Everything in front of TFC to advance at home
Svensson, Bruin lead Sounders over Dynamo
Toronto FC looks to finish off the job at BMO Field after 0-0 tie in Columbus
COLUMBUS, Ohio — An under-strength Toronto FC tied Columbus Crew 0-0 in Game 1 of the MLS Eastern Conference final Tuesday night, surviving to fight another day.
It was hardly a masterpiece but Toronto, which did not put a shot on target, got the job done. Now, top-seeded TFC will be able to roll out its big guns — Jozy Altidore and Sebastian Giovinco — back from suspension when the series switches to BMO Field on Nov. 29.
But the league leaders achieved their goal of leaving Columbus with something — in this case a platform to finish the job at home. Consider this a bullet dodged.
“Nobody is celebrating anything tonight in here, that’s for sure,” said Toronto captain Michael Bradley, who was prominent on the night. “We handled things in a good way, in a solid professional way. We wanted to win the game. Having said that, 0-0 is a result that still means we go back home next week and we’ve got 90 minutes to win a game and get ourselves back in the (MLS Cup) final.” There is still work to do, however. “Enjoy it now, it’s a good result for us on the road, but everything that happens in this game is null and void if we don’t go take care of business at home,” said goalkeeper Alex Bono.
Toronto offered little on offence, with a patient safety-first approach that cleared the decks for the series rematch.
The visitors limited fifth-seeded Columbus to just four shots (one on target) in the first half. But the Crew came on strong in the second half, with nine more shots (two on target). Toronto had six shots in the first half and one in the second, all off the mark.
Toronto will be a far pricklier animal in the rematch, with its strike force restored.
Altidore and Giovinco, who were serving one-game suspensions resulting from the conference semifinal against New York Red Bulls, will be back in Toronto’s lineup. They combined for 31 of TFC’s 74 regular-season goals.
“We’re an entirely different team with them on the field,” said coach Greg Vanney. “Our ability to connect off the front line, our ability to have more playmakers, goal-scorers, differencemakers, they add something entirely different.”
TFC has lost just twice this season at BMO Field. One of those defeats, however, came last time out at the hands of the New York Red Bulls in the conference semifinal.
The Eastern final is a matchup of two teams on a mission, with league-leading Toronto looking to take another step on its record-breaking season. Columbus, meanwhile, is in an usagainst-everybody mood as debate continues off the field on the franchise’s future in the Ohio state capital. — The Canadian Press
HOUSTON — Gustav Svensson and Will Bruin scored in the first half, and Seattle Sounders FC beat the 10-man Houston Dynamo 2-0 in the first leg of the Western Conference championship Tuesday night. The second leg is Nov. 30 in Seattle. Svensson gave the defending MLS Cup champion Sounders a 1-0 lead in the 11th minute, heading a Nicolas Lodeiro corner kick just right of the middle from eight yards out.
Bruin upped the lead to 2-0 in the 42nd minute, heading a Joevin Jones crossing pass into the left net from just right of the middle eight yards out.
Lodeiro missed a chance to extend the lead to 2-0 in the 28th minute as his penalty kick was saved by Joe Willis, who dove to his left and batted it outside the near post.
Seattle was awarded the penalty kick in the 27th minute after Jones was pulled down from behind in the box by Jalil Anibaba, who was given a straight red card for stopping a scoring chance as the last man back.
Houston, making its first appearance in a conference finals since losing in the Eastern Conference finals in 2013 to Sporting KC, had several chances early, highlighted by Tomas Martinez’s shot from the upper box that was easily saved by Tyler Miller in the 12th minute.
However, the Dynamo had few opportunities thereafter.
— The Associated Press