The 3 Canadian Major League Soccer (MLS) teams are eager to forget the 2018 season.
Toronto FC starts its 2019 MLS season in Philadelphia on Saturday. Vancouver hosts Minnesota at BC Place and Montréal travels to San Jose for the season openers.
The Reds home opener will be March 17 against New England at BMO Field. The Impact don't open at home until April 13 with Columbus at Stade Saputo.
Marc Dos Santos is the new coach for Vancouver Whitecaps FC. Santos replaces interim coach Craig Dalrymple, who served starting September 25 after replacing Carl Robinson.
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This is likely the final season for Ignacio Piatti in Montréal. Piatti is in the final year of his contract. In 2018, Piatti scored 16 goals and 13 assists in 32 matches.
Piatti did say in a recent interview that if his family is doing well back in Argentina, "I will stay in Quebec." Piatti's father has been in ill health.
A better start will help Piatti and the team. The Impact started 2018 with a 2-11-0 record.
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If you hate freezing in late season Major League Soccer games, you'll enjoy the changes coming to the sport.
The break in between the regular season and playoffs will be 13 days instead of 3 days. The regular season will end on October 6. The 2019 MLS playoffs start on October 19. The 2019 MLS Cup final will be on November 10.
The playoff format will be single elimination with no more 2-leg formats. The number of teams in the playoffs expands from 12 to 14. There is a strong incentive to reach the top of the conference to get a bye. That top team will be joined by the winners of 2-7, 3-6, and 4-5. There will be no reseeding.
MLS will now have 24 teams with the addition of FC Cincinnati.
2018 MLS season wrapup: no Canadian playoff teams
2018 MLS preview
CanadianCrossing.com soccer coverage
Complaining about the number of games on U.S. television feels insignificant since none of the Canadian teams are scheduled to play on U.S. television. That includes ESPN, ESPN2, Fox, Fox Sports 1, Univision, and UniMas. If a Canadian team is doing well, there is flex scheduling for the final 4 weeks of the regular season.
All games will be available via ESPN+. You are set if you already get the service for CFL, NHL, or some other reason.
Toronto FC had 4 U.S. TV dates in 2018, 4 more than Montréal and Vancouver combined.
CTV will have 8 games, all in the early part of the season. The Canadian OTA network carried 9 games in 2018 and 7 games in 2017. TSN will carry all the other Reds and Whitecaps games as well as some Impact telecasts. TVA Sports will have all the Impact games en Francaise.
Here is the CTV schedule, all games on Saturday afternoons:
March 16 Vancouver @ Houston, 3 pm
March 30 Montréal @ Sporting KC, 3 pm
April 6 Chicago @ Toronto, 3 pm
April 20 Vancouver @ Orlando, 3 pm
April 27 Portland @ Toronto, 3 pm
May 4 Toronto @ Orlando, 4 pm
May 11 Philadelphia @ Toronto, 3 pm
May 18 Toronto @ Real Salt Lake, 3 pm
MLS Canadian teams playoffs results
Year | Date | Teams | Winner | Score |
2017 | December 9 | Seattle @ Toronto | Toronto | 2-0 |
2017 | November 29 | Columbus @ Toronto | Toronto | 1-0 |
2017 | November 21 | Toronto @ Columbus | Tie | 0-0 |
2017 | November 5 | New York Red Bulls @ Toronto | NY Red Bulls | 1-0 |
2017 | November 2 | Vancouver @ Seattle | Seattle | 2-0 |
2017 | October 30 | Toronto @ New York Red Bulls | Toronto | 2-1 |
2017 | October 29 | Seattle @ Vancouver | Tie | 0-0 |
2017 | October 25 | San Jose @ Vancouver | Vancouver | 5-0 |
2016 | December 10 | Seattle @ Toronto FC | Seattle | 0-0 (5-4 PK) |
2016 | November 30 | Montréal @ Toronto FC | Toronto FC | 5-2 (OT) |
2016 | November 22 | Toronto FC @ Montréal | Montréal | 3-2 |
2016 | November 6 | Montréal @ New York Red Bulls | Montréal | 2-1 |
2016 | November 6 | Toronto FC @ NYCFC | Toronto FC | 5-0 |
2016 | October 30 | NYCFC @ Toronto FC | Toronto FC | 2-0 |
2016 | October 30 | New York Red Bulls @ Montréal | Montréal | 1-0 |
2016 | October 27 | Montréal @ D.C. United | Montréal | 4-2 |
2016 | October 26 | Philadelphia @ Toronto FC | Toronto FC | 3-1 |
2015 | November 8 | Portland @ Vancouver | Portland | 2-0 |
2015 | November 8 | Montréal @ Columbus | Columbus | 3-1 (OT) |
2015 | November 1 | Vancouver @ Portland | Tie | 0-0 |
2015 | November 1 | Columbus @ Montréal | Montréal | 2-1 |
2015 | October 29 | Toronto FC @ Montréal | Montréal | 3-0 |
2014 | October 29 | Vancouver @ Dallas | Dallas | 2-1 |
2013 | October 31 | Montréal @ Houston | Houston | 3-0 |
2012 | November 1 | Vancouver @ LA Galaxy | LA Galaxy | 2-1 |
photos credit: Major League Soccer