TFC opens MLS Cup defence with a thud
TORONTO — Prior to its opening match of the 2018 Major League Soccer campaign, Toronto FC held a ceremony to celebrate a season in which it won the MLS Cup, Supporter’s Shield and the Canadian Championship. After dropping a 2-0 decision to the visiting Columbus Crew on Saturday, Sebastian Giovinco said its time to stop living in the past. “At the beginning, it was not in a good way; we continued to show the trophy, we continued to think about what happened last year,” the star Toronto striker said as he blamed the loss on a poor team mentality. “I think, for me, this is no good. “I think we have to change the mentality. We don’t have to think about last year. We have to think about this year, and this year is more difficult.” Federico Higuain scored the winning goal and Gyasi Zardes had the other, while Zack Steffen made two saves to help provide the clean sheet for Columbus (1-0-0). Higuain one-timed a Milton Valenzuela cross past a diving Alex Bono in the 44th minute. Bono dove to get his hand on the shot, but couldn’t get enough to keep it out. Higuain now has 49 goals and 49 assists in 150 career MLS appearances. “We had some chances and I thought we could’ve been up earlier in the game, so it was nice to go into halftime with the lead,” said Columbus coach Gregg Berhalter. “I think the guys got confidence from that and it showed from the start of the second half as well. We came out confident.” Bono finished with two saves in the loss. Toronto (0-1-0), which lost just once at BMO Field all of the last regular season, dropped to 4-5-6 against Columbus all-time at home.