An MLS Playoff game pitting Montreal Impact and Toronto FC has been delayed over a unique reason. The Eastern Conference Championship game was scheduled to kick off at 8PM EST but was delayed when it was discovered that the penalty box lines were painted too narrow.
The mistake had been noted by match officials shortly after the players had already completed warming up and returned to the locker rooms. Workers at the stadium had to apply fresh coat of paint to rectify the error.
This comes just a few hours after Toronto FC’s players and coaches had complained about Montreal’s Olympic Stadium turf. TFC midfielder Michael Bradely was recently quoted as saying:
“When you get to games this big, afterwards nobody is talking about the field.”
Turns out he was right. Check out some of the photos of the repainting job that had to be done on the 18-yard box:
And of course, football fans on Twitter were bound to react to this. Check out some best reactions:
Head groundsman identified at #TFC vs #MontrealImpact game! #TFCLive #WTFMontreal pic.twitter.com/LrRxvvraHV
— David Hampson (@HavidDampson) November 23, 2016
Montreal at the moment #TFCLive #MLSCupPlayoffs #MontrealImpact #MTLvTOR pic.twitter.com/0EC1nsl64M
— christian (@Christian_Dukic) November 23, 2016
You know you live in a non soccer country when you have a paint delay! #torontofc #MontrealImpact #MLSCupPlayoffs
— Luca Sirianni (@siriannil) November 23, 2016
I guess crooked Montreal construction companies were in charge of painting the lines for tonight's #MLSCupPlayoffs game #tfc #MontrealImpact
— Luke In Canada (@lukeincanada) November 23, 2016
This #torontofc vs. #MontrealImpact game is like watching paint dry.
— Hugh Burrill (@hughwburrill) November 23, 2016
How do you want to seperate from the rest of Canada but you can't even make a proper 18 yard box #MontrealImpact
— Alex D'Addese (@alex_daddese) November 23, 2016
Pure football magic as groundstaff repaint lines on pitch as fans cheer. #MLSCupPlayoffs #torontofc #MontrealImpact pic.twitter.com/UVGXIi63Kv
— Cormac (@BostonIrishBlog) November 23, 2016
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