10 things we learned from the MLS Conference Finals

After one of the most thrilling games in MLS history on Wednesday night in Toronto, the MLS Conference Finals have concluded. Here are ten things we learned.

1. Canada Makes Its Mark

Due respect to the Western Conference Final, but, depending on what happens two Saturdays from now, the 2016 MLS Cup Playoffs will be remembered for the show Montreal Impact and Toronto FC put on over the last week and a half.

Canada was up for the occasion. The series smashed the TV viewership records for professional soccer in this country, and was watched live by almost 100,000 fans between Montreal and Toronto.

It didn’t hurt, of course, that teams combined for a playoff-record 12 goals over 210 wild minutes. It was a spectacle so good – played at such breakneck pace – that it salvaged what was shaping up to be an extremely disappointing postseason.

Toronto emerged victorious, deservedly, and BMO Field will continue to be in the spotlight for the next week and change as the Seattle Sounders come to town for MLS Cup. But Montreal’s hand in this series shouldn’t be forgotten.

The Olympic Stadium in Montreal – cavernous old bowl that it is – was off the hook for leg one. The Impact sold more than 61,000 tickets for the game, and those fans kept the occasion alive through the line-painting fiasco that set the start of the game back a half hour.

Seattle and Portland are generally considered the best soccer towns in North America, but Seattle only managed to sell 42,000 tickets for their Western Conference Final home game against the Rapids.

The fervor in Montreal was fantastic – and it showed that soccer will continue to thrive in that city in a post-Didier Drogba world.

This was truly an epic. Canada, deservedly, will be where this season draws to a close.

2. Toronto Comes of Age

Down 3-0 at halftime of the first leg in Montreal, Toronto easily could have folded. In the same position in last year’s Wild Card game at Stade Saputo, the Reds meekly slunk to a 3-0 defeat.

Not so this year. After nine years of false starts and frustration, TFC has finally grown up.

Toronto battled back in that first leg to pull to within 3-2, and they battled again in the second leg after they conceded first and they let their away goals advantage slip just after halftime.

This team, laden not just with star-power but also invaluable MLS and international experience, wouldn’t be denied. At every turn, they had answers. Everyone – from Jozy Altidore to Benoit Cheyrou – played his part.

Toronto’s stadium came of age too. The magnificently renovated BMO Field, shaking with some 37,000 red-clad supporters, asserted itself as the league’s premier big game venue. The scenes after the TFC goals were breathtaking.

Now, this club, so long the league’s laughingstock, is unquestionably the favorite to raise MLS Cup on December 10th.

3. Jozy Altidore

They wouldn’t be there without Jozy Altidore.

His supporters, including Michael Bradley, have bristled at the notion that Altidore is in the form of his life, but it’s no backhanded compliment. Over the last month – the most important month of the year in MLS – Altidore has been simply unplayable.

He became the first player to ever score in five straight playoff games on Wednesday night, scoring TFC’s second goal on a near-post flick after a playground-esque word with Giovinco.

But his work to spin away from pressure, accelerate, and play the cross to Tosaint Ricketts to ice the game in extra time encapsulated Altidore’s game. He was the best player on the field by miles.

We’ve never seen him play with such speed and inventiveness. Altidore even swung out wide and dominated from the wing for a half hour late in the game – doing plenty of defensive work and firing up the BMO crowd.

There’s nothing wrong with being in the form of your life. That’s what Altidore is right now, and it might be good enough to win Toronto MLS Cup.

4. Montreal Self-Destructs

All that said: Montreal should be gearing up for a trip to the Emerald City next weekend.

On Wednesday night, they became just the second team in MLS history to concede three goals off of corner kicks in the same game – joining this year’s NYCFC team that lost 7-0 to the Red Bulls at Yankee Stadium.

After Nick Hagglund scored to make the game 3-2 and tie the aggregate score at 5-5, Toronto was batting .750 on corners. TFC’s three headed goals in this game were almost more than the four they scored all season.

And Montreal capitulated in the most basic ways imaginable. They failed to send two players to defend a short corner. Three players let Altidore run past them on his goal. They were beat twice to the ball in the box on Armando Cooper’s opener.

It was a shocking display. In the run of play, it’s hard to argue that Toronto was the better team in this series. But set pieces always have and always will win big games. And Montreal just didn’t show up for them.

Set pieces, it should be noted, also knocked Montreal out of the playoffs in Columbus last year. This wasn’t a one-off.

5. Everyone Has A Hand in the Drama

Who didn’t have a moment in this series? The headliners aside, most everyone who saw the field for Toronto and Montreal had a moment to savor.

Will Johnson, cast aside for the playoffs for the second consecutive year, came on and made a series-saving impact for Toronto at the Olympic Stadium in leg one.

Cheyrou, who has played even less than Johnson over the last month, popped up with the winner just seconds after entering for an injured Giovinco in extra time.

Dominic Oduro, who will continue to the MLS player who has appeared in the most games without making a final, scored the opener in both legs. His career shows no signs of drawing to a close.

Laurent Ciman’s defense gave up seven goals in the series, but his temporarily game-saving tackle on a Ricketts breakaway late in the game on Wednesday was jaw-dropping.

SEE MORE: Schedule of MLS games on US TV and streaming

TFC’s midseason additions, including Ricketts and Cooper, both found the net in this game. Hagglund, who has been through the ups and downs with this club since the beginning of his career, scored what was arguably the night’s biggest goal.

Old man Patrice Bernier, 37 years young, was phenomenal again in the Montreal midfield. He continues to be one of the coolest players on the continent.

You could go on and on. There was just one player who made not a single noteworthy contribution: Didier Drogba, whose Montreal career has ended with a whimper. What a difference a year makes.

6. How About Seattle?

It’s been an amazing run for the Sounders, who qualified for their first MLS Cup on Sunday afternoon in Commerce City with a heroic performance from Jordan Morris and a whole lot of stout defending.

This likely isn’t Seattle’s best ever team. But on the quality of their work as a franchise over their run in MLS, it’s hard to deny them this triumph.

And there was no missing how much it means to the men who have been with the Sounders the longest. Brian Schmetzer was choking back tears after the game, while Osvaldo Alonso nearly jumped out of the stadium.

Like it has been for Toronto, this has been a long time coming for Seattle – and there is something quintessentially MLS about the Sounders finally making MLS Cup in a year in which they fired their coach and lost Clint Dempsey.

7. Colorado Runs Out of Steam

All the Rapids needed to make and host MLS Cup was one more 1-0 home win – the exact result they built their entire season around. But in the end, when they needed it most, Colorado just didn’t have enough.

Aside from a hair-on-fire start from Jermaine Jones, the Rapids never mounted the offense they needed to break Seattle down. Kevin Doyle struggled mightily, while the Rapids’ central midfield lacked dynamism without the suspended Sam Cronin.

Colorado absolutely had to keep a shutout to move on, and once Morris – fighting the flu – scored his goal on a counter, the series was over.

That Seattle is in MLS Cup has to be a relief for MLS. Dicks’ Sporting Goods Park, a small, quiet stadium, and the Rapids, a team that doesn’t play very good soccer, wouldn’t have made for the best final.

The club now has some decisions to make. Pablo Mastroeni is out of contract, and Jones is looking for a DP deal that he’s unlikely to get. Colorado could look appreciably different next March.

8. The Playoff Schedule Must Be Overhauled

The playoffs started a month ago. They won’t finish for ten more days.

It’s been a long haul – from eight games in five days at the beginning of the postseason, to the long layoff between the end of the Conference Semifinals and beginning of the Conference Finals, to the series just finished in Toronto.

In a perfect world, the playoff schedule would be much more fluid. Every game would be played on a Sunday, and there wouldn’t be entire weeks off.

It’s a conundrum. There’s no getting around the November international break. But MLS has to do better in balancing the schedule and creating a sense of momentum through the competition.

9. Bernadello’s Head Injury

The one stain on the Toronto-Montreal second leg was the handling – or lack thereof – of an early head injury suffered by Impact midfielder Hernan Bernadello.

Jozy Altidore slammed into the Argentine challenging for a bouncing ball, and Bernadello’s head hit the ground with considerable force.

Altidore somehow escaped the incident without a booking, but Bernadello was almost surely concussed.

He appeared extremely disoriented – and yet, just minutes later, he was allowed to return to the field. He played on, not terribly effectively, before being substituted at halftime.

It was yet another disappointing response to a potentially devastating head injury in this sport. MLS needs to improve its concussion protocol.

10. MLS Cup Pick

This might be the highest-profile MLS Cup Final of all time. It will be played in primetime, on network television, at a beautiful, soccer-specific, grass stadium, and feature two of the league’s biggest clubs.

Toronto against Seattle will have all kinds of star and brand power. It should be an evening to savor.

Both teams have injury concerns leading into the game – Giovinco for Toronto and Alonso for Seattle – but the early signs are good that both players will be ready to go.

Who wins? That home-field advantage in Toronto isn’t insignificant. This will be Seattle’s toughest test of the playoffs by some distance, and, after what we saw on Wednesday, this feels like TFC’s year.

Either way, December 10th should be one of the biggest nights in league history.