Toronto FC vs Montreal Impact: Eastern Conference Final Leg 2 – Aaaahhhhhh!!!

 

Oct 16, 2016; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Toronto FC forward Jozy Altidore (17) scores a goal against Montreal Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush (1) and defender Laurent Ciman (23) and defender Ambroise Oyongo (2) during the second half at Stade Saputo. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports

Oct 16, 2016; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Toronto FC forward Jozy Altidore (17) scores a goal against Montreal Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush (1) and defender Laurent Ciman (23) and defender Ambroise Oyongo (2) during the second half at Stade Saputo. Mandatory Credit: Jean-Yves Ahern-USA TODAY Sports

Toronto FC vs Montreal Impact ~ 7pm ET ~ BMO Field ~ TSN

Anxiety level: High

That’s it really – the excitement, the nerves, the ANXIETY!  But at the same time I’m strangely relaxed – tonight’s game (historic, one of the games we’ve longed for the past 10 seasons, etc) is much more than what I’d both expected and asked from Toronto FC this year – so while I’m stressed thinking about what winning this game means, I’m relaxed in that every game is bonus fun.

Excitement level: SKY HIGH!!!!

SO EXCITED!!!  Excited is different from anxiety – I am INSANELY excited about tonight’s match.  Because it’s going to be so much fun to be with my fellow (long suffering) fans at our stadium (sorry not sorry SkyDome) cheering on our team.  Seriously you guys, did you know that if they win tonight THEN WE’RE GOING TO THE CUP?!  AAAAHHHHHH!!!!  I’d say that I’d try to calm down but that’s probably a lie. This is crazy guys – the MLS Cup is literally within reach – as we like to say: “Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?”

Team Stuff:

Last Tuesday’s game wasn’t TFC at their finest and I think you’d be hard pressed to find someone that think different.  However, after the disastrous first half, there were those two glorious away goals – fantastic stuff that put the Reds pretty much in the driver’s seat for tonight’s match.  That has been one of the most marked changes of this season, that fight back – last season, hell the last nine seasons it was rare to see the kind of tenacity and fight back that Toronto have shown for most of this season.

What needs to change tonight is how TFC deal with Montreal’s counter attack – they’ve been eaten alive by that more than once this season and I think we’ve all had nightmares about those first two goals from last week’s game.  Whether this means that Vanney relies on the home field advantage to lift the team or if he makes changes to the Starting XI (most likely Will Johnson for Armando Cooper if the latter), is hard to say.  Toronto won’t be dealing with an almost 40 minute game delay due to mis-painted lines or terrible turf on concrete – they’ll be at BMO (in balmy weather!), in front of a raucous home crowd of over 35,000 on the (hopefully) pristine pitch; all positives!

Honestly I don’t have anything else to say that we’ve not said before – this match is a big deal; it’s the biggest match that Toronto have every played (although any match going forward can be described as such) and yes, it’s historic – there’s no getting away from that, and honestly why would you want to?  It’s a great deal of fun to watch your team do well, to have people asking you about them (something that hasn’t happened much since the first few seasons), to have fun at games and yes, to not only make the playoffs to but to make them in a big way.

See you at BMO tonight folks – this is going to be a special night regardless of outcome, can’t wait to see you all and cheer along with you.

Author: Kristin Knowles

Raised on basketball and baseball, Kristin soon saw the error of her ways when enrolled in a local football league as a child. Geography dictated she choose TFC as her team and ten years later she's still yet to flee the city. Cynically optimistic, she now channels her inner hooligan by singing random pop songs and making poor puns in the stands. May contain adult content. Find me on the internet machine @kzknowles

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1 Comment

  1. Yup, it’s going to be a good one! Can’t wait to go tonight.

    It will be interesting to see what changes, if any, Vanney makes tonight. I think it’s safe to say that he’s much better prepared than last year’s back to back games against Montreal, so I think he will have looked into what went wrong last week and try to fix it tonight. However he has been pretty successful since going to the 3-5-2, so it’s hard to argue too much if he keeps the same lineup and formation. Last year he kept the same lineup even though it wasn’t a proven one, but this year the team is much more resilient and can be relied on to win. I sort of feel that the disastrous start last week was partly due to the extra time off and the poor run that Bradley/Altidore had with the USMNT. Bradley may have been playing in Klinsmann mode still and forgetting his defensive duties. Luckily they woke up and pulled back those 2 goals. So now I think TFC will be ready to go and play their game.

    Enough rambling – I’m also excited for tonight and go TFC!!!

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