Altidore the hero as Toronto beats Columbus
After rolling through the regular season, Toronto FC has had to fight tooth and nail to negotiate the MLS playoffs.
Pretty soccer has gone out the window. The league leaders have had to batten down the defensive hatches and find a way — any way — to get past the opposition.
On Wednesday night it took a 60th-minute goal by a limping Jozy Altidore to turn the tide as Toronto FC returned to the MLS Cup final with a 1-0 win over Columbus Crew SC in Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final.
Toronto will host either the Seattle Sounders or Houston Dynamo in the Dec. 9 MLS Cup final. The Sounders, who took the title from Toronto in a penalty shootout last year, lead the Western Conference final 2-0 going into Game 2 tonight in Seattle.
After a scoreless tie in Game 1 Nov. 21 in Ohio, fifth-seeded Columbus needed a win or draw with goals to advance. Toronto had to win.
Altidore could hardly walk after a collision with Columbus defender Harrison Afful early in the second half. He got treatment on the field and then had his ankle taped off it before returning to play.
Coach Greg Vanney said he told Altidore to keep going for as long as he could — and to let him know whether he had to come off.
“He didn’t tell me so I figured he was going to gut it out for as long as he felt like he could,” said Vanney.
“The moment he scored he was kind of like Keyser Soze,” added Vanney, referencing the mysterious and occasionally limping antagonist in “The Usual Suspects.” “He went from kind of limping to a perfect sprint and finished it beautifully. It was a beautiful goal.”
It came with more than a little pain.
“I couldn’t really move, I was hobbling around,” said Altidore. “It’s tough too in these conditions when you get a knock like that, it’s so cold, it’s a little bit worse. I wanted to give a little bit of time for whoever was up next, and if a chance came down to it, I wanted it to fall to me. And it did.”
Altidore was substituted eight minutes after scoring.
“That’s heart,” said goalkeeper Alex Bono. “That’s all that is. That’s heart.”
The goal started with a Bono goal kick that found Sebastian Giovinco deep in Columbus territory. The diminutive Italian held off several defenders and backheeled the ball to Altidore who stabbed it to Victor Vazquez. The Spanish midfielder paused and then dinked a pass to Altidore who rolled a right-footed shot past Zack Steffen.