No Reds October as Whitecaps beat TFC
A sweet start for the Vancouver Whitecaps. A sour end for Toronto FC.
Russell Teibert’s fourth-minute goal gave the Caps the perfect beginning to the game, and they held on to get past Toronto 2-1 at BMO Field Saturday afternoon, keeping their Major League Soccer playoff hopes alive and snuffing the Reds’ out completely.
The Caps (12-12-7), snapped a three-game losing streak. Kei Kamara’s 78th-minute strike was the game winner, and his 14th of the season.
Toronto (9-16-6), now mathematically eliminated, got a goal from Jozy Altidore in the 73rd minute while down to 10 men.
“I thought we deserved it, we built on performance over the last week, corrected some things that we knew we could do better and we executed,” said interim Caps coach Craig Dalrymple.
Here’s what we learned:
QUICK GOALS, QUICK MATH
It’s been 1,974 days — that’s five years, four months and 25 days — since Teibert last scored. That day the Niagara Falls, Ont., athlete had two in a 3-1 win over the L.A. Galaxy, his only previous career MLS goals to date. It feels like it’s been almost as long since the Caps scored that quickly in a game, but it’s only 378 days since Fredy Montero potted one in the fourth minute of a 2-1 victory over the Colorado Rapids.
WHAT THIS MEANS
It was almost the best-case scenario for the Whitecaps in results around the league on Saturday. Sporting K.C. played the L.A. Galaxy to a 1-1 tie and lead Vancouver by just two points, and the team both the Caps and Galaxy are chasing — Real Salt Lake — was hammered 4-1 by Portland and stays on 46 points. RSL is a point up on L.A. for the sixth and final playoff spot and three up on the Caps, but Vancouver has a game in hand on both.