The Colorado Rapids have the home-field fortress.
The Seattle Sounders have the run.
Toronto FC have the stars.
The Montreal Impact? They have destiny.
It's all coming together in the right ways, at the right time for the Bleu-Blanc-Noir. Locked in on a style and identity under head coach Mauro Biello, they're shunting controversies to the side as the bandwagon gains momentum from contributions expected and from fresh sources. And they've got a thirsty fanbase – with an Olympic Stadium sellout on tap – ready to rock; it was only a year ago that TFC entered Stade Saputo favored and exited with a collective tail between the legs after a humbling 3-0 defeat in the Knockout Round of the 2015 playoffs.
First, Montreal rocked D.C. United with a 4th-minute set piece to put the pressure on a team that had entered in the best form of any MLS squad this side of Seattle. The Impact absorbed the attempted comeback to counter with a three-piece, before United harmlessly narrowed the gap at the death.
Then, facing a Red Bulls team favored to escape the East, Montreal
triangulated Sacha Kljestan into the ether
, found the home score they needed in the 61st and got the big break early in Leg 2, when MVP finalist Kljestan apparently
tipped his
hand
foot
and picked an anticipated spot for this 20th-minute PK:
Breaks like those, you can call camel straws. Nacho Piatti scoring in the second half seemed a mere formality after that, and he rubbed it in from there: first, with the capstone brace; and finally, with the postgame snaps so serious the Red Bulls offered little resistance.
At this point, it is Toronto that must adjust to Montreal, for here they'll find a fortified wall, where against NYCFC there was none. And for everything David Villa had done to carry New York to that top-two finish in the East, no teammate stepped in to fill the postseason void. Meanwhile Montreal are playing "pick-your-poison" with their role players, from Marco Donadel to Impact icon Patrice Bernier.
The longer this first leg stays scoreless, the more the scales of destiny weigh down the Reds. And if Montreal, well … make an Impact with a series-opening home strike – they've scored first in each game thus far – the chain might snap then and there, leaving TFC with a desperate second leg, one counter away from walking dead through the final whistle and the Bleu-Blanc-Noir 90 minutes away from claiming Canada's first MLS Cup for the Quebecois.
Sonnez l'Etoile du Nord!
