"It's just unbearable," said striker Ryan Johnson. "Something's not right. Something has to change. I can't go on like this, it's eating me up inside."

“They’re a good team, but the problem they had is that Champions League killed them. It’s a very tough thing to do in a salary cap league even with three designated players. It’s extremely tough to travel down to Mexico and then up to Montreal. It’s difficult. You are so focused on this championship that you are so close to winning, and then all the sudden you’ve got to refocus on the league and you’re 10 points behind.”

Montreal coach, Jesse Marsch, fielded a reworked starting XI to begin the game against Toronto FC. The decisions paid off as the Impact got off to a good start, grabbed a lead in the early going and held it — despite giving up a goal in the late going — to put its historic first MLS win into the books.

At halftime, TFC defied critics by being tied 2-2 with a team that hasn’t lost at home this season. But, by the 64-minute mark of the game, it was all but over.

As the final whistle blew, an altercation between Reds defender Ashtone Morgan and Santos striker Darwin Quintero led to a full-on scrum between the two teams. Both benches cleared and, while no further blows were thrown, both sides left knowing that the final score would be settled next Wednesday.

TFC dropped a 3-0 result to the San Jose Earthquakes in front of 20,753 disappointed fans at BMO Field on Saturday in the club's home opener.

If, last July, someone was to predict that Toronto FC would be the last MLS team standing in the CONCACAF Champions League, they’d have been offered some pretty sweet odds.

“I’m glad we played the game,” said Stephen Hart who was less than happy with the game overall. “The first half, we did OK for about the opening 30 minutes of the game and then it was a matter of keeping proper possession of the ball and basically giving them the chances that they had.”

When the Canadian men’s national team faces Armenia next Wednesday in Cyprus, it will bring a squad of just 17 players. Meanwhile, the Armenians will bring 31 players.

Toronto FC finally got its preseason schedule underway, and the Reds got a rather one-sided — and expected — win over the University of South Florida.