April 30, 2025
CF Montreal defeats Toronto FC on penalties at the Canadian Championship
Two struggling sides met tonight, in the preliminary round of the2025 Telus Canadian Championship, both looking to turn their dismal seasons around, as CF Montreal battled Toronto FC at BMO Field.
Toronto FC thought that they had the win in the bag, until an incredible scissor kick goal from Giacomo Vrioni, his first for CF Montreal since joining the squad from the New England Revolution, brought the game level in 89th minute of regulation play.
See Also: CF Montreal and Orlando City SC play to a draw
Toronto FC had opened the scoring a half-hour into the game, when Theo Corbeanu beat Joel Waterman on a challenge and was free to storm in, with Waterman in pursuit, and hammer a screeching shot from just outside of the box that beat goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois just under the crossbar.
In the 70th minute, Waterman would redeem himself when the ball found him all alone on the right on the box from a corner kick, and Waterman made no mistake firing a hard low shot into the bottom left corner of the net, past Toronto FC goalkeeper Luka Gavran, drawing the game level at one all.
Just four minutes later, Tyrese Spicer regained the advantage for Toronto FC, when Corbeanu again beat Waterman along the foul line, charging in hard and sliding a beautiful pass to the boot of Spicer, who was all alone just inside the box, and made no mistake slotting home a hard low shot passed Sirois.
With the refree’s whistle on his lips and his eyes on his watch, Tom Pearce sent a perfect cross in towards the box, where Giacomo Vrioni caught it perfectly, firing an atheletic scissor kick into the back of the net. Gavran never moved or stood a chance at getting to the ball. CF Montreal had drawn equal with just two seconds to go before injury time.
The game then went to penalties.
Toronto FC’s Tyrese Spicer was first to step up the spot, only to have his shot parried away by Jonathan Sirois. Joel Waterman found his mark, giving CF Montreal its first advantage of the match. The next two Toronto FC efforts would be converted by Kobe Franklin and Alonso Coello, as would CF Montreal’s next two strikes from Dante Sealy and Dominik Iankov.
Theo Corbeanu, who had been the root cause of both of Toronto FC’s goals, had his penalty attempted saved by Jonathan Sirois. With a chance to end the game on his boot, Tom Pearce fired the ball wide of the goal, giving Toronto FC one more chance to extend the penalty session.
That chance came to Ola Brynhildsen, who riffled his shot over the crossbar, handing CF Montreal their first win of the season, and a pass to the semi-finals alongside the Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
The win is the first for CF Montreal this season, who will be hoping to have sparked their team towards better results in the MLS, where they are currently to the only squad yet to have earned a victory.
“I hope that this win gives us the boost that we need to get on and start winning into our season,” said goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois. “I think we all know that collectively, we’ve been playing pretty well. I hope that this win tonight can help us in terms of energy and momentum. As a Montrealer, it’s very special to win against Toronto and I think that winning in a penalty shootout has a little better taste to it.”
“I really just asked the players to show their qualities on the field and they really did a great job,” said interim head coach Marco Donadel. “I know that they don’t give up. So they just do what they’re able to do, and it’s just the beginning of this process. I was surprised at myself to be so quiet during the penalty shootout. I felt the confidence in the eyes of my players. I was very quiet and everything went the way it had to be.”
While it was all celebrations for CF Montreal – the same couldn’t be said for Toronto FC.
“I’m Incredibly disappointed,” said Toronto coach Robin Fraser. “Disappointed that we lost not one lead but two. We certainly felt like we did enough to win the game.”
“At the end of the day, what I told them is we haven’t had many leads late in games and we have to close games out,” Fraser added.
Read More:
>> Canadian women’s soccer to play in Winnipeg and Montreal this June
>> CF Montreal earns a draw in Illinois against Chicago Fire FC
>> CF Montréal announced the acquisition of Giacomo Vrioni
This was just the second time in eleven matches this season, where CF Montreal had managed to muster more than a single goal in a game. The other was a 3-2 loss to Atlanta United in the squads first match up of the year.
CF Montreal will face the either Halifax Wanders FC – or once again match up against Forge FC; the team that eliminated them from last years tournament. Halifax Wanders FC travel to Hamilton to challenge Force FC on May 7th. Meanwhile, CF Montreal will return to Stade Saputo to host the Philadelphia Union on May 3rd.
