Montreal edges Toronto for first win
Jeisson Vargas scored in the 41st minute, and the Montreal Impact held off Toronto FC for a 1-0 victory at Olympic Stadium in Montreal on Saturday.
The Impact is 1-2-0. Toronto, the defending MLS champion, is 0-2-0 and has yet to score.
Vargas scored his first MLS goal in his third match with a deflected shot. He took a pass by Ignacio Piatti and fired from the right side of the penalty area. The ball skimmed the leg of Toronto defender Nick Hagglund.
Hagglund prevented a possible goal two minutes later when he got in front of a Piatti shot from 12 yards after the Argentine midfielder dribbled around two defenders.
Montreal tried to double the lead in the 58th minute when Piatti combined with Saphir Taider inside the box, but Taider sent the ball outside the far post.
Toronto was coming off a Tuesday match in Mexico against Tigres in the CONCACAF Champions League. Combined with an unforgiving turf in the domed stadium, there was speculation that coach Greg Vanney might rest a few stars, but first-teamers such as Michael Bradley, Sebastian Giovinco, Jozy Altidore were in the lineup.
In the 84th minute, Altidore came close to scoring. Montreal goalkeeper Evan Bush stopped his shot from 8 yards with his right hand but the ball squibbed past him toward the goal line. Impact defender Michael Petrasso shielded Toronto's Nicolas Hasler from the rebound and cleared the ball to preserve the lead.
Bush made five saves.
It was Altidore's second good chance. In the 64th minute, Giovinco put a ball over the top to Altidore but his chip from the 6-yard box went right of the goal.
Toronto hosts Real Salt Lake on March 30. The Impact plays at Seattle on March 31.
--Field Level Media
