Osorio, Bono put Reds in final
Toronto FC will play in the CONCACAF Champions League final for the first time in club history after a 1-1 draw in Mexico cemented a 4-2 aggregate win over Club America.
Jonathan Osorio’s 12th-minute goal quickly negated Club America’s away goal from TFC’s opening 3-1 win and, with some strong work from goalkeeper Alex Bono, the lead would last until the 92nd minute, when America midfielder Andres Uribe scored on a penalty. The Reds will meet CD Guadalajara in the final, which begins next week at BMO Field.
Some takes from Tuesday: Everybody hurts: TFC was without midfielder Victor Vazquez (back), defender Chris Mavinga (abdomen) and wingback Justin Morrow (calf ), then lost forward Jozy Altidore seven minutes in. He was replaced by Canadian Tosaint Ricketts, who set up Osorio’s goal five minutes later. Altidore is expected to miss TFC’s MLS match in Colorado this weekend. Need we say Moor? Thirtyfour-year-old Drew Moor was a calm presence for a defence under pressure, yet he looked years younger while throwing his body at each ball he encountered and with the near-perfect timing of his tackles. Stepping up: Osorio started a career-low nine league games last year and only made an impact in the final month of the season, but he’s been one of TFC’s biggest performers early this year. The 25-year-old has now scored in every round of the Champions League. Bono-fide: It seems the bigger the stakes are, the bigger the saves are from the 23-year-old keeper. Bono produced a few highlight-reel moments against Club America on Tuesday but the pièce de résistance was in the 28th minute. Midfielder An- dres Ibarguen put a cross in from the left side, finding fullback Paul Aguilar at the back post. His diving header was rocketing toward the bottom left corner but Bono got his fingertips to the ball, just enough to push it out for a corner. It was a remarkable save on its own, let alone in difficult, rainy conditions with the ball making an odd bounce on the wet turf. Ref swap: Referee Ravshan Irmatov, from Uzbekistan, and his team made a great case for this tournament’s inter-confederation referee switch. Irmatov didn’t seemed rattled by the magnitude of the event, nor by the near constant complaints from Club America players. He largely let the two teams play despite the physical nature to the game, and brushed off the Mexican team’s coach, Miguel Herrera, with a smile when Herrera tried to make his thoughts known at halftime.