Toronto FC will play their first MLS Cup against the Seattle Sounders after beating the Montreal Impact in overtime by an aggregate of 7-5 and in a very thrilling playoff series that had fans in the stadium on the edge of their seat.
In the first game in Montreal, the Impact was leading 3-0 before Toronto stormed back in the 67 game with two late goals that brought them back to life and set the stage for the return leg in Ontario.
The second game was a back and forth affair with Montreal striking first in the 24th minute with Ghanaian Dominic Odouro scoring before Toronto took the lead with goals in the 37th and 45th minute with goals by Panamanian Armando Cooper and Jozy Altidore respectively.
Montreal refused to give up and tied the score in the 53rd minute thanks to a shot from the center of the box by Argentine Ignacio Piatti and giving his team a temporary 4-5 aggregate score advantage.
Toronto was not to be denied in front of their crowd and barely 15 minutes later they stroke back to take the lead 3-2 with a header by Nick Hagglund and tying the overall score 5-5.
It stayed that way until the end of regulation time forcing overtime, where the locals would take control of things with goals in the 98th and 100th minutes to win the series 7-5 and claim the Eastern Conference Championship.
The first overtime goal was a header by Frenchman Benoit Cheyrou and the second was a right-footed shot from close range by Canadian Tosaint Ricketts. Both goals sent the 36,000 faithful into ecstasy and the team to its first MLS Cup in franchise history.
The MLS Cup will be a duel of first timers and will be held in December 10 in Toronto, as the Canadians are the team with the stronger regular season record.
The MLS success with its fans is at this point undeniable and a full-capacity crowd is expected for the final game of the season.
League Growth
In fact, the MLS is now ranked sixth in the world in attendance bringing approximately 7.3 million fans to the stadiums for the 340 total games of the regular season for an average of 21,692 per game. That puts them in front of leagues such as Italy’s Serie A and France’s Ligue 1.
This is the third year in a row that the league assistance records are broken and it trails only Mexico in the American continent.
Here’s a short list of the assistance records in the world:
Soccer League Fans Per Game
1. Bundesliga (Germany) 41,968
2. Premier League (England) 35,516
3. La Liga (Spain) 38,076
4. Liga MX (Mexico) 26,794
5. Chinese Super League 24,255
6. MLS (USA) 21,692
7. Serie A (Italy) 21,069
8. Ligue 1 (France) 20,898
