TFC started their defense of the Voyageurs Cup, and the push for a 5th straight title, with a 2-0 victory over Montreal at a windswept and rainy BMO field. Both sides fielded what was essentially their ‘B’ teams, with TFC starting 8 players under the age of 24, five of whom were young Canadians.

With the exception of a Bostock free-kick that curled wickedly towards the corner of the net but was well saved by Evan Bush, the first half was nothing to write home about (or to write here). It was a little sloppy, and although there was a lot of passing and moving that promised to look good if it worked, too often the final ball found a Montreal player or was just out of range of the TFC attackers.

The second half picked up early though with Doneil Henry blasting a shot from the edge of the box past a helpless Bush in 49 minutes. After this it was pretty much one-way traffic and TFC did manage to string together some nice play. They were still a bit sloppy, but more of the attempted passes seemed to work and they hassled and pressured for every ball.   

Andrew Wiedeman would put the icing on the cake in 81 minutes. The young forward, who up to this point had a largely quiet game received a great pass from Luis Silva on the edge of the box and drilled it home for 2-0 and the win.

Henry and Wiedeman will get the plaudits for scoring the goals, but for me, the TFC man-of-the-match was Ryan Richter. Picked up largely as a depth/cover squad player, he had a solid game in all areas of the field and may well prove to be the best ‘value for money’ signing of 2013. 

On to some stats about the game (and previous games Vs Montreal) 

• TFC -V- Montreal:
  • TFC have played Montreal in official competition 13 times.
    • 9 Voyageurs Cup games (a.k.a. Canadian Championship)
    • 4 MLS
  • Voyageurs Cup
    • 7 Wins, 2 ties. We have never lost !
    • At BMO: 4 wins and 1 tie with TFC outscoring Montreal 8-1
    • In Montreal: 3 wins and 1 tie with TFC outscoring Montreal 1-8
    • Gratuitous mention of the Miracle in Montreal 1-6 🙂
  • MLS
    • 1 Win, 1 tie, 2 defeats
    • At BMO: 1 draw (0-0)
    • In Montreal: 1 win and 2 defeats, but TFC outscored Montreal 4-5 (2-1, 0-3, 2-1)
  • Discipline
    • Voyageurs Cup: 13 yellows, 1 red for TFC. 15 yellows, 3 reds for Montreal. TFC red card was Richard Eckersley at BMO last year.
    • MLS: 6 yellows 1 red for TFC. 10 yellows, 0 reds for Montreal. Red card was Logan Emory.

• Starting Debuts: Although he has previously appeared as a sub in MLS play, Emery Welshman made his starting debut for TFC in this game.

• Voyageurs Cup Debut:
  • 8 players made their first appearance in Voyageurs Cup play last night – Bekker, Bostock, Braun, Califf, Osorio, Richter, Welshman, Wiedeman.
  • Ephraim made his V.Cup debut as a sub.

• Appearances:
  • Stefan Frei now moves onto 97 appearances for TFC
    • All appearances were starting appearances. He has never come on as a sub
    • 81 MLS, 10 Voyageurs Cup, 6 Champions League
    • 10 Voyageurs Cup appearances equals Julian DeGuzman as highest total for TFC player

  • TFC have now used 24 players this year. Only Ashton Bennett, Quillan Roberts and Danny Koevermans have not seen some game time.

• Goals:
  • The first goal of the game was Doneil Henry’s second goal for TFC. his other goal came in MLS play @ Real Salt Lake in a 3-2 defeat last year.
  • Andrew Wiedeman’s goals was his third for TFC. He previously scored against Colorado in a 3-2 win at BMO last year, and also in the last game of the season @ Columbus in 2-1 defeat.

  • This was the first goal for either player in Voyageurs Cup.

• Discipline: The yellow issued to Wiedeman was his second for TFC. He was previously booked against CD Aguila in TFC’s 5-1 win @ BMO last year.

• Attendance: This was the lowest attendance for a Voyageurs Cup game @ BMO. The previous low was 13,777 for the Whitecaps game last year.

• Referee: Paul Ward
  • This was Paul Ward’s 11th game involving TFC
  • 5 games in Voyageurs Cup, 6 in MLS
  • 4 wins and a tie in Voyageurs Cup with this ref
  • 1 win, 2 ties, 3 losses in MLS with this ref.
  • 10 yellows, 0 reds for TFC with thisref in Voyageurs Cup, 6 yellows, 3 reds for opposition
  • 9 yellows, 0 reds for TFC with this ref in MLS, 7 yellows, 0 reds for opposition

Gallery for this game : HERE