ROAD WARRIORS
Toronto FC scores 2-1 victory in Washington as Giovinco dazzles with two-goal effort,
WASHINGTON— Sebastian Giovinco scored two impressive goals to lift Toronto FC to a statement-making 2-1 victory over Eastern Conference leaders D.C. United Saturday night at RFK Stadium.
With midfield captain Michael Bradley in Europe with the United States national team, Giovinco more than picked up the slack with his sixth and seventh goals of the year as Toronto came from behind as the first road team to win at RFK Stadium in nearly a year.
Giovinco’s 83rd-minute winner helped the Reds snap United’s clubrecord home unbeaten run at 20 matches in all competitions, a stretch that goes back to the Seattle Sounders’ 1-0 victory here on June 28 of 2014.
Toronto (6-5-1, 19 points) also won its third straight for the first time this season and ran their unbeaten run to four matches.
Steve Birnbaum scored an unusual early goal for D.C. (8-4-4, 28 points), which had conceded first in its previous six matches despite winning three of those. United saw Kofi Opare’s apparent go-ahead goal disallowed for offsides in the 60th minute.
Though Bradley remains in Europe for the USA’s friendly against Germany next Wednesday, fellow American international Jozy Altidore returned as a late substitute after missing two matches with a hamstring strain.
He proved a crucial decoy in Giovinco’s winning strike from distance, faking like he would take Benoit Cheyrou’s pass and streaking forward before leaving it for the Italian.
Giovinco did the rest, taking a couple touches and then unleashing a 30-yard rocket that screamed beyond United’s Andrew Dykstra.
While the winner came almost against the run of play, Giovinco leveled the match in the 34th minute to punctuate perhaps the visitors’ most impressive stretch of the evening.
After a buildup sequence that included Luke Moore, Jonathan Osorio and Cheyrou, Giovinco found himself on the left against two United defenders. He moved to his left, away from United’s Bobby Boswell, then eluded Sean Franklin with a devastating right-footed cutback before hammering a left-footed finish into the roof of the net.
The goal followed a six-minute sequence in which Dykstra made three impressive saves to deny Giovinco twice and Warren Creavalle once.
Giovinco almost set up a go-ahead goal before halftime, with Osorio volleying his cross over the bar after Franklin deflected it.
Birnbaum put United ahead in the sixth minute. Only moments after Espindola struck the right upright with his 22-yard chip, he curled in an equally precise corner. Birnbaum easily side-footed it home after stepping around Damien Perquis.
In the 60th, it looked as if another D.C. set piece might doom Toronto when Chris Konopka failed to catch Espindola’s long, diagonal free kick.
Kofi Opare hammered in the loose ball and celebrated but was offside.