Bono game-saver for streaking Reds
TFC goalkeeper robs Brampton-born Larin late, Giovinco sparks attack
Sebastian Giovinco scored the goals, but it was goalkeeper Alex Bono who won the game for Toronto FC at BMO Field on Wednesday night.
The Reds were inches away from allowing Orlando City SC to tie the match at 2-2 midway through the second half, when Brampton-raised striker Cyle Larin stood with the ball at his feet near the goal-line.
But while Larin looked as if he was playing in slow motion, Toronto’s 25year-old ’keeper slipped into fast forward, diving around Larin and scooping the ball out of harm’s way.
The game-saving play helped Toronto stretch its win streak to three.
“Alex came up with some incredible stops, for sure,” said Greg Vanney, a winner in his 100th game as coach of the Reds. “This win is really because of the saves that he made in the second half, we were able to hold on to it.”
It’s still early in the Major League Soccer season, but the home side’s 2-1 victory was a frenetic top-of-thetable battle between Orlando, the current Eastern Conference leader, and the reigning conference champion.
Much has been written about the visiting Lions — led by Canadians Larin and Will Johnson, the former Red — as they’ve stormed to the top after finishing near the bottom of the standings in the past two seasons. If Wednesday night’s match was a test for the visitors, they didn’t pass.
Giovinco scored two first-half goals, his fourth and fifth of the year, and Bono’s heroics made them stand up.
“He’s obviously an incredibly special player,” Vanney said of Giovinco, who scored his 50th goal in a Toronto FC jersey. “We’ve said as much so many times since the day he arrived, and started wowing us with the kind of goals that he’s been able to score.”
While Larin attracted attention in the run-up to the contest, another homegrown player made a greater impact early on.
Raheem Edwards, in his fifth start of the year on the left side of Toronto’s five-man midfield, chased an overhit ball from midfielder Victor Vazquez down the left side, keeping it in play by inches. The speedy Edwards then dispatched Orlando right back Scott Sutter and cut a low cross to Jozy Altidore near the penalty spot.
The ball was deflected and Altidore barely got a toe on it. But Giovinco then controlled the wayward ball with his left foot, played it to his right and putting a low shot through traffic into the bottom corner of the net behind Lions goalkeeper Joe Bendik, another former Red.
Toronto FC doubled their lead in the 38th minute, when Bendik spilled a cross by Toronto’s Steven Beitashour to the feet of Vazquez at the six-yard line. With one look over his shoulder, the Spaniard found Giovinco. Another magic touch got the ball to the Italian, who curled it inside the near post.
Larin — who scored six goals in his first seven matches — helped cut Toronto’s lead to one in first-half injury time, when he rose high about the Reds defence to meet a cross, then headed it across the net and down to Kaka at the back corner. The Brazilian legend made no mistake, pounding it into the roof of the net from close range. But that’s as close as they would get.
Toronto FC returns to action Saturday afternoon in Seattle — an MLS Cup final rematch with the Sounders.