TORONTO—MLS Cup, here they come.
Toronto FC's Audi 2016 MLS Cup Playoffs continue with a date against Seattle on December 10.
“I couldn't be more proud of this group,” said head coach Greg Vanney following the seven-goal, extra-time thriller, a 5-2 (7-5 aggregate) victory over Canadian rival Montreal Impact. “The game tonight was a roller coaster. The guys kept fighting, it wasn't easy. I's been a stressful week, trying to do everything I can to make the guys feel like they're ready to go. They proved they were and then some.”
With the Eastern Conference Championship delicately balanced after a 3-2 Montreal win in the first leg, TFC knew they had their work cut out for them, but none sensed it would come in such a wild affair.
“There were so many twists and turns along the way,” said Michael Bradley. “Down 1-0, up 2-1, 2-2, then 3-2, at 3-2 it was on a knife's edge.”
With the aggregate total even at 5, the match proceeded to extra time, where the possibility of penalty kicks loomed, only for the deciding goal to come from the most unlikely of sources: Benoit Cheyrou.
In the 98th minute, Steven Beitashour swung a ball in from the right as Cheyrou muscled his way in front of Hassoun Camara, guiding the finish down inside the near-post. It was Cheyrou's first goal of the season and only his second ever for TFC – the first coming back in April 2015 against Chicago.
The savvy Frenchman entered just 92 seconds earlier, an injury substitute for start forward Sebastian Giovinco (calf cramps), and Vanney joked about telling him to “get to the back post, diving header, if you could do it on your first touch it could bring me a lot of relief.”
“Ben's a guy with a ton of experience, he sniffed out something,” Vanney continued. “You don't have to tell too much to guys like that, who have been around the block. They've got a pretty good sense of what is going on in the game.”
For his part, Cheyrou was the ever-modest hero: “I have to do the job on the pitch. I'm not the guy who scores many goals, but tonight it was the night. It was very important. I'm so proud of that, so happy for the team, for the fans, for the city.”
