Half good, half bad
Poised for Champions League breakthrough Reds collapse and lose 6-2 in Mexico,
TORREON, MEXICO— Toronto FC’S improbable march toward the continental club championship is over, snuffed out by a referee’s whistle and some shoddy defending.
The Reds led twice over Santos Laguna before a capacity crowd of 26,843 at Estadio Corona here Wednesday night. But their dream of reaching the CONCACAF Champions League final ended on penalties less than10 minutes apart in the second half as Santos converted both and went on to a 6-2 win in a highly entertaining match.
The leaders of the Mexican Premier League took the semifinal 7-3 on aggregate.
“Against a good opponent we played well,” head coach Aron Winter said. “We conceded six goals but we’ve given away four of them. That makes it hard.”
Toronto opened the scoring and led 2-1 late in the first half on goals by Joao Plata. But each time, they allowed equalizers by American international Herculez Gomez.
The back-breaker came in the dying seconds of the first half when Gomez got onto a through ball behind defender Ty Harden and beat Milos Kocic low to the far post.
“It’s a pity that you let them score before halftime,” said Nick Soolsma. “I think that was the breaking point in the game because if you come in up 2-1you can discuss what to do in the second half.”
If Gomez’s second goal was the turning point, a 10-minute stretch early in the second half was the end of the road for TFC’S journey in the competition, which began with the first leg of the Canadian championship in Edmonton last spring.
Honduran referee Jose Pineda pointed to the penalty spot for the first time in the 55th minute with the score tied 2-2. Julian de Guzman was charged with taking down Christian Suarez on the edge of the area on a call that was delayed a few seconds. Juan Pablo Rodriguez stepped up and thumped it past a diving Kocic, who guessed right but couldn’t get the shot low to his right inside the post. Pineda’s decision led to the ouster of TFC assistant coach Bob de Klerk. Just moments after the Dutchman had settled into the TFC box in the stands, his team was again protesting a Pineda penalty. This one was a hand ball on Miguel Aceval, who tried to head the ball out of danger but rolled over it with his upper arm.
Rodriguez made no mistake, drilling it high into the left corner past Kocic.
Winter said he didn’t think either penalty was deserved.
“After the second one, it was over,” he said.
As the wave was making its way around the stadium, Oribe Peralta added some insurance in the 66th minute, converting from in close a ball that eluded several defenders on its way to the front of the Toronto net.
Daniel Luduena added the exclamation point two minutes into added time.
“We had the game, we just had to manage it,” said TFC defender Doneil Henry.
Midfielder Terry Dunfield said “we’ll definitely take heart” from being in the match for 50 minutes and from “continuing to battle tremendously well.”
“Unfortunately, we just didn’t have enough left in the tank.”
Regarding the penalties, Dunfield, a Canadian international, said: “When you come to places like this you have to stay on your feet and not give the ref the opportunity to make those decisions. We can definitely do better with some of the goals we conceded but all the best to Santos in the final.”
Gomez took to Twitter after the game to praise Toronto’s effort.
“TFC should be proud of the way they came in and played us, never backed down,” Gomez tweeted. “Plata, (Luis) Silva and RJ (Ryan Johnson) can play on my 11 anytime. # respect.”
Santos now faces the winner of Wednesday’s late second-leg semifinal between Mexican sides Monterrey and Pumas UNAM of Mexico City. Monterrey led 3-0 after the first leg.