Toronto FC vs. Montreal Impact
ALL-TIME MLS REG. SEASON RECORD:
- Montreal Impact: 4 wins (1 away win)
- Toronto FC: 6 wins (3 away wins)
- 4 ties
ALL-TIME MLS CUP PLAYOFFS RECORD:
- Montreal: 2 wins (both at home)
- Toronto FC: 1 wins (at home)
- 0 ties
ALL-TIME CANADIAN CH'SHIP RECORD:
- Montreal: 3 wins (all at home)
- Toronto FC: 9 wins (3 away wins)
- 4 ties
Rivalry Highlights:
The 2016 postseason spotlight is shining brightly on one of Major League Soccer’s fiercest rivalries, as the Montreal Impact duel Toronto FC in the Eastern Conference Championship, arguably the two biggest games in each club’s growing history.
Known as the 401 Derby, after the highway forms most of the route between Canada’s two biggest cities, the series between the Impact and TFC dates back to Toronto’s early days as an MLS side. It is also the latest chapter in a bigger rivalry between the two cities that has encompassed far more than just sports.
Though professional soccer teams from Toronto and Montreal have faced off regularly since 1971, the first meeting between TFC and the Impact came in 2008 in the first edition of the Canadian Championship. Toronto would score a win and a draw against their rivals from Quebec, only to see the Impact come out on top in the three-team round-robin tournament.
Despite that setback, Toronto would go on to dominate the early series between the two teams – including a memorable 6-1 win in Montreal – owing partly to the fact that TFC were already an MLS side, while the Impact were still playing in the various iterations of North America’s second division.
That all changed when the Impact were announced as an MLS expansion team starting in the 2012 season. They promptly registered their first-ever win over Toronto FC, a 2-1 result at the Olympic Stadium in April of that year, and would go on to split the season series even as Toronto once again pushed aside Montreal to win the Canadian Championship
However, Montreal would end Toronto’s dominant run in that tournament in the following year, and in stunning fashion. After Toronto took a 2-0 lead in the first leg of the semifinal, the Impact put six unanswered goals past Toronto at Stade Saputo, giving Impact fans plenty of ammunition to taunt their rivals after four years of hearing about that 6-1 loss.
Toronto have continued to hold a slight edge in the MLS regular-season series between the two teams, even into 2016, but the playoffs have been a different story so far. The two teams were pitted against each other in the Knockout Round of the 2015 postseason in a game that was played in Montreal owing to the Impact’s Decision Day win over Toronto at BMO Field.
Montreal would go on to take apart their rivals to the tune of a 3-0 scoreline, adding insult to injury after Toronto had to watch Montreal’s magical run to the final of the CONCACAF Champions League earlier that year. That means that for now, it is Montreal who can claim the upper hand in the 401 Derby, though if the matchup’s nine-year history has taught us anything, it’s that no team seems to stay on top for too long.
All-Time Matches:
| 2016 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov 30 | TOR vs. MTLMLS Cup Playoffs | BMO Field | TBD |
| Nov 22 | MTL 3, TOR 2MLS Cup Playoffs | Stade Saputo | Montreal raced out to a 3-0 lead as Dom Oduro scored once and helped create another, but TFC clawed back two goals via Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley to set up a tight finish in the return leg of the 2016 Eastern Conference Championship. |
| Oct 16 | MTL 2, TOR 2MLS Reg. Season | Stade Saputo | Tosaint Ricketts equalized for Toronto in the 86th minute, but the result was enough to qualify Montreal into the playoffs. The postgame story would be Didier Drogba's asking out of the Impact squad. |
| Aug 27 | TOR 0, MTL 1MLS Reg. Season | BMO Field | Playing with 10 men due to a Calum Mallace ejection just before halftime, Montreal still earned their first-ever win at BMO (in 12 matches across all competitions) courtesy of an Ignacio Piatti 73rd-minute goal. |
| June 8 | MTL 0, TOR 0Canadian Ch'ship | Stade Saputo | A conservative, defensive match by the Reds in Leg 2 secured passage into the Canadian Ch'ship final by a 4-2 aggregate score. |
| June 1 | TOR 4, MTL 2Canadian Ch'ship | BMO Field | Toronto fielded a young lineup and were up 4-0 at one point in this semifinal series 1st leg, but Montreal fought back with two late goals to make it a series. |
| April 23 | MTL 0, TOR 2MLS Reg. Season | Stade Saputo | TFC log a rather comfortable win thanks to two goals by Sebastian Giovinco (40' PK and 81') and a strong defensive performance. |
| 2015 | |||
| Oct 29 | MTL 3, TOR 0MLS Cup Playoffs | Stade Saputo | Toronto's long-awaited postseason debut was cut brutally short by a rampant Impact in the Knockout Round. IMFC were up 3-0 at halftime via Patrice Bernier (18'), Ignacio Piatti (33') and Didier Drogba (39'), and cruised from there. |
| Oct. 25 | MTL 2, TOR 1MLS Reg. Season | Stade Saputo | Two impudent Didier Drogba finishes in two minutes (54', 55') washed away Jozy Altidore's opener (45') on Decision Day, earning Montreal the right to host TFC in the following week's playoff match. |
| Aug 29 | TOR 2, MTL 1MLS Reg. Season | BMO Field | Michael Bradley (35') and Jozy Altidore (55') scored at BMO Field to extend TFC's league unbeaten run over their rivals to 6 games. A wasteful Dom Oduro (74') finally finished one of many chances for a late consolation. |
| June 24 | TOR 3, MTL 1MLS Reg. Season | BMO Field | Toronto's Designated Player trio (Jozy Altidore 56', Sebastian Giovinco 82' PK, Michael Bradley 27') all scored as the Reds opened MLS Rivalry Week with a dominating 3-1 win. |
| May 13 | TOR 3, MTL 2Canadian Ch'ship | BMO Field | Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, TFC built a 3-1 lead that would've seen them advance, only to concede a late goal by ex-Red Dominic Oduro (84') that tied the aggregate score and sent Montreal through on away goals. |
| May 6 | MTL 1, TOR 0Canadian Ch'ship | Stade Saputo | Jack McInerney (69') struck to give the Impact a first-leg lead in the semifinal series, in the first match of the season played outdoors at their Stade Saputo home. |
| 2014 | |||
| Oct 18 | TOR 1, MTL 1MLS Reg. Season | BMO Field | The Impact would finish dead last in the league in 2014, but they helped ensure that their rivals would miss out on the postseason with this contentious draw, marked by three red cards. |
| Aug 2 | MTL 0, TOR 2MLS Reg. Season | Stade Saputo | Michael Bradley set up both goals (by Gilberto 11' and Luke Moore 54') in his first 401 Derby as Toronto took all three points from this visit to Quebec. |
| June 4 | MTL 1, TOR 0Canadian Ch'ship | Stade Saputo | Montreal hoisted their second straight Voyageurs Cup in a nailbiter, as a dramatic injury-time goal by Felipe won the game for the Impact, and clinched the tournament final series 2-1 on aggregate. |
| May 28 | TOR 1, MTL 1Canadian Ch'ship | BMO Field | Doneil Henry (20') and Justin Mapp (73') found the net in a back-and-forth affair in Toronto; the final result shaded the advantage in this cup final first leg to the visiting Impact. |
| 2013 | |||
| Oct. 26 | TOR 1, MTL 0MLS Reg. Season | BMO Field | Montreal won the Canadian Championship and made the playoffs this season, but Toronto took some consolation by beating their rivals in their final meeting of the year via Robert Earnshaw (16'). |
| July 3 | TOR 3, MTL 3MLS Reg. Season | BMO Field | Montreal's Andres Romero set the tone for this wild occasion with a goal just 23 seconds after the opening whistle; TFC hit back to seize a 3-1 lead, but gave it away as IMFC struck twice late. |
| May 1 | MTL 6, TOR 0Canadian Ch'ship | Stade Saputo | Marco Di Vaio bagged a double (44' and 90') and Justin Mapp dominated with a goal (24'), assist and two shots that led to goals as Montreal hammered TFC to win the series going away, 6-2 on aggregate. |
| April 24 | TOR 2, MTL 0Canadian Ch'ship | BMO Field | With both teams resting several of their starters, Toronto took a first-leg lead in their semifinal series thanks to second-half goals by Doneil Henry (49') and Andrew Wideman (81'). |
| March 16 | MTL 2, TOR 1MLS Reg. Season | Olympic Stadium | The Impact notched a third straight win to start the season on goals by Patrice Bernier (34' PK) and Marco Di Vaio (45'). A Robert Earnshaw penalty to cut the deficit made things interesting in the second half. |
| 2012 | |||
| Oct. 20 | TOR 0, MTL 0MLS Reg. Season | BMO Field | Goalkeepers Troy Perkins (MTL) and Freddy Hall (TOR) earned a shutout in Toronto FC's final home match of 2012. Both netminders were helped by misfiring forwards on both sides. |
| June 27 | MTL 0, TOR 3MLS Reg. Season | Stade Saputo | While Montreal celebrated the arrival of new star striker Marco Di Vaio, Toronto stole the show on goals by Torsten Frings (52'), Ryan Johnson (72') and Danny Koevermans (78'). |
| May 9 | TOR 2, MTL 0Canadian Ch'ship | BMO Field | Despite an early Richard Eckersley red card (17'), Toronto FC got goals from Reggie Lambe (2') and Ryan Johnson (38') and held on to win their first match in all competitions in nearly two months. Toronto thus advanced to their 5th consecutive Canadian Ch'ship final. |
| May 2 | MTL 0, TOR 0Canadian Ch'ship | Olympic Stadium | It was another physical Cup showdown as both teams played a cautious first leg in their semifinal series. Montreal had a Sanna Nyassi goal called back for offside in the 65th minute. |
| April 7 | MTL 2, TOR 1MLS Reg. Season | Olympic Stadium | Montreal's first-ever MLS win was also the first-ever win over Toronto FC on goals by Sinisa Ubiparipovic (17') and Andrew Wenger (81'). Toronto went down to 10 men (Logan Emory 65th-minute red card), but still managed a consolation goal thanks to Danny Koevermans. |
| 2011 | |||
| -- | -- | -- | NO OFFICIAL MATCHES IN 2011 |
| 2010 | |||
| May 12 | MTL 0, TOR 1Canadian Ch'ship | Stade Saputo | Just days after the announcement that Montreal would be joining MLS in 2012, the Impact, who were missing three players due to red card suspensions, were eliminated from the Canadian Ch'ship on a De Rosario goal (74'). |
| April 28 | TOR 2, MTL 0Canadian Ch'ship | BMO Field | In a physical match that saw Toronto's Ty Harden depart with a leg laceration and Montreal striker Roberto Brown (35') sent off, TFC got goals from Dwayne De Rosario (12') and Chad Barrett (61') in the victory. |
| 2009 | |||
| June 18 | MTL 1, TOR 6Canadian Ch'ship | Stade Saputo | Needing to win by four or more goals to win the Canadian Championship in the tournament's final match, Toronto scored six unanswered after Montreal went up on a 24th-minute PK. Dwayne De Rosario contributed a hat trick. |
| May 13 | TOR 1, MTL 0Canadian Ch'ship | BMO Field | Just six minutes after an Impact goal was called back for offside, Chad Barrett scored the lone goal (35'). Toronto created plenty of chances, especially after Montreal's David Testo was sent off (72'). |
| 2008 | |||
| July 22 | TOR 1, MTL 1Canadian Ch'ship | BMO Field | The draw gave the USL's Impact the inaugural edition of the Canadian Championship on their rivals' home field, although Toronto, who needed a win to claim the title, hit the post two minutes from time. |
| May 27 | MTL 0, TOR 1Canadian Ch'ship | Stade Saputo | A Marco Velez 72nd-minute header gave the MLS side the road win over the 10-man Impact (Stefano Pesoli 52nd-minute second yellow), who played in the USL First Division. |
