A PLAY-OFF game in Major League Soccer was delayed by 30 MINUTES as the penalty box had to be repainted ahead of kick-off.
The semi-final clash between the Montreal Impact and Toronto FC couldn’t be started as groundsmen had left the box two yards too narrow.
Because of huge demand for the game, Montreal moved from their usual 20,801-seat Saputo Stadium to the 61,004-seat Olympic Stadium.
The game was set to go ahead but officials noticed at one end the penalty box was too narrow.
A long delay then took place as groundsmen first had to cover the wrong lines – with duct tape and green paint – before marking out the correct width and painting new white lines.
Kick-off was delayed by 30 minutes because of the disruption.
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Montreal owner Joey Saputo told ESPN: “Obviously, it’s the first time that it’s happened to us.
“We’ve been in situations like this before where we have 61,000 fans.
“We had the [Concacaf] Champions League final here.
“It’s the responsibility of the referees to check it out. Unfortunately the referees got here a little bit late whether it was traffic or traffic around the stadium.
“So it’s unfortunate, but we have to take the responsibility for it. It’s our fault and it’s unfortunate that this has happened.”
The home side went 3-0 up against their Canadian rivals Toronto, with goals from Dominic Oduro, Matteo Mancosu and Ambroise Oyongo.
However, the visitors still have a chance in the second leg, after two goals in five minutes from Jozy Altidore and Michael Bradley saw the game end 3-2.
Chelsea legend Didier Drogba announced at full-time that he would be leaving Montreal after two years at the club.
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