Toronto FC 3, Montreal Impact 1 | 2018 MLS Match Recap

Dylan Butler

Sebastian Giovinco struck for a first-half brace to lift Toronto FC to a huge 3-1 Canadian Classique win over the Montreal Impact at BMO Field as part of Heineken Rivalry Week.

Giovinco opened the scoring in a wide-open first half when chipped over Evan Bush he was slipped through by Justin Morrow on seven minutes.

The Atomic Ant netted his 10th goal of the season in the 22nd minute, sliding a shot inside the near post after a quick combination with Jonathan Osorio. It was the 500th all-time regular season goal for TFC.

The rout appeared on when Osorio chipped Bush to put Toronto FC (7-12-6) up 3-0 in the 29th minute, but a minute later Alejandro Silva received a pass from Saphir Taider and hit a first-time blast inside the near post to pull the Impact back a goal.

Montreal (10-14-3) had a penalty shout at the end of the first half when Alex Bono tripped Taider after spilling a rebound in front of goal, but the offside flag was raised first.

Goals

7’ — TOR — Sebastian Giovinco | WATCH
22’ — TOR — Sebastian Giovinco | WATCH
29’ — TOR — Jonathan Osorio | WATCH
30’ — MTL — Alejandro Silva | WATCH

Three Things

THE BIG PICTURE: Greg Vanney targeted 7 wins in Toronto’s final 10 games ahead of the match, so it’s one down, six to go for the defending MLS Cup champions. Neither coach was happy about the acres of space in the opening 45 minutes. The Impact should consider themselves lucky New England are reeling, but D.C. United are within six points of the playoff line with five games in hand.

MOMENT OF THE MATCH
: What a well-worked goal by Toronto FC, which ended with Osorio chipping Bush to make it 3-0 just before the half-hour mark and just about put away the Impact.

They're not messing around.@OsoJ92 makes it THREE. #TORvMTL // Heineken #RivalryWeek https://t.co/sU0JA7oBYp
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) August 26, 2018

MAN OF THE MATCH: He might be small in stature, but there’s few big-game players bigger than Giovinco, who placed his stamp on the game from the very beginning, scoring two goals inside of 22 minutes.