TORONTO - Doneil Henry and Andrew Wiedeman scored at opposite ends of the second half as Toronto FC drew first blood against the Montreal Impact in their opening semifinal leg of the Amway Canadian Championship on Wednesday evening at BMO Field.

INTERVIEWS: Neslen | Bekker | Frei | Henry | Wiedeman | Ephraim

HIGHLIGHTS: Bostock's Rocket | Henry's Goal | Wiedeman's Pass | Wiedeman's Goal

With both teams facing a busy slate of fixtures in the coming weeks, Toronto and Montreal each elected to rest several of their most prominent starters, with Robert Earnshaw, Marco Di Vaio and Alessandro Nesta not dressing for the game and Darren O’Dea taking a place on the TFC bench.

The technical ability of those four veteran players was clearly missed during a spirited but sloppily played first half in which the lone genuine scoring chance came on a well placed 18th minute free kick from TFC midfielder John Bostock that required a diving save from Impact keeper Evan Bush, making his first appearance of the season for the Impact.

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After struggling to generate scoring chances in the opening forty-five minutes, Toronto came to life early in the second half with a run of play that culminated with Montreal unable to completely clear the ball from their box and Henry, a center back, delivering a strike any forward would be proud of, past Bush into the top left corner of the Impact net.

Montreal head coach Marco Schällibaum attempted to kick-start his team’s offense at the hour mark with the substitutes Andrea Pisanu and recently-signed Daniele Paponi coming on in place of midfielders Calum Mallace and Justin Mapp.

However, it would be a Toronto substitute who would influence the match and play a key role in clinching the result for the home side, with attacking midfielder Luis Silva threading a beautiful pass to Wiedeman, who made no mistake in putting his shot past Bush in the 81st minute.

Wiedeman did miss a golden chance to all but ice the series just minutes later, though, finding himself with all sorts of time and space at close range, only to opt for power and drive it straight at Bush.

In a cup match in which Toronto and Montreal started five and three Canadian players, respectively, TFC once again showed an uncanny ability to get the job done in the Canadian Championship competition, which they have won four times running.

The two teams will meet again in the series decider next Wednesday in Montreal as Toronto will look to seal a spot in the tournament final, while the Impact must find at least two goals on their home turf.

Before then, though, both teams will be back in MLS action, as Toronto host the New York Red Bulls on Saturday afternoon, with the Chicago Fire visiting Montreal at the Stade Saputo the same day.



TORONTO FC 2:0 MONTREAL IMPACT

GOALSCORERS- HENRY 49’, WEIDEMAN 81’



TORONTO FC: 24- Stefan FREI [C], 5- Ashtone MORGAN, 4- Doneil HENRY, 3- Danny CALIFF, 33- Ryan RICHTER, 21- Jon OSORIO, 8- Kyle BEKKER (72’: 11- Luis SILVA), 7- John BOSTOCK, 9- Emery WELSHMAN, 17-Justin BRAUN (72’: 31-Hogan EPHRAIM), 32- Andrew WEIDEMAN

Bench: 40- Quillan ROBERTS, 6- Gale AGBOSSOUMONDE, 48- Darren O’DEA, 26- Asthon BENNETT, 28- Taylor MORGAN

TD: Ryan NELSEN



MONTREAL IMPACT: 30- Evan BUSH, 51- Maxim TISSOT, 6- Hassoun CAMARA, 34- Karl OUIMETTE, 5- Jeb BROVSKY, 11- Sanna NYASSI (77’: 31- Andrea PISANU), 16- Calum MALLACE (60’: 35- Daniele PAPONI), 8- Patrice BERNIER [C], 21- Justin MAPP (60’: 15- Andres ROMERO), 33- Andrew WENGER

Bench: 40- Maxime CREDEAU, 7- Felipe CAMPANHOLI MARTINS, 17- Dennis IAPICHINO, 55- Wandrille LEFEVRE

TD: Marco SCHÄLLIBAUM



Booked /Avertissements:

MALLACE 55’

WIEDEMAN 84’



Sent offs/ Expulsions:

None