Make it three
TFC drops third straight game, this one a 1-0 defeat to the visiting Columbus Crew,
The new season already has a far too familiar look for Toronto FC.
The Reds dropped their third straight match to open the Major League Soccer campaign Saturday, done in by an inability to finish scoring chances and conceding a second-half goal to the Columbus Crew against the flow of play before 18,944 fans at BMO Field.
The 1-0 scoreline was the second straight shutout loss at home for TFC (0-3-0).
“Of course it’s frustrating because we didn’t deserve this loss,” Toronto striker Danny Koevermans said after the Crew (2-0-1) picked up their second straight shutout win.
“Everybody saw that we were the better team,” he said. “We played better. We had more chances. They had a penalty kick and the goal, which was a mistake by us. “We have to keep our heads up.” Toronto, which had an edge in possession in both halves and a 1410 advantage in attempts on goal, was defeated by a counterattacking goal by Bernardo Anor.
The 56th-minute strike began with TFC’S Julian de Guzman being stripped of the ball on the Crew side of midfield. Anor latched onto it and ran right up the heart of the field to the edge of the Toronto penalty area, laid the ball off and got it back. Defender Logan Emory made a weak challenge before the Venezuelan thumped the ball from about 15 yards high over Milos Kocic and into the top of the net for his first goal of the season.
Until that point, it appeared the day would belong to TFC.
Toronto had taken the play to the Crew for much of the first half but couldn’t score.
Then, Kocic made a superb save on a penalty in the 42nd minute. Columbus’ Olman Vargas did a great acting job to win the kick off Ty Harden on the edge of the goalmouth but the TFC goalkeeper dove and got his hand on Milovan Mirosevic’s low shot.
“It’s just part of my homework,” Kocic said of the save. “I watched their penalties and I knew where he was going to go, so that helped.” Mirosevic, a Chilean international, scored from the spot against Montreal last week. Toronto opened the second half and continued to be the aggressor. In the 51st minute, Joao Plata played a nice ball to Luis Silva, who made a solid run before playing it to Koevermans, but his low drive from 22 yards was saved by a diving Andy Gruenebaum. Toronto’s best chance to equalize came in the 72nd minute. De Guzman played a lovely through ball to Eric Avila, who ran onto it in behind the Columbus defence. But Avila’s low shot couldn’t beat Gruenebaum, who charged off his line to make a sliding stop. “We’re missing a little bit of the sharpness on the opportunities that we’re getting,” head coach Aron Winter said of his side, which has only scored once in three MLS matches. “Still, I think we deserved more, much more. We have to be sharper.” The Reds now travel to Mexico to face Santos Laguna on Wednesday in the return leg of their CONCA- CAF Champions League semifinal. They tied 1-1 at BMO Field last week, meaning TFC will have to win or tie at least 2-2 to reach the finals.
TFC returns to MLS action next Saturday, making their first visit to the Montreal Impact.
Despite the poor start to the season, Winter insisted “I’m not worried” because he’s liked what he’s seen through much of their three matches.
“We’re not panicked,” he said. “I saw a lot of good things and we have to continue on in the same way.”