyone said anything to the official...

46’—Here we go. No changes from either side at halftime. TFC need at least a goal if they want to extend their unbeaten run and tie the league’s all-time record.

9:09 p.m. EST—Both teams come back out for the second half. Piatti and Pozeulo still chatting things over with the referee.

HT: Toronto FC 0 - 1 Montreal Impact: The talking point of that first half is definitely that Poz/Piatti penalty, but that overshadows what was a concerning ‘45 from the Reds. What do they need to do to be better?

45’—Wait, what? Pozuelo and Piatti just tried something wild off a penalty, but the play is blown down. Montreal get a FK the other way. Wow.

44’—PENALTY! Altidore is grabbed onto in the box while attacking a cross. It was never a ball that the TFC striker would get to, but the Impact defender definitely grabbed him. Dumb penalty for Camacho to concede, who scored the goal for Montreal. The Reds catch a break.

43’—CHANCE! Jozy Altidore receives a rare great ball into the box from Auro Jr., but his lunging effort is denied by Diop. Heck of a save from the Montreal GK. Jozy can’t buy one!

39’—Quentin Westberg, once again, showing off how good he is with his feet, running to the sideline to keep the ball in-bounds.

38’—Really frustrating right now for TFC who look to be a pass away from breaking Montreal down. Jozy and Pablo are not on the same wave length, but all of that can change very quickly. It’ll be interesting to see what adjustments (if any) Greg Vanney makes at the break.

32’—Excellent tracking back from Chris Mavinga, who slides in to get a touch on a Montreal player who was in behind. Again, TFC are vulnerable from just a single ball over the top. That can’t happen.

30’—Jozy wasn’t offside there, but he was called for handball off the save. What a chance that was. The Reds starting to play with a bit more urgency here. They do not want to drop points.

28’—Another chance for Altidore! He gets in behind but appears to be flagged for offside? Either way, he goes for a lob but his effort is denied by Diop. His goal is coming in this match.

27’—Serious penalty shout from Jozy Altidore there. Looked like a bit of a dive from the press box. With his size, couldn’t he have just stayed on his feet and finished? He did all of the hard work!

26’—Pablo Piatti with the best chance of the match but he can’t connect on a volley from the penalty spot. He manages to tee up Marky Delgado, but his effort goes wide.

20’—Justin Morrow down... things you hate to see with Richie Laryea (ankle, day-to-day) already out for this match. Will we see Nick DeLeon have to play LB? It looks like Morrow’s alright, as he gets instructions from Vanney on the touch line. We’ll keep an eye on him as the match progresses. He hasn’t played a full 90 in a while.

14’—GOAL! Toronto FC 0 - 1 Montreal Impact. The visitors get on the board first off a corner (which was careless given away by the Reds). Well, TFC find themselves in an unusual spot. How will they respond?

11’—That would’ve been funny. Marky Delgado almost catches Diop out of his goal, but the GK manages to scramble back in time. I like the thought and effort.

9’—TFC controlling and dictating play early on, but Montreal is looking a little dangerous off the counter. TFC need to be wary of that threat tonight.

3’—Jozy Altidore with a great effort off an early free kick. Could that be the closest he’s come to scoring this year?

1’—Players, officials, coaches etc. take a knee before kickoff in protest of racial injustice. Another derby along the lakeshore is underway! Here we go.

8:05 p.m. EST—For what it’s worth, it looks like Toronto FC has opted not to play the national anthem before the start of the match (again). No anthem debate this time.

8:01 p.m. EST—That’s not going to happen. Players start to head to the bench (socially distanced) as the starters are likely soon to follow. Our fans make noise outside the stadium... here we go. Something special about a Derby night at BMO Field.

7:58 p.m. EST—C’mon, what do you say @MLS?

7:54 p.m. EST—Great question from BandwagonFan15 in our comments who asked if TFC win, do they clinch first place in the MLS Canadian Championship race? The answer is not yet! For whatever reason, the league decided not to account for head-to-head as a tiebreaker, so the Reds would still need one more point from their final two matches in order to fully clinch.

7:48 p.m. EST—Hoping the Raptors pull out this W. They need it. Great pregame action before tonight’s main event!

7:45 p.m. EST—A bold prediction from our friend Joshua Kloke at The Athletic. I’m all for it, but something tells me Nick DeLeon has something to say about this.

7:38 p.m. EST—Jozy Altidore makes his return to the Starting XI! He still has yet to score a goal. Will today be the day?

7:17 p.m. EST—We are back at BMO Field! One of the lucky few who have a seat by the Lakeshore this evening. The Reds are looking to tie an MLS record by going 19 games without a loss, while our rivals Montreal Impact are looking to play spoiler. How sweet would it be to accomplish this feat over the Impact?

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Starting XI

Jozy Altidore makes his return to the starting XI, just like we predicted.

And for the visitors, who look drastically different from Friday night...

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Match Preview (Courtesy Aasim Hashim)

TORONTO, Ont.—Toronto FC will be back at BMO Field on Tuesday night as they look to build on their commanding lead at the top of the Canadian MLS standings while also extending their lead in the race for the Supporters Shield. Kick-off is scheduled for 8 p.m.

Friday night saw the Reds and the Montreal Impact take to the field at Saputo Stadium with the advancement of social justice being everyone’s number one priority. After the match, Justin Morrow, the Executive Director of Black Players for Change, acknowledged that he felt progress had been with MLS owners to use the MLS as a platform for social justice which led to the decision for him and his teammates to play.

While most players were available for selection, Reds striker Jozy Altidore did not play due to personal reasons. According to TFC head coach Greg Vanney, both Altidore and Ayo Akinola will be available on Tuesday night.

On the soccer front, Toronto FC had another professional outing in Montreal. The Reds limited the Impact offence to just one shot on target. In three games since the second phase of the MLS restart, the Reds have yet to concede a goal and have made life easy for Quentin Westberg, allowing just three shots on target over the three games.

Vanney’s side have taken care of business over the last three games to put themselves in a prime position to be the MLS representative in the Voyageurs Cup final and can now equal the longest regular season unbeaten streak in MLS history at 19.

Toronto and Montreal have treated fans to stressful and frantic games in the past, including earlier this season at the MLS is Back tournament in a seven goal thriller. Toronto’s lead atop the Canadian Standings will mean Tuesday night is a must-win game for Montreal. Although Toronto can’t clinch top spot with a win on Tuesday, another Montreal loss will make the remaining matches a formality.

With the large deficit facing the Impact, it’s a safe bet to assume that Thierry Henry’s squad will be set up to score goals. This may play straight into the hands of the Reds as it will leave pockets of spaces for Alejandro Pozuelo, Jonathan Osorio and Pablo Piatti to work their magic might lead to an eventful Tuesday night at BMO Field.

Additional Notes

• Alejandro Pozuelo was once again selected in the MLS Team of the Week. Pozuelo netted the lone goal on Friday night from the spot.

• Toronto will equal the longest unbeaten run (19 games) in MLS history with a win or draw on Tuesday. The other two clubs to do so were Columbus (2004-2005) and Dallas (2010).

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HOW TO WATCH

Kickoff is set for 8:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday night, and those in Canada can watch on TSN 1/4.