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Shortly after the hour mark, a full-scale brawl ensued between Toronto and Houston players touched off by a physical exchange involving Reds' Nana Attakora and Dynamo's Joseph Ngwenya. Influential Toronto midfielder Julian de Guzman interfered and was given his marching orders along with an ejection for Ngwenya by referee Jair Marrufo.
Up until this point de Guzman was Toronto's brightest player. He had several good touches and kept the midfield tidy. These departures set the tone for a competitive final half hour that had the teams trade goals and more fireworks as Amadou Sanyang saw red in the 1-1 draw.
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Houston was winless in four coming in and Toronto hadn't lost since May 1. But a result for the Reds became unlikely when Brian Ching silenced BMO Field by connecting from a Danny Cruz corner. Toronto was mostly sharp on defensive set-pieces until this 72nd minute goal.
But one of Toronto's defenders canceled that go-ahead job 12 minutes later. A corner kick from Fuad Ibrahim made it through to Dan Gargan at the far post. The fullback leaped and headed past Pat Onstad to level the match 1-1. Of course, there were actual, real battles in this match aside from these set-piece ones as mentioned above.
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Dan Gargan was the Carlsberg Man of the Match and he gets that recognition in this space as well for the second straight week.
The Toronto fullback had a stalwart presence on the right side of the backline. He kept tricky Houston midfielder Corey Ashe from having much impact on that side of the pitch as he looked to service Ching. Scoring the dramatic late equalizer and celebrating like a mad man to the adoration of BMO Field also helps Gargan's cause.
Had he not picked up the red card, de Guzman was headed for MOTM.
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Toronto (4-4-2): Stefan Frei, Nick Garcia (Fuad Ibrahim 80'), Adrian Cann, Nana Attakora, Dan Gargan, Nick LaBrocca (Gabe Gala 71'), Julian de Guzman, Amadou Sanyang, Jacob Peterson (O'Brian White 46'), Dwayne De Rosario, Chad Barrett.
Unused Subs: Jon Conway, Ty Harden, Maxim Usanov, Martin Saric.
Goals: Gargan 84'
Discipline: Sanyang 53' 94' (ejection), Garcia 59' Attakora 63' de Guzman 63' (ejection), Gargan 85'
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Thursday, July 10 v. Colorado
MLS - Week 15
12:00 PM (CBC)
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GAME NOTES:.
Heading into their annual 4th of July match, Colorado is unbeaten in five games - three of them wins. In their last game against Toronto's Week 14 opponent Houston, the Rapids drew 2-2.
Toronto played Colorado on April 18 and the Rapids won 3-1. The Reds have vastly improved since and Colorado continues to rise in the Western Conference standings.
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| 9-6 |
Toronto outshot Houston (Reds put five on goal). |
| 6-4 |
Toronto had more corners in the match and both teams scored from one. |
| 19 |
Total number of fouls in the match (Toronto with 11). |
| 4 |
Houston was called on offsides this many times, including one that had a disallowed goal. None for Toronto. |
| 10 |
Toronto is undefeated in this many matches from all competitions. |
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"I am disappointed by our discipline, but Cam Weaver should have been red carded. He elbowed Adrian Cann when he came on the field." - Preki on the two red cards Toronto suffered as well a Houston player's alleged infraction that was missed by referee Jair Marrufo.
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"You can't trust this ball. You have to stay on your feet as long as you can and shoot up your hand at the very last moment." - Stefan Frei on the new Jabulani ball and the spectacular save he made on Lovel Palmer in the second half.
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"We definitely workd hard enough to get the three (points). We were unfortunate not to get the three." - Dan Gargan on Toronto's hard work, particularly with the game on the line in the late stages when he scored the equalizer and the Reds continued to press forward.
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