TORONTO - CF Montreal recorded its first win of the season in dramatic fashion Wednesday, coming from behind twice before knocking º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøFC out of the Telus Canadian Championship via a penalty shootout.
Goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois was the hero of the preliminary-round game, stopping Tyrese Spicer and Ola Brynhildsen as Montreal won the shootout 3-2.Â
Kobe Franklin and Alonso Coello scored for º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøin the shootout. Theo Corbeanu ballooned his kick over the crossbar.
Joel Waterman, Dante Sealy and Dominic Iankov scored for Montreal. Tom Pearce also fired high.
Montreal will face either the Canadian Premier League’s Forge FC or Halifax Wanderers FC, who meet May 7, in the two-legged quarterfinals.
The game went to the shootout after it finished deadlocked at 2-2 in regulation time, thanks to Montreal substitute Giacomi Vrioni’s spectacular goal in the 88th minute. The Italian-born Albanian international forward, a designated player who had seen just 22 minutes of action previously this season, went airborne in volleying a cross past Luka Gavran.
Corbeanu scored and set up a goal by Spicer for Toronto, which led 1-0 and 2-1.
Waterman also scored for Montreal, which at 0-7-3 has yet to win in MLS play in 2025. Toronto, at 1-5-4, isn’t much better but had gone unbeaten in four games (1-0-3) prior to its weekend 1-0 loss to visiting New York City FC.
Montreal had not won a game since Oct. 19 when it blanked visiting NYCFC 2-0 in league play. It has been outscored 14-4 in MLS play this season and came into the game scoreless in its last three outings.
Starting with seven straight road games (0-5-2) did not help Montreal’s cause with coach Laurent Courtois dismissed five games in. And five of its seven losses have been by one goal.
“I knew that sooner or later that things could turn in a good way for us,” said interim coach Marco Donadel, who celebrated his first win at Montreal’s helm. “But these guys are unbelievable. This is the ninth away game out of 11. It means 18 flights. It means coming back at night nine times … We needed this energy.”
Sirois, who was at the other end of a penalty shootout in Montreal’s playoff loss to Atlanta in October, savoured the victory.
“I hope it gives us the boost we need to get on and start winning in our season,” he said. “We all know that collectively we’ve been playing pretty well … but the truth is we need results. And I hope that this win tonight can help us in terms of energy and momentum.”
The emotions were far more raw on Toronto’s side.
“Incredibly disappointed,” said º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøcoach Robin Fraser. “Disappointed that we lost not one lead but two. We certainly felt like we did enough to win the game.”Â
“At the end of the day, what I told them is we haven’t had many leads late in games and we have to close games out,” he added.
With º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍødepleted in attack due to injury, Corbeanu’s offence was timely.Â
The shifty winger put º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøahead in the 29th minute, coming off his wing and leaving Waterman in his wake before hitting a shot that deflected off Samuel Piette and looped over Sirois. The goal was better than the celebration, which saw Corbeanu fall over trying to slide on his knees towards the corner flag in front of an announced crowd of 20,265 at BMO Field.
Corbeanu’s strike ended TFC’s 378-minute scoring drought at BMO Field, dating back to Deandre Kerr’s 11th-minute goal in a 2-1 loss to the Chicago Fire on March 15.
Montreal pulled even in the 70th minute via Waterman on a play that started with a corner. The defender knocked home a Luca Petrasso cross after º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøforward Dekwon Barrow’s attempted clearance was a swing and a miss.
Corbeanu played provider in the 74th minute, beating Waterman down the flank and then sending in a cross that eluded a sliding defender en route to Spicer, who beat Sirois.
º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøhas not won at BMO Field since Sept. 14, a 2-1 league triumph over Austin FC.
The 15-team tournament opened Tuesday with CPL champion Cavalry FC blanking League1 Alberta champion Edmonton Scottish FC 6-0 and CPL-leading Atletico Ottawa downing League1 Ontario champion Scrosoppi FC 2-0.Â
Defending champion Vancouver got a bye to the final eight.
The Canadian Championship winner hoists the Voyageurs Cup and earns a berth in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the elite club tournament in North and Central America and the Caribbean, as well as $50,000.
Italian star Federico Bernardeschi was a late scratch with a º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøspokesperson saying he had not recovered from a knock in Saturday’s game.
With Kerr, Derrick Etienne Jr. and Charlie Sharp also unavailable and Brynhildsen starting on the bench after an injury absence, º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøwas low on healthy forwards. So low that it signed Barrow, a TFC II forward, to an MLS short-term agreement and started the 21-year-old from º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍøup front. Barrow has three goals in 28 appearances for Toronto’s reserve side.
Things got worse in the 18th minute when º£½ÇÉçÇø¹ÙÍølost captain Jonathan Osorio to a shoulder injury after falling awkwardly in a tangle with teammate Lazar Stefanovic and Montreal’s Victor Loturi. There was no immediate word on how long Osorio might be out.
Both teams had six Canadians in their starting 11, double the minimum required under cup rules.Â
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 30, 2025
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