Montreal Impact Repeat As Voyageurs Cup Champions

It wasn’t always pretty, but the Montreal Impact beat Toronto FC at Stade Saputo 1-0 to win their second straight Canadian Championship 2-1 on aggregate.

Felipe came in as a substitute and put home a rebound after Marco Di Vaio hit the crossbar in stoppage time as Toronto was pushing for a winning goal. A 0-0 would have meant the Impact would have won due to their advantage in away goals.

"“I think you have to seize the moment,” said head coach Frank Klopas in a press release. “We talked about it in preseason and this was one of our goals. It was a big game and I give all the credit to my team because we fought for 90 minutes.”“It means a lot to get a clean sheet against a very talented team. I am very proud of the team, and that`s not only for the team, but this is for Montreal. I`m excited to be part of it.”"

The Impact had several scoring chances in the game prior to the goal but were stopped or just missed their targets. After the second half started, they started playing more defensive minded soccer as Toronto was pushing for a goal they so desparately needed but never found.

Toronto at the end of the game had Jermain Defoe, Dwayne De Rosario and Gilberto but still wasn’t able to put one past Montreal’s designated Cup goalkeeper Evan Bush. Perhaps Toronto’s best chance came with about 10 minutes remaining when a shot looked destined for goal but rang off the post.

Felipe came into the game for Justin Mapp in the 60th minute. Mapp was named tournament most valuable player for the second straight year. Mapp didn’t start last Saturday against New England having suffered an injury.

The Impact will now join the New York Red Bulls and Club Deportivo FAS, from El Salvador, in Group 3 of the CONCACAF Champions League. Their next game will be next Wednesday against D.C. United. It will be their last game before the World Cup break.