by Jamie Trecker

Updated: July 22, 2008, 8:56 PM EST 24 comments

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Toronto FC, needing a win over the second-to-last place Montreal Impact of the USL 1st division, failed to get one, and with a 1-1 draw, crashed out of the region's biggest club competition.

This was the most important fixture of Toronto's young existence, and they blew it. They were booed off the field as the Impact celebrated wildly, amidst a hail of bottles and debris from the stands.

The latest flop came after a week that saw TFC slog to a 0-0 draw with the even-worse San Jose Earthquakes, and witnessed coach John Carver combust during a post-game press conference at which he blamed the local media for tomahawking not just his team, but all the city's sporting and cultural events.

For the record, none of that media took the field for Toronto tonight, and the team still failed to win. You have to conclude that, yes, it's the team.

"I can't defend anyone tonight," said a visibly shaken Carver post-game. "We had to win tonight, we didn't do it. There was a real lack of quality out there, and I'm really concerned about it."

The facts are simple — Toronto has now played four times against USL teams, and has won just once.

After playing fifteen fine, organized minutes and nabbing a good goal, the real Toronto showed up tonight dissolving into recrimination and dysfunction.Toronto became listless, then frantic as players started trying to win the game all by their lonesome. It was incoherent, and for Carver, it was damning.

"It's blatantly obvious what we need to do and if we don't do it, the season will peter out. People have to know we're working hard to get people through the door to come and play here, but we have to make something happen ... it says a lot when we have to depend on a 16-year old kid [Abdus Ibrahim] as our starting forward."

Toronto did get out quickly, when Rohan Ricketts headed a looper from across the box past Montreal keeper Matt Jordan at the near post. Laurent Robert had poked the ball into Jim Brennan, who lobbed a ball across the face of the goal and over Stefano Pesoli to an unmarked Ricketts. It was a neat piece of play, and deserved, coming on the back end of good, aggressive work from a crisply organized side.

But then Toronto immediately went into a shell, and conceded vast acreage of the midfield. It paid off for the Impact just ten minutes later when Roberto Brown headed in the tying goal off a corner kick from Joey Gjertson. Brown powered past Brennan to give Greg Sutton, rooted as usual, no chance.

Brennan, playing at left back, would find himself caught out more than once. Brennan, a midfielder converted to the position, has proved himself unfit for the role. Most of the evening Brennan struggled to contain even the mildest forays. And Brennan, to be perfectly fair, wasn't helped by the fact that the man in front of him, Robert, didn't seem to be speaking to him.

Speaking of Robert, the Frenchman had another appalling outing. The one-time second-rate English Premiership player was supposed to find his level in MLS. He has, instead been true to form, and his side has suffered for it. Tonight, his passes were awry, his two free kick attempts were sad, with one clattering off the feet of the players in the wall, and then he sulked.

It would be wrong to ignore the lack of contributions from the rest of the team, of course.

Marvell Wynne did little, Maurice Edu was invisible and Carl Robinson was gifting the opposition all evening long. Toronto's key playmaker, Amado Guevara, was left to swing. Guevara came back and forth for the ball all night long, but had no support and no one to pass to. The best chance on the night came when late sub Julius James got on the end of a Guevara-served free kick ... only to head the ball into the post.

"For periods, I thought Robert did all right for us. Amado, he flits in and out," said Carver. "You get four free kicks and you have to think that one of them taken by [Guevara] will land up in the back of the net.

"Do you want me to be obvious about Cunningham?" continued Carver. "I thought, 'How's he scored 99 goals in this league?'"

And Montreal? They are not a good team. Their midfield frequently struggled to control the ball and they never really looked threatening. But despite conceding large spells of possession to Toronto, they never looked close to collapse, largely because of the work of central backs Patrick LeDuc and Nevio Pizzolito, who were so taut that they forced their line up nearly 30 yards. Jordan, a one-time MLS keeper with Dallas, was stellar.

"We showed a lot of character," said Pizzollito post-game. "You can't come in here and stay back, and we didn't."

Asked whether this sends a message to MLS about Montreal joining the league, coach John Limniatis said, "The platform is already set, but this certainly helped. We are already talking and aiming for a 2011 start [in MLS]. MLS is certainly the higher league in terms of budget but we showed we can compete."

Limniatis also criticized some of the pregame talk without naming names. "I don't think it is respectful for people to comment about others in the same profession. We're all fighting to make Canadian soccer better, and as someone who has been here as a player and a coach for many years I think we're all trying to make money from this sport. Some of the things that were said showed no respect and these people are making money here in Canada."

Carver concurred, saying that, "I heard one or two of our guys talking rubbish about [the USL] being a lower league. On a one-off, you say a tie is okay, but over four games, they were the better team, and the better team won the competition. They deserved it. They aren't in a lower league."

One thing can be said for Toronto — they have the most patient fans in the world. They are a treasure, seeing as how they have tolerated a hockey team that hasn't won a title since the 1960s, a baseball team that last tasted glory 15 years ago and a basketball team that is best left unmentioned. Now, they have a soccer franchise in that same mold. God bless 'em.

Montreal will now play first leg of the CONCACAF Champions League play-in against Real Esteli of Nicargua in Canada on August 27. Real Esteli hosts the return on Sept., 2 with the aggregate winner advancing to the Champions League group stage.

Jamie Trecker's newest book, "Love and Blood: At the World Cup with the Footballers, Fans and Freaks" is out now from Harcourt. Jamie is assisted by Jerry and Janice Trecker. Contact Jamie at jamie.trecker@gmail.com and visit his blog and website at www.jamietrecker.com.

The views and opinions expressed by Jamie Trecker do not necessarily reflect those of the Fox Soccer Channel or FoxSoccer.com.