Toronto FC (9W-14L-3T, 30 points) recorded a 1-0 victory over Canadian rivals CF Montréal (6W-10L-9T, 27 points) at Stade Saputo, courtesy of Richie Laryea’s 38th minute game-winning goal.
First Half:
Toronto FC Head Coach John Herdman made four changes from his midweek side that started against Inter Miami CF in midweek action with Shane O’Neill, Kosi Thompson, Matty Longstaff and Prince Owusu coming in for Kevin Long, Deybi Flores, Derrick Etienne Jr. and Deandre Kerr.
The hosts fashioned the evening’s first goalscoring opportunity when Joaquín Sosa’s pass behind Toronto’s back-line found Josef Martínez’s well-timed run, only for the Venezuelan striker to miss the target from close-range with his left-footed attempt in the 13th minute.
After enjoying majority of the possession through the opening 45 minutes, Toronto FC made their first-half dominance count with an intricate and clinical sequence in the 38th minute. On the play, Federico Bernardeschi cut inside from the right flank to thread a through pass to Lorenzo Insigne, whose pass across the penalty area was converted by Richie Laryea after his well-timed run at the back post.
The goal, Laryea’s first since re-joining the Reds in February, proved enough to separate the two sides heading into the half-time break in Montréal, Québec.
Second Half:
Following a closely contested opening 25 minutes of the second half, the Reds came close to scoring the second goal of the chippy affair with two opportunities in the space of eight minutes. First, a long-range effort from Federico Bernardeschi blazed over the bar in the 70th minute before Derrick Etienne Jr. was unable to convert from Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty’s disguised pass in the penalty area in the 78th minute.
Looking to draw level, CF Montréal carved goalscoring opportunities of their own but to no avail much to the dismay of the Bleu-blanc-noir fans. The hosts first hit the post when Bryce Duke’s powerful effort was redirected onto the crossbar by TFC’s Kevin Long in the 80th minute.
Montréal’s Josef Martínez was then unable to find the target from Sunusi Ibrahim’s chest pass in the 89th minute before the striker’s header from Mathieu Choinière’s 93rd minute corner went off target.
With TFC’s defensive rearguard remaining resolute in the closing stages, the Reds secured all three points by the 1-0 scoreline and successfully completed the regular season double over arch-rivals CF Montréal following the latest edition of the 401 Derby.
LINEUPS
CF MONTRÉAL – Jonathan Sirois; Joel Waterman, Fernando Álvarez, Joaquín Sosa (Nathan Saliba 60’); Ruan (Kwadwo Opoku 60’), Samuel Piette (C) (Sunusi Ibrahim 84’), Mathieu Choinière, Raheem Edwards; Jules-Anthony Vilsaint (Bryce Duke 46’), Ariel Lassiter (Matías Cóccaro 68’), Josef Martínez
Substitutes Not Used: Sebastian Breza, Gabriele Corbo, Victor Wanyama, Ilias Iliadis
TORONTO FC – Sean Johnson; Shane O’Neill (Kevin Long 67’), Nicksoen Gomis; Raoul Petretta; Federico Bernardeschi (Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty 72’), Jonathan Osorio (C), Kosi Thompson, Matty Longstaff (Deybi Flores 67’), Richie Laryea; Prince Owusu (Derrick Etienne Jr. 66’), Lorenzo Insigne (Deandre Kerr 87’)
Substitutes Not Used: Luka Gavran, Aimé Mabika, Sigurd Rosted, Kobe Franklin
MEDIA NOTES
- With the road victory, Toronto FC complete the 2024 MLS regular season double against rivals CF Montréal after recording a 5-1 win in the first meeting at BMO Field on May 18, 2024.
- Richie Laryea scored his first goal of the 2024 campaign.
- With the secondary assist on Richie Laryea’s game-winning goal, Federico Bernardeschi registered his fifteenth goal contribution of the 2024 MLS season (eight goals, seven assists).
- Goalkeeper Sean Johnson recorded his fifth clean sheet of the 2024 MLS campaign.
- Toronto FC recorded their first road victory at Stade Saputo in Montréal, Québec since September 9, 2020.
POSTMATCH SOUND
- Link can be found here
