Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley give Toronto FC life in MLS playoffs

That’s how Ambroise Oyongo scored the third Impact goal, allowed to just waltz right up the middle of the park before blasting a shot from range. The Impact advances with a tie as well as a victory.

The 38-year-old joined Impact in July 2015 after a second spell with Chelsea and guided them to the Eastern Conference semi-finals for the first time in the club’s history in his maiden season.

Five minutes later, Montreal could not clear a Toronto attack, and Ricketts teed up Bradley.

The victor will progress to the MLS Cup final in Seattle or Colorado on 10 December.

“They’ve got to score”, Biello said. We did previous year. “The mentality to keep going and find any way to walk out of here with a real chance was awesome”. Toronto seemed lost and confused after the first 2 goals but oddly enough, no panic was felt among the ranks of the Reds.

“There is still one, maybe two games to go”. “We have to prepare for what we need to do to stop them and to score”.

And talking to the press after the game, Oduro said, “I’m happy with goal I scored but more importantly with the win”. “And if we hurt them, it puts us in a good situation”.

“We’ve never had the upper hand”.

Whatever the reason for Toronto’s early struggles, Vanney’s second-half adjustments helped to stop the bleeding and give his team a fighting chance. In the end, for us nothing changes.

For what it’s worth, it certainly appeared Toronto’s second goal shouldn’t have counted.

The mood certainly was no better in the Impact dressing room. The Impact got off to a brilliant start with a 10th minute goal by Dominic Oduro, but the real highlight was the assist by Patrice Bernier.

Oduro was at it again not three minutes later, collecting a sloppy Steven Beitashour clearance and finding Piatti on the left side of the newly-painted 18-yard box.

With a half-hour left in the game, Toronto’s manager chose to put an extra player up top and take a player out of his midfield.

‘For me it’s very hard to reply to the question when the question starts “if”. “It wasn’t looking good there for a little while”. In the build-up TFC coach Craig Vanney dared to play his favoured 3-5-2 formation because of the extra space it would afford him at the back (“I believe I’m the fastest player in the league”, the Ghanaian said).