MONTREAL — Toronto FC's first foray into the MLS postseason went about as badly as the team could have imagined.

Greg Vanney's side was essentially out of the game by the end of the first half, as the Montreal Impact ran rampant in the opening 45 minutes to run up a 3-0 lead that would ultimately represent the final scoreline.

The nightmare half was a combination of poor play by TFC and good execution by the Impact, Vanney said.

"To me, they just out-competed us in the first half," Vanney said of the Impact. "We made some poor decisions defensively on plays to step to or to drop off of. And we found ourselves up against it quickly."

The TFC coach felt that his team was overwhelmed by a Montreal side that has been on near record-breaking form since the beginning of September, and that perhaps some of his players couldn't handle the bigger stage of a playoff clash.

"I think there was definitely some pieces to the puzzle that were nervous," the coach said. "There was a lot of talk and thought and everything building up to this, and at the end of the day you have to come out and compete and fight."

TFC captain Michael Bradley echoed his coach's sentiment, noting that the Impact had a game plan and executed it to near-perfection.

"Give credit to Montreal, they played well. They made plays in the first half that counted," a forlorn Bradley explained. "In games like this, when you're able to put together some big plays and get out in front early, it can go a long way."

Bradley didn't offer any instant analysis of his own team's performance, instead stating that TFC has an entire offseason to figure out what went wrong.

Now was not the time, he said. 

"Night's like this it's not easy to find answers. Talking doesn't do a whole lot of good."