TORONTO — If not for a wonder-strike from Whitecaps forward Eric Hassli in stoppage time, Toronto FC would have come away with a massive win in the first leg of the Amway Canadian Championship on Wednesday night.
Instead, the visitors were able to head home with a solid 1-1 draw in which they registered an away goal that may yet prove to be very valuable.
The game was one of Toronto’s best showings of the season and one of the better road performances that they have turned in for quite some time. The club has a history of struggling away from BMO Field, so for them to go to BC Place and take the game to Vancouver is a positive.
Unlike the first leg of the semifinals in Montreal where Toronto put as many players as possible behind the ball in hopes of stealing a result, coach Aron Winter set out his side to attack from the start. That trend even continued after Ryan Johnson headed the Reds into the lead as Winter brought on Nick Soolsma, Danny Koevermans, and Luis Silva as second-half substitutes. There was no sign of packing it in or just trying to defend for their lives.
Seeing Toronto go on the attack and try to take the game to the Whitecaps was a refreshing change. To make things even better the team managed to look competent at the back with injured captain Torsten Frings. With Adrian Cann and Doneil Henry once again being partnered in the centre of defence the back four was solid. The Canadians have established themselves as the first choice pairing at the back in recent weeks which is finally providing a bit of much needed stability in a problem area for TFC.
The 1-1 draw was full of good news for fans who will have been hurting for some positives of late. The first piece of good news is that both Soolsma and Koevermans were able to make their return from injuries that have kept both of them out of action in recent weeks. Their regaining of match fitness will give Winter his full arsenal of attacking options and may even allow Johnson to finally take a minute of play off.
The second piece of good news is that Johnson found the back of the net again. Having played every competitive minute for TFC this season Johnson was one of the players who was most visibly suffering from the club’s poor MLS form. He has gone scoreless in seven league games since netting against the Seattle Sounders in the season opener but a pair of goals in the last two Cup games should do wonders for his confidence.
More importantly, though, Toronto played their best game of the season from front to back. There was a small bit of miscommunication and failure to mark that led to the goal from Hassli, but to fault the defenders for that goal would be quite harsh. In the end anything less than a brilliant volley would not have been enough to break down TFC’s defensive line.
The bad news is that at 1-1, the tie is still very much in the balance. The away goal is a nice boost for TFC but the chances that they failed to convert late in the match may yet prove to be quite costly. Vancouver has plenty of fire power in their attack so counting on a clean sheet back at BMO would be a big ask against the likes of Hassli, Le Toux, Camilo, and Salgado.
If Joao Plata was able to make something happen on the four-on-one chance or if Soolsma managed to get his shot past Joe Cannon this would be a much different looking final.
In the end, Toronto fans should be pleased with both the performance and the result. Based on form they were clear underdogs heading into the finals but now they are 90 solid minutes away from a fourth straight Voyaguers Cup and a return to the CONCACAF Champions league.
David Rowaan is a Toronto-based writer and key contributor to Waking the Red, a blog about Toronto FC and Canadian soccer. Follow Waking the Red on Twitter.