Reds keep post-season hopes alive

First come-from-behind win of season might still be too little too late

Toronto FC lived to see another day in its push for a fourthstraight playoff appearance.

The ninth-place Reds, 10 points back of sixth-place Montreal before Saturday’s games, beat the New England Revolution 4-1 at BMO Field to stave off elimination from the postseason for at least a week.

The Impact lost 3-0 to DC United, allowing the Reds to move three points closer. To- ronto has a game in hand and a game against Montreal on Oct 21. United and the Revolution sit between the Canadian squads, two points ahead of Toronto; United has two games in hand.

However unlikely the Reds’ playoffs aspirations still look, a sliver of hope remained after their first come-from-behind win of the season.

Toronto was down 1-0 by the 10th minute, after a miscalculated offside trap led to a scramble in front of Reds goalkeeper Alex Bono’s net. Revolution midfielder Cristian Penilla pounced on a loose ball to put his team in front.

Things only got worse for the home team in the 18th minute, when striker Jozy Altidore limped off for a second straight game. Altidore was included in the starting 11 after turning his ankle in a loss to the New York Red Bulls a week earlier, but quickly made way for fellow forward Lucas Janson.

The loss of Altidore was mitigated by the performance from a revved-up Sebastian Giovinco, who also returned to the lineup after sitting out the Red Bulls game with calf cramps. The Italian forward took five of Toronto’s six first-half shots. He scored the tying goal in the 36th minute after holding himself onside to receive a ball from Victor Vazquez on the left side of the field and putting a longrange shot under the roof of New England’s net.

Things began to heat up between the two teams after that, with midfielder Jonathan Osorio at the heart of much of the drama. He earned a yellow card just before halftime after laying a shoulder into Revolution captain Andrew Farrell when the ball was out of play. The Canadian then seemingly scored the go-ahead goal in the 48th minute, only to have it pulled back through video assistant referee technology for a foul he committed in the buildup to the goal.

Toronto’s players argued the call by referee Ismail Elfath but didn’t take long to rectify the supposed wrong. Janson put the ball in the back of the net on the Reds’ next attack. The Reds went up by two in the 60th minute when Victor Vazquez scored on a penalty after captain Michael Bradley was brought down in the Revolution box. Midfielder Marky Delgado scored his first goal of the season in the 81st minute.