 |
Playing without three of their best players (Dwayne De Rosario - international duty; Julian de Guzman - hamstring; Nana Attakora - hip flexor), Reds could have been forgiven for making excuses. But TFC took the attack to the Revs from start and it paid off at the 53rd minute.
On a corner taken by Sam Cronin, Barrett took a running start to meet the ball. Leaping higher than Pat Phelan from six-yards in front of goal, the striker buried it past Preston Burpo to give Toronto a 1-0 lead. The Reds kept attacking and should have had more. It was a tremendous team performance in a statement match without the club's top stars.
|
 |
Toronto's right fullback Dan Gargan and New England midfielder Marko Perovic had harsh exchanges all through the match, escalating to each player receiving a caution from referee Michael Kennedy in the second half for an elbow (Perovic) and a punch (Gargan), respectively.
Gargan won most of the battles on his side of the pitch, keeping Perovic from making effective passes to Revs' forwards. On the other side, Raivis Hscanovics - putting aside a terrible error at the 7th minute - neutralized the threat of Sainey Nyassi - who had exploited the Latvian on April 10th in the Revs' 4-1 victory. Today was another story.
|
 |
Although this match served to take note of Jacob Peterson's talent on the ball, Stefan Frei edged the Toronto winger for this honour by keeping the Reds from conceding in the early moments of the match.
The Swiss keeper rescued Toronto at the 7th minute when a missed header from Hscanovics fell to Nyassi. He charged out to cut the angle on the Gambian, and then pushed Adrian Cann's goal line clearance to touch. At the 11th minute, Perovic found some rare space and made the cross to Kheli Dube. The New England striker connected on the pass, but could only manage to hit a wall as Frei stood tall to block the shot.
|
 |
Toronto (4-4-2 formation): Stefan Frei, Nana Dan Gargan, Adrian Cann, Nick Garcia, Raivis Hscanovics, Jacob Peterson, Martin Saric, Sam Cronin, Amadou Sanyang, Fuad Ibrahim, Chad Barrett.
New England (4-4-2 formation): Preston Burpo, Kevin Alston, Cory Gibbs, Pat Phelan, Chris Tierney, Shalrie Jospeh, Joseph Niouky, Marko Perovic, Sainey Nyassi, Zak Boggs, Kheli Dube.
Goals: Barrett 53'
|
 |
Saturday, May 29 v. San Jose
MLS - Week 10
10:00 PM (RSN)
|
GAME NOTES:
After losing their first home game 3-0 to Salt Lake, San Jose has become one of the stronger sides at their own park, winning all three league matches since the awful season opener. Toronto, winless on the road, will find difficulties at the tiny Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
Canadian coach Frank Yallop has San Jose flying. They will enter this contest against Toronto unbeaten in four MLS matches, including a 1-0 win over Seattle at Qwest Field as their most recent success.
|
|
|
 |
|
|
| |
 |
| 11-8 |
New England outshot Toronto. Both clubs had four on target. |
| 6-1 |
New England with a massive edge on corner kicks. Toronto made its lone chance count. |
| 20 |
Number of fouls in the match. Sides even with 10 each. |
| 5 |
Toronto now unbeaten in all competitions over this many matches. |
| 7 |
New England winless in this many league matches. Their last victory was a 4-1 win over Toronto in April. |
|
| |
 |
 |
"It's not the prettiest game you'll see in your life. But it's two teams that came and fought and we knew it was going to be a tough game for us coming off a long road trip" - Preki on the nature of the contest and the ability of Toronto to stick it out despite injuries and international calls.
|
 |
"Almost there. At times during the game I took a rest when I shouldn't ... I got through 82 (minutes) today. Hopefully in the future I can start being more aggressive" - Jacob Peterson on his best outing in a Toronto shirt since coming off an off-season ACL surgery. |
 |
"It was nice to get a goal today but all the credit goes to the team. I should have scored three. I should have made it a lot easier on the team." - Chad Barrett on total team effort, as well as his missed chances, including a breakaway and a goal-mouth opportunity in the first half. |
|
| |
|
