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| Source: Goal |
Posted on Wednesday 04 August 2010 - 14:28:30 |
Toronto FC played some of its most inspired soccer of the season Tuesday night, and was rewarded with the first CONCACAF Champions League win in club history.
Chad Barrett scored and Toronto built on early momentum to earn a 1-0 win over Honduran visitors Club Deportivo Motagua in the first leg of a Champions League qualifier.
Captain Dwayne De Rosario was again a maestro in the midfield, earning an assist on the decisive goal while creating several chances of his own against Motagua at BMO Field. Toronto should have converted on more than one of its shots, but its play was enough to send the 18,891 paying customers into the streets entertained and satisfied.
"It was fun," De Rosario said. "We saw a lot of the ball in the midfield, guys were moving, guys were on the ball, and I think that was a big key to our success."
Toronto earned an invitation to the tournament with its successful defence of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship in May. The CONCACAF Champions League -- comprised of North American, Central American and Caribbean teams -- takes part in three stages, and sends its champion to compete in the FIFA Club World Cup.
A win, a tie or a high-scoring one-goal loss in next week's second leg would see the Canadian side qualify for the competition's group stage.
"It's a great result, it's a positive thing to take a win out of here," Barrett said. "In Honduras, it's going to be tough. They're going to be just as good, if not better, on their own field."
Toronto is set to fly to Honduras from Kansas City following its league game against the Wizards on July 31. It will face Motagua in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa on Aug. 2, a little more than a year after president Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a coup.
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada has published a list of stark warnings for would-be travellers to Honduras on its website. The Canadian government has not issued an official travel warning, but it does advise tourists to "exercise a high degree of caution in Honduras due to an increase in violent crime as well as recent political unrest."
De Rosario said the stadium can be an intimidating place to play.
"It's an intense atmosphere," he said. "It will be a good experience for a lot of the guys. It's a very difficult environment to play in."
Toronto was bounced from the preliminary round of the tournament last year after failing to score a goal in two games against the Puerto Rico Islanders. The Canadian side fell 1-0 at home and drew 0-0 on the road.
It became clear very early on Tuesday that the team would not settle for another shutout in the competition. Toronto coach Predrag (Preki) Radosavljevic selected a squad filled with regulars, and he appeared to send them onto the field with orders to attack.
After a flourish of early movement, forward O'Brian White was nearly the first to crack the score sheet in the 19th minute, but was thwarted with a last-second deflection from Motagua defender Ivan Guerrero.
The visitors had four World Cup veterans in their starting lineup -- a group headlined by former Toronto midfielder Amado Guevara -- but were sluggish. They were still on their heels after White's attempt when De Rosario sliced them open for the opening goal.
Toronto's captain hit Barrett on the run, sending the forward in all alone on goal in the 20th minute. The 25-year-old stroked the ball into the net for a 1-0 lead.
De Rosario sent forward Jacob Peterson on another run three minutes later, only to have the five-year MLS veteran send a lob harmlessly over the net. Canadian midfielder Julian de Guzman was stopped on a weak left-footed shot 10 minutes before halftime, moments before Barrett was caught from behind on a breakaway.
"We kept pushing forward," Preki said. "We were trying to get a second goal because we knew how important it was to get a second goal."
Forward Maicon Santos turned his marker inside out just minutes after making his debut in the second half for Toronto, but joined the growing list of near-misses when the play fizzled. De Rosario and de Guzman each had open lanes to goal before the game was an hour old, but the former was low, and the latter sent his shot too high.
De Rosario had another glorious chance in the 73rd minute, after running for what seemed like five kilometres to chase down a pass. The 32-year-old, who will join the MLS all-star team in Houston for its game against Manchester United on Wednesday, blasted a shot on net from just inside the box, forcing a difficult save.
Motagua pushed back near the end, narrowly missing a redirection in the final five minutes.
"The game now is history," Motagua coach Ramon Maradiaga said through a translator. "We hope that, in Tegucigalpa, we can turn the game around."
:: highlights video ::
Source: http://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/2010/07/27/torontofc_motagua/
Posted on Wednesday 28 July 2010 - 11:29:55 |
As painful as a 1-1 tie was to Toronto FC on Saturday, it’s fall when it may really hurt. The Reds conceded a late goal for the second straight week. This time, it was a 77th minute equalizer off the head of FC Dallas striker Milton Rodriguez on a corner kick, which gave the visitors a point they appeared to have no chance of claiming over the first 65 minutes of a rain-soaked afternoon at BMO Field.
Just like seven days earlier in Philadelphia, when TFC lost 2-1 on a penalty five minutes into second-half stoppage time, this result cost them valuable points in a race for the Major League Soccer playoffs that looks destined to go down to the last game in October.
“At the end of the day, we lost two points,” said midfielder Julian de Guzman, who enjoyed one of his best games of the season and set-up TFC’s goal in the 61st minute.
“It’s definitely not enough to only walk out with one point against Dallas at home.”
While the tie kept the Reds unbeaten at home this season — 5-0-4 — they lost an opportunity to move into a tie for fifth place with Dallas (6-2-8) in the 16-team league, which sends eight teams to the playoffs.
Compounding the disappointment for TFC (6-5-5) is the fact the team plays eight of its final 14 games away from home, where it has just a win and a tie in seven matches so far this season.
The Reds will have to rebound quickly. They host Motagua of Honduras at BMO Field Tuesday in the opening leg of a CONCACAF Champions League preliminary round.
On Saturday, TFC dominated the game for more than an hour before an announced crowd of 19,743, which was significantly reduced by the nasty weather.
After taking the play to Dallas and generating the game’s only good scoring chances, the Reds finally scored just over an hour in.
De Guzman started the play by winning the ball on his own side of the field and beginning a counter attack.. Soon after crossing the halfway line, he played a perfect ball through the defence onto the foot of Maicon Santos.
Maicon Santos, who was making his first MLS start for TFC in three appearances since signing earlier this month, fought off defender Zach Loyd and drilled a low shot on the short side to beat Kevin Hartman. It was his first goal for the Reds.
But soon after, TFC stopped pushing forward and let Dallas dictate the game’s pace.
“After we scored the goal, we relaxed,” said head coach Preki Radosavljevic. “It was almost like we took 10 new guys and put them on the field and said: ‘Okay, defend.’”
After some sloppy defensive play by TFC led to a Dallas corner, Rodriguez rose between two defenders to thump home the David Ferreira cross past a helpless Stefan Frei.
It was yet another goal conceded off a set piece, a recurring theme for this team. And, as was so often the case last season, when TFC fell a point short of the playoffs, it was scored in the final 15 minutes of the game.
“Once again, we found a way to give away a soft goal,” Preki said. “That’s a worrying thing. I think we’re lacking concentration in the box.”
Frei said it comes down to one-on-one play on corners and free kicks.
“We’ve got to win our individual battles and almost take the intensity up a notch when we defend our set pieces,” said Frei, who preserved the tie with a diving, finger-tip save off a deflected shot from Atiba Harris in the 87th minute. “It’s got to get better.”
Midfielder Jacob Peterson said while it may be “human nature” to feel you have to defend when you get the lead, the Reds have to develop a killer instinct that sees them continue to push forward to look to widen their lead and not try to hang on for wins.
“The best teams in the world keep pushing and look to win games 3-0, 4-0 and we’ve got to acquire that,” said Peterson, who came on as a substitute for the final nine minutes.
Posted on Wednesday 28 July 2010 - 11:16:24 |
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