Final Score: CS Saint-Laurent 0-3 Toronto FC
Goalscorers: Longstaff 50′, Kerr 59′, Bernardeschi 76′
2024 TELUS Canadian Championship — Quarter-Final (Leg 1)

Match in a minute or less

After scoring three times in the second half at Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard on Wednesday night, Toronto FC took a commanding lead against Ligue1 Quebec side CS Saint-Laurent in the first leg of their Canadian Championship quarter-final matchup.

Nathan Goulet made a crucial goal line clearance seven minutes in, denying the tournament’s record goalscorer Jonathan Osorio, minutes before the two goalkeepers — Toronto’s Luka Gavran and Saint-Laurent’s Konstantinos Maniatis — traded big saves at either end of the pitch. The first half was end-to-end and both teams had their chances, but the game remained scoreless going into the break.

Toronto FC found a breakthrough early in the second half, with Matty Longstaff firing a powerful shot that Maniatis got a touch on, but couldn’t prevent from finding the top right corner of the net. Toronto FC added a second in the 59th minute, with Deandre Kerr picking out the bottom left corner with a low shot, seconds after Saint-Laurent thought they deserved a penalty at the other end of the pitch when the ball struck Aimé Mabika’s arm.

Federico Bernardeschi put the match out of reach in the 76th minute, catching Saint-Laurent off guard with a free kick from the right wing. As Maniatis was organizing his defenders for the set piece, Bernardeschi decided to curl a shot toward goal, and it found the back of the unprotected net. The Italian forward nearly scored a second minutes later, firing a shot that had the goalkeeper beat but struck the post.

The chances didn’t dry up for Saint-Laurent in the second half after a lively first, with Jefferson Alphonse coming closest to getting the hosts on the board in the 87th minute. Alphonse took a shot from the left side of the box, but couldn’t keep it down, and it missed just high and wide of the top left corner.

The second-half outburst from TFC sends them back to BMO Field in two weeks with a commanding lead in this two-legged quarter-final.

Three Observations

Saint-Laurent stick to their identity, play fearless football

Just as they did last week against the Halifax Wanderers in the preliminary round of the Canadian Championship, CS Saint-Laurent didn’t let the occasion or their opponents dictate how they played for most of Wednesday’s match.

Saint-Laurent, in front of thousands of home fans at Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard, took the game to Toronto FC and certainly didn’t look out of place against significantly stronger opposition on paper. Wesley Wandje in particular was a force to be reckoned with for the hosts, bombing up and down the right wing, playing the ball to his teammates, and battling for every inch of turf on both sides of the ball.

It can be common in David vs. Goliath matchups like this for the underdogs to sit back and defend and try to hit their opponents on the counter attack, but the reigning Ligue1 Quebec champions were having none of that. They fired 16 shots at Luka Gavran, just four less than TFC managed against them, and hit the target on six occasions. Jefferson Alphonse also came close to finding the top left corner with a late shot, but his effort ended up going just high and wide.

Saint-Laurent were also organized defensively, and while they did concede three goals as the game slipped away in the second half, they were structured and committed to getting bodies behind the ball when necessary. Five players spread across the backline when defending in their own half, with the fullbacks dropping deeper to join the three centre-backs.

“We’re extremely proud of the efforts they put in,” Saint-Laurent head coach Nicholas Razzaghi said after the match. “It gets tough, especially mentally, to concentrate when you’re not used to this level of fitness and physique and quality on the ball because it tires your mind out if not more than your legs.

“They didn’t come into this challenge scared, they came into this challenge with a lot of confidence and courage, and I think everyone is able to see that.”

Razzaghi’s counterpart John Herdman also heaped loads of praise on the Saint-Laurent players and staff after the match, and following the full time whistle stood at the edge of the pitch and shook the hands of everyone as they walked off.

“I want to start by saying what a performance by Saint-Laurent,” said Herdman. “I thought they were outstanding tonight. Hell of an atmosphere. Loved it. It felt like a proper cup match. I think 4,700 turned out, 6,000 tickets sold, and this is more media than I get in Toronto. So this obviously is a football city.”

“I think Saint-Laurent ought to be proud tonight. They pushed us, pushed us hard. Obviously for me what I’m happy about is the clean sheet, that was one mission. Tonight, just a professional performance, no injuries, and yeah, we got out of here. Tough night, cup match, everything you expected it to be.”

The praise didn’t stop there from Herdman, who added later in his press conference that Saint-Laurent “deserved something out of that game”, and could have probably had multiple goals in the match. Football is a game of moments a lot of the time, and in this particular match, Toronto FC showed their quality and took advantage of theirs, while a lack of clinical finishing let Saint-Laurent down.

Toronto find breakthrough early in second half, take advantage back to BMO Field

After being held off the scoresheet in the first half, Toronto FC found the back of the net early in the second half and didn’t look back.

Matty Longstaff found the opening goal, receiving a short pass inside the box and firing a shot at the top right corner. Kosta Maniatis got a touch to the shot, but it was too powerful, and ended up finding the back of the net. The Reds doubled their advantage nine minutes later, with Deandre Kerr picking out a corner as well, this time the bottom left.

Kerr’s goal came after a quick counter-attack up the pitch after the ball appeared to strike the arm of Aimé Mabika in the Toronto penalty area. Saint-Laurent argued that they deserved a penalty as Mabika’s arm was seemingly away from his body, but referee Michael Venne waved away the protests as play went the other way down the field, leading to the second tally.

GOAL 🦝🦝#TFClive go up 2-0 vs. CS Saint-Laurent in Leg 1 of this TELUS #CanChamp clash as DeAndre Kerr hits on the counter-attack… but was that a handball in the box on the other end!? 👀

🔴 Watch LIVE on OneSoccer pic.twitter.com/b5BWzrgFiy

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 9, 2024

When John Herdman said in the leadup to this game that Italian star Federico Bernardeschi would be available for selection on Wednesday night, few expected him to really play, or for very long, but Herdman was true to his word and subbed in Bernardeschi in the 65th minute. Already up 2-0 by that point, the game had opened up a bit and the TFC forward was able to get on the ball and make things happen.

Bernardeschi, in an ambitious moment in the 76th minute, put the game — and probably this quarter-final — out of reach. With the Saint-Laurent goalkeeper not paying attention to him as he set up his teammates to defend a cross into the box from a free kick, Bernardeschi expertly curled a shot into the wide-open goal to make it 3-0 for the visitors.

Saint-Laurent’s players and fans didn’t like it, but the referee didn’t see an issue with the goal, and Toronto FC celebrated another important away goal as they trotted back to their own half.

GOAL 🦝🦝🦝

Oh, no, no, no, no, no 😭

Federico Bernardeschi, you can't do it to 'em like that 🥲#TFClive up 3-0 over CS Saint-Laurent in TELUS #CanChamp action after this devious goal 😈 pic.twitter.com/QtgRJIQ6Sf

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) May 9, 2024

One away goal would likely have been a big mountain for Saint-Laurent heading back to Toronto in a couple of weeks, so coming back from down three will be even tougher. TFC return home with a significant advantage, knowing that anything other than a seismic collapse will see them advance to the semifinals in this competition once again.

Outstanding atmosphere in Montreal contributes to “proper cup night” feeling

Wednesday night’s match was a special one for everyone in Montreal, and one that the large crowd won’t soon forget. “The magic of the cup” is a tagline thrown around loosely sometimes, but on nights like this one, the occasion can be even more memorable than the result.

Saint-Laurent head coach Nicholas Razzaghi estimated that around six to seven thousand fans packed Complexe sportif Claude-Robillard for the match, about the same number as were at Wanderers Grounds in Halifax for their preliminary round win last week.

“Our fans were incredible and we really want to thank them for coming out,” said Razzaghi. “We want to thank all the people that organized it as well because it was a lot of work. Our fans were behind us the whole time.

“So many people around the community, rival teams in our league, players, little kids and people that might not know much about the game but want to come be here for the event. It was really something special, you can’t thank them enough for the support. That was six, seven thousand people here backing us up and we really, really appreciate it.”

John Herdman also praised the fans in Montreal, and said it felt like a “proper cup night”.

It was a wet and windy night, and playing on a smaller pitch they aren’t used to presented some challenges for TFC well. None of those would have been reasonable excuses had the MLS side lost to their Ligue1 Quebec opponents, but they were certainly things that the Reds had to wary of.

“I said to the lads, anything can happen on these nights,” Herdman said afterwards. “A lad can score, and heartbreak, you just never know. All we can do is be disciplined and recognize the clean sheet was really important and then take our moments.

“We knew it wasn’t going to be a game you were going to be able to put an expansive plan to football. I think it’s a 64-metre pitch and we turned up in the wind and the rain, and you’re like, ‘it’s a proper cup night, lads, just stay in the fight, keep fighting, stick together and we’ll get through’.

“Thankfully we did.”