TFC head off to Montreal for leg one of the Canadian Championship final. A big question for me is how Montreal will approach this game. They are fighting hard for the final playoff spot. Will they field a weaker squad in this match with their focus on their game in LA a few days later? Or will they do their best to win the Voyageurs' Cup? TFC face a less urgent version of the same question as they look for a home playoff date. I'm also a curious as to which Canadians Vanney will feature as he hasn't exactly covered the field in maple leaves these past few matches. Any thoughts?
If Montreal lost to Cincinnati, does that mean they gave up on the league and are just focusing on the the Canadian championship? Losing to Cincinnati seems totally inexplicable.
I don't think they've given up on the league at all. The explanation of the loss to Cincinnati is two fold. First, as bad as Cincinnati is, they are going to pull out points once in a while and Montreal, while better than Cincinnati, are not a top team. Second, Montreal was a bit unlucky and were unable to open up a Cincinnati team that totally parked the bus. Montreal dominated but just couldn't get a goal in against 11 defenders. Play that game ten times and it would be 8-1-1 for Montreal. The stats just happened to pick the one time Cincinnati wins.
A disappointing result, especially the lack of an away goal. Not catastrophic, however. I don't get Vanney sometimes. Either run a backup-heavy line up and rest the main guys or run a top team. Starting with backups and then bringing in Altidore and Pozuelo at half time is the worst of both worlds.