Montreal Impact crush Toronto for Eastern Conference semi-final berth

Montreal Impact set up an Eastern Conference semi-final with Columbus Crew after thumping Toronto 3-0 at Stade Saputo on Thursday night.

The contest was 18 minutes old when the hosts moved ahead, with Patrice Bernier latching on to Ignacio Piatti's through-ball before slotting past Chris Konopka.

Impact continued to dominate and Mauro Biello's side took a giant step into the Conference semis before the half-time whistle.

First, Piatti drilled past Konopka into the bottom right-hand corner on 33 minutes, before Chelsea legend Didier Drogba added a third six minutes later to put them firmly in control heading into the break.

Toronto continued to toil after the break, with the visitors failing to manage a shot on target or inside the Montreal box as Biello and co looked to kill off the clash.

They would have had a fourth with 11 minutes remaining, but Piatti struck the post from outside the box, though it proved academic as Impact advanced into the last four.