Toronto FC & FC Dallas Weather the Storm for 1-1 Draw

This article was last updated on May 19, 2022

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Players from both teams compete for the
loose ball in the pouring first half rain.
Bad habits crept up again for Toronto FC as the team coughed up another late goal and had to settle for a single point against an underwhelming FC Dallas, as both teams played to a 1-1 draw at a wet BMO Field.
Making his first start for Toronto, Maicon Santos opened the scoring in the 61st minute from a great ball by Julian de Guzman, but Dallas’ Milton Rodriguez equalized off a corner kick in the 77th minute.
Up until the opening goal, Dallas had threatened very little in the match as Toronto dictated majority of the play. After going ahead 1-0, TFC, for an unknown reason, began to sit back and found themselves defending without the ball. As a result, Dallas was given far too much space in the midfield and it allowed them to get back into the flow of the game.
TFC coach, Predrag (Preki) Radosavljevic, was very disappointed with his team’s play in the final 20 minutes and with what he called a ‘soft goal’.
“Probably the most important part of the game was the last 20 minutes,” said Preki. “You get on top and score a good goal and once again we found a way to give away a soft goal. Now that’s a worrying thing, that we’re lacking the concentration in the box…It was one of those lethargic plays, they were sharper than us and they probably stole a point because I don’t think they were a threat at all until then.”
“It was almost like somebody told them ‘drop back, let them have the ball’ and that’s something we never talk about here, we want to have the ball, we want to defend with the ball… I thought before we got a goal we were moving, we were all over it…and then after we score a goal we were relaxed, it’s almost like we took ten new guys and put them on the field and said ‘Defend’.”
Goalkeeper Stefan Frei echoed his coach’s sentiments and was very frustrated in the way tying goal was scored.
“It’s very frustrating to give them the tie,” said Frei. “Obviously they were happy with it, us definitely not. Especially the fashion the way we conceded that goal, another set piece. We need to win the individual battles and almost take the intensity up a notch when we defend our set pieces. It’s got to get better…hope we don’t concede the silly goals in the long run.”

Riding out the Storm
 
Toronto FC celebrate
the opening goal
by Maicon Santo
s
At game time, the weather conditions were anything but ideal as rain poured down on BMO Field – it looked as though both teams were in for a wet and wild game. The match followed that script until the 60th minute, when the sun peaked through the clouds and a loud cheer went up across the stadium.
Up until that point it was the loudest cheer of the afternoon as the game had produced very few highlights. That is, until a minute later when the crowd erupted again with a bigger ovation as Santos broke the scoreless deadlock to the delight of the 19,743 rain-soaked fans.
De Guzman in midfield delivered a brilliant ball between two defenders ahead to Santos, who then managed to hold off another defender just long enough to power a shot past the diving Dallas keeper, Kevin Hartman, to make it 1-0.
For Santos, who was released by Chivas USA earlier this month, it was his first MLS goal with Toronto since signing with the team and second overall. He also scored TFC’s lone goal in their friendly with Bolton Wanderers last week.
After taking the lead, Toronto had become complacent and were giving up far too much space to Dallas in the midfield and as a result gave up scoring chances.
In the 75th minute, Dallas nearly scored on a pretty passing play, but striker Milton Rodriguez was unable to convert an easy tap in, instead he directed the ball just over the goal.
Just over two minutes later, TFC once again lost possession and surrendered a corner kick. On the set piece, forward David Ferreira sent the ball into the box where Rodriguez leapt up in between defenders Nana Attakora and Dan Gargan, to head the ball just over Frei’s right hand. Rodriguez atoned for his earlier miss to tie the game at 1-1 as fans vented their frustration in a chorus of boos.
In the dying minutes of the match, both teams exchanged scoring chances and came within inches of scoring the go-ahead goal. In the 85th minute, Nick La Brocca drilled the ball forward where Chad Barrett managed to direct a header past a diving Hartman, but just wide of the Dallas goal.
Then former TFC striker, Jeff Cunningham, who came into the game for Rodriquez, nearly haunted his old team in the 87th minute. His shot from just outside the box was deflected by defender Adrian Cann and then rolled off Frei’s fingertips and out for a corner kick.

Crunch Time
 
Stationed at the posts,
Julian de Guzman and
Nick La Brocca can
only watch the ball fly
over Stefan Frei’s right
hand as Dallas ties
the game at 1-1.
With their inability to pick up points on the road this season, Toronto threw away another great opportunity to pick up points at home in a game that they should have won. Despite being undefeated at home this season, Toronto needs to pull out more victories at BMO Field instead of settling for draws. It could mean the difference of making the playoffs or being on the outside looking in – again.
“At the end of the day we lost two points,” said midfielder Julian de Guzman. “It was very upsetting. It’s definitely not enough to walk away with one point against Dallas at home. These are the moments where we get most of our points this season and going into second half of the season we’re not going to play that many games at home, most of our games are going to be away.”
“Going into the second half of the season, this is crunch time now,” added de Guzman. “Everyone is going to start fighting for the playoffs and it’s going to get really tight for the playoff spot, especially the situation we’re in now.”

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Contact Aman Dhanoa at   aman@oyetimes.com   

Photos courtesy of J.P Dhanoa

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