TORONTO – When Toronto FC take to the pitch on Sunday evening against the Montreal Impact, it will be the 14th time the two have met over the past two calendar years and the third time in the last seven weeks.
Every conceivable angle has been covered: the escalation of the rivalry over that time, the strange bedfellows club and country fosters, and the unique problem that the Impact pose to TFC.
Ahead of this third and final meeting of the MLS schedule, TorontoFC.ca sat down with a trio of members of Kings in the North, a supporters' group, to dig into what this contest means to them and how they have experienced it over the years.
“It's why you get into football,” said Mike Newell, co-founder of Kings, who formed in 2012, and part-time capo, of the rivalry. “Is it a local derby in the traditional sense of they're just down the road? No, but that is our just down the road. Playing them, no matter the standings, the time of the year, it's important to win. That's that. They are blue and we are red. I don't think I need to explain more than that.”
Added Frank Fiumara, a new member of the group: “I hate them. I hate them so much.”
“In Toronto, you grow up hating Montreal; they grow up hating Toronto. The Leafs and the Habs, the red versus the blue, or in this case, vice versa,” continued Frank. “They have too much attitude. [Dominic] Oduro, shushing the crowd... we shushed you in the end. It's a clash, a clash of cultures.”
“More than any game of the year, it's the one we look forward to the most,” said Frank. “No one else brings that fierceness. To us as supporters, on both sides, to the players. It's an old fashion derby, where the two teams loathe each other.”
Said Bobby Chatterjee, Kings member and occasional drummer: “It's everything. It's what being a supporter for TFC is all about.”
“Knowing that you've got a rival that close, with so much history between the two cities in every sport, and the hatred amongst the teams and the fans,” continued Bobby. “But at the same time there is a lot of mutual respect between the two, [though] it may not show all the time.”
“When we were struggling, we were trying to emulate Montreal, [who made the playoffs before us]. Now they're trying to emulate us,” added Bobby. “A lot of mutual respect, but a lot more hatred.”
On matchdays, that spirit starts early for Bobby: “I wake up and hum, 'We hate Montreal and that is just a fact'. That's something I will always have in my head, at work, at home, it's going through my head. That gets me in the right mindset to start yelling and screaming during the game.”
The history between the two teams goes back to before Montreal were even in MLS. The sides would meet regularly in the Canadian Championships, battling for the Voyageurs Cup. The Impact would continue their early domination of the competition, taking the inaugural tournament edition in 2008, denying the glory to their MLS-based cousins, but TFC responded by winning the next four in a row.
When the Impact joined MLS in 2012, the intensity only escalated, reaching a pinnacle in last season's Eastern Conference Final, an epic series that will never be forgotten by those who experienced it.
The second leg in particular was, what Bobby called, “The biggest moment”.
“It looked so gloomy, with Oduro scoring, and then the entire South End erupting, putting TFC on their back,” recalled Bobby. “The players felt it, and that catapulted the entire game.”
Frank walks through what he calls, “The night.”
“We're down 3-2 [after the first leg], down 5-2 by the end of first [half]. Then the rain started coming down... I didn't know if it was rain, beer, or tears streaming down my face,” smiled Frank. “[It] was magic.”
“That's the point where the balance of the two teams shifted. They were better than us, not on paper, but they brought it to the games more often than not. Entering the playoffs last year [we did too].”
That night was extra sweet for Mike because of what happened in the 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs.
“The 3-0 loss,” said Mike. “A bad memory, but [one] nonetheless. I was there... the worst. If I could encapsulate losing an away match it was that: go to your biggest rivals, your first playoff game, and you get smashed. And you have to sit there for 60 minutes and just take it.”
“They're ringing the bell. [Didier] Drogba celebrating in front of you, [Patrice] Bernier celebrating in front of you,” he continued. “That's football. You accept that sometimes that may happen, but the reason that sticks out in my mind was that that was a turning point, when everybody said we're on the right track, now we know exactly what we need to do to get to the level we want to be at.”
“To turn around the next year, win the Canadian Championship, go to the playoffs and have that epic series in the semifinal,” added Mike. “It was amazing.”
While that recent history is front of mind, Mike digs deeper.
“The Miracle in Montreal,” smiles Mike of the classic 2009 comeback that saw TFC hoist the Voyageurs Cup for the first time, stealing it away from the on-looking Vancouver Whitecaps with a 6-1 win at Stade Saputo in the final match of the tournament. “I was watching on TV. We went down, [I feared it] could be one of those nights... When we got the second goal, [I thought] we're going to pull this off; we're going to do this. Sitting in my apartment, with my roommates in their rooms, they couldn't understand why I was screaming at the TV.”
“Unholy noise when we won that; that was pretty cool,” said Mike.
Amidst those big milestones, there have been plenty of other moments that stick out.
“Wasn't a win, ended up drawing 0-0 or 1-1, end of [one season],” said Mike. “They brought 100 supporters, we were still in [Section] 127 so they were right above us; it was just banter back and forth the entire game. The corresponding game earlier that year when we travelled 700-800 to the Big O.”
And most recently, “This year's cup final.”
“I ended up in Twitter banter with guy from Montreal complaining about [Mauro] Biello's comments about the fans influencing the referee in terms of added time,” said Mike. “Those are your memories, games, but then there is the banter afterwards.”
Bobby was away this summer, but recalled watching the highlights on his phone: “Seeing [Maxime Crepeau] after [Sebastian] Giovinco's goal... He felt dejected. He thought they were going to win... nope, Giovinco took it away. “
And for Bobby, “The next big moment for us is going to be on Sunday, when in less than a year, Montreal gets to watch us lift three trophies in front of them. That's incredible. The [Eastern Conference Championship, the Voyageurs Cup, and the Supporters' Shield], and Montreal gets to watch you hoist all three of them.”
In the most recent meeting, Montreal, against the odds, handed Toronto a 5-3 defeat, snapping an 11-game unbeaten run and shattering the unblemished home record.
“You don't want to lose to a rival,” said Mike. “Losing the home undefeated, something I was particularly proud about. But then you step back, look at the bigger picture.”
“You're not OK with it, you're never OK with it, but I look at the positives: we came back, scored three goals, if we played an extra 20 minutes we probably would have tied the game,” pointed out Mike. “You admire the fightback, but it's still [unpleasant] to lose to your rivals, to see ten [Impact fans] up there, having a go. That sucks, obviously, but it's one of those, in the grand scheme of things, [that] I can take.”
Said Bobby: “I felt upset, because it's Montreal. At the same time, if we're going to lose one at home, I'd rather lose in September than October, November, December.”
Frank took it the hardest, asking, “Where is the beer?”
“It was disappointing because if we had played the first 40 minutes like we played the last 15, the outcome would have been 100% different. When that first goal, off [Ignacio] Piatti's [behind], [goes in]... it's going to be one of those nights,” said Frank. “You're going to have stuff like that happen from time to time, I just wish it wasn't against Montreal.”
And as for the expectation come Sunday?
“I anticipate the boys [will] play well, to go out and win, and try to tie the record for most points,” foresaw Bobby. “At the same time make sure we stay healthy and ready to go [in the playoffs].”
Frank sees it being a touch more dramatic: “I expect a hockey fight to break out.”
“The tension is going to be really high,” said Frank. “There is going to be some comeuppance for them in terms of goals, especially if Seba is back. If he is back, it's going to be one of those games like New York [in 2015], where he gets off a plane from Italy and puts us into the playoffs. It's going to be that type of determination that he's going to push for.”
Giovinco does indeed look set to make his return to the pitch.
“Bradley is going to want it bad as well,” added Frank. “The leadership of that man is insane. He's going to rally [TFC] and bring them out.”
Though Montreal has been officially eliminated from the post-season, Mike knows that fact will not diminish the importance one iota: “It's never a dead rubber. To Montreal's credit, they play up for that match, treat it like a cup final.”
And he knows what he wants to see from his side: “I want to thrash them. [It will] probably [be] 0-0, 1-1 something like that, but I want to thrash them. We're lifting the shield; I want to thrash them.”
“I want them to give us a guard of honour and then we give them a thrashing,” smiled Mike. “That's how the season should properly end.”
