Toronto FC are close to making history as they prepare for the first leg of the Concacaf Champions League final on Tuesday night (8:15 pm ET | TSN2 in Canada; UDN, go90.com in US).
But to this point, they’ve followed a trail blazed by two other MLS teams — Real Salt Lake and the Montreal Impact.
RSL thought of themselves as the “pioneers of the CCL” when they stunned Saprissa in what was a harrowing road trip before narrowly losing in the 2011 final to Monterrey in front of their home fans. (Before the current format began in 2008-09, D.C. United and the LA Galaxy won the CONCACAF Champions’ Cup in 1998 and 2000, respectively, but that was a smaller and less-taxing tournament.)
It then took four years for another MLS club to get back to that point with the Impact making the improbable run to the 2015 CCL final after being the league’s worst team in 2014. But in front of a huge crowd at Olympic Stadium, they couldn’t keep the magic going vs. Club America.
So the only question now is: Will TFC be able to complete the job and do what no other MLS team before them has been able to do?
