Miracle in Montreal

Montreal Impact 1–6 Toronto FC, often referred to as the Miracle in Montreal, was a soccer match played on June 18, 2009 at Saputo Stadium in Montreal, Quebec between Montreal Impact of the USL First Division and Toronto FC of Major League Soccer.

Miracle in Montreal

Saputo Stadium hosted the match
Event	2009 Canadian Championship
Montreal Impact Toronto FC 1 6
Date	June 18, 2009 (2009-06-18)
Venue	Saputo Stadium, Montreal
Referee	Carol Anne Chenard (Canada)
Attendance	11,561

Background

The match was the final fixture of the 2009 Canadian Championship. With Montreal already eliminated and the Vancouver Whitecaps leading the table, Toronto FC needed to win by 4 or more goals to capture its first Voyageurs Cup and a berth in the 2009–10 CONCACAF Champions League.^[1][2]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		VAN	TOR	MTL
1	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	4	3	0	1	5	1	+4	9	Champions League		—	2–0	1–0
2	Toronto FC	3	2	0	1	2	2	0	6			1–0	—	1–0
3	Montreal Impact (E)	3	0	0	3	0	4	−4	0			0–2	Jun 18	—

Source: CanadaSoccer.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) points in matches between drawn teams; 3) goal differential; 4) number of goals scored; 5) drawing of lots.^[3]
(E) Eliminated

Match

Tony Donatelli gave Montreal a 1–0 lead early in the first half on a penalty kick which meant Toronto needed 5 or more goals to beat Vancouver on goal differential. Toronto went on to score 6 unanswered goals, including 3 straight from captain Dwayne De Rosario on route to capturing the 2009 Canadian Championship and a place in the CONCACAF Champions League.^[1] The 6–1 defeat was the worst in Montreal's franchise history at the time.

Details

June 18, 2009

20:00 EDT

Montreal Impact	1–6	Toronto FC
Donatelli 24' (pen.)	Report	De Rosario 29', 39', 49' Guevara 69', 90' Barrett 82'

Saputo Stadium, Montreal, Quebec

Attendance: 11,561

Referee: Carol Anne Chenard

Montreal Impact

Toronto FC

Montreal Impact GK 22 Srdjan Djekanović DF 23 Stephen deRoux DF 24 Simon Gatti DF 13 Elkana Mayard DF 2 Kevin Sakuda MF 18 Leonardo Di Lorenzo MF 14 Tony Donatelli  65' MF 17 Joey Gjertsen MF 7 David Testo  47'  50' FW 28 Peter Byers FW 30 Pierre-Rudolph Mayard  71' Substitutes DF 16 Stefano Pesoli  50' MF 21 Félix Brillant  65' MF 9 Rocco Placentino  71'  71' Manager Marc Dos Santos

Toronto FC GK 24 Stefan Frei DF 6 Nick Garcia  42' DF 3 Nana Attakora  80' DF 11 Jim Brennan DF 15 Adrian Serioux  64' MF 2 Sam Cronin MF 20 Amado Guevara MF 33 Carl Robinson  63' FW 14 Dwayne De Rosario FW 9 Danny Dichio FW 8 Pablo Vitti  45' Substitutes FW 19 Chad Barrett  45' DF 4 Marco Vélez  64' FW 7 Fuad Ibrahim  80' Manager Chris Cummins

Assistant referees

Cameron Blair
Philippe Brière

Fourth official

Dave Gantar

Aftermath

Final results

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		TOR	VAN	MTL
1	Toronto FC (C)	4	3	0	1	8	3	+5	9	Champions League		—	1–0	1–0
2	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	4	3	0	1	5	1	+4	9			2–0	—	1–0
3	Montreal Impact	4	0	0	4	1	10	−9	0			1–6	0–2	—

Source: CanadaSoccer.com
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) points in matches between drawn teams; 3) goal differential; 4) number of goals scored; 5) drawing of lots.^[4]
(C) Champions

Montreal and Toronto perspective

Toronto FC would go on to lose to Puerto Rico Islanders in the preliminary round of 2009–10 CONCACAF Champions League.^[5]

The match was a significant moment in shaping the rivalry between Montreal Impact and Toronto FC.^[6] In 2011, Montreal Impact officially joined Major League Soccer becoming the third Canadian team to do so after Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC. This only furthered the rivalry which became known as the 401 derby and later the Canadian Classique.^[7]

Montreal would get retribution against Toronto, beating them 6–0 in the same venue during the 2013 Canadian Championship.^[8] This remains the largest margin of victory in Canadian Classique history.^[a]

Vancouver perspective

The Montreal Impact were accused of fielding a weaker squad against Toronto FC to rest key players for the league, since they were no longer in contention for the championship. This was seen as unfair by Vancouver Whitecaps' supporters, as Montreal's alleged uneven efforts against their opponents was the reason behind Toronto FC scoring as many goals as they did.^[9] This became additionally controversial when Montreal's rested players returned in a regular season match against Vancouver, which was not only won by Montreal, but also lead to Montreal gaining a home advantage over Vancouver in the playoffs due to the regular season seeding.^[9]

See also

• List of Canadian Championship finals
• Canadian Classique
• Canadiens–Maple Leafs rivalry