A heated match on a hot evening in Salt Lake City was the stage for Toronto FC to gain the first road victory in team history by downing struggling Real Salt Lake 2-1 on Wednesday night at Rice-Eccles Stadium.
Jeff Cunningham returned to Utah to sting his former club with a brilliant first-half strike, while Collin Samuel made the victory complete from the spot in the second half, after an Alecko Eskandarian penalty against his former club had pulled Real level just before halftime.
Toronto nearly fell behind in just the sixth minute when Salt Lake striker Robbie Findley beat goalkeeper Sam Reynolds but not the frame. Findley was put through by a smart ball from Mehdi Ballouchy in the left side of the area and pushed an easy angled shot past a sprawling Reynolds. Luckily for the rookie goalkeeper, making just his second professional start, the shot hit the inside of the post and came back out behind him away from the goal.
The home side continued to pressure, creating chances in front of the TFC goal. In the 12th minute Reynolds did well to punch a 30-yard blast from Carey Talley over the bar.
Cunningham put Toronto on the board in the 19th minute with a viscous blast that hit both posts before bouncing past the goal line. Cunningham - who was the recipient of a perfect flick-on header from Danny Dichio - brought the bouncing ball down with a sublime first touch and smashed it past RSL goalkeeper Nick Rimando.
After taking the lead TFC chased the ball in their own end for 20 minutes. Even though Salt Lake controlled much of the ball the Toronto defense was stubborn and didn't allow RSL to get any dangerous chances on goal during that period.
As the half came to a close the play grew physical as the fouls increased in their intensity. That intensity got Toronto in trouble in the 44th minute. As Jim Brennan and Carl Robinson closed in on Eskandarian -- just as he entered the TFC penalty area -- the two Toronto players sandwiched Eskandarian and referee Jair Marrufo immediately called the penalty kick.
To the delight of the Salt Lake fans, Eskandarian beat Reynolds to even the score at 1-1.
The final play of the half looked to be a relatively harmless foul at the center off the park involving Cunningham and Atiba Harris. As Cunningham was fouled by Harris the Toronto striker got turned around and lunged after Andy Williams, who had the ball at the time. Williams and Cunningham exchanged shoves before they were separated by teammates.
The exchange between Cunningham and Williams continued after the end of the half. Even as the two teams were walking toward the locker rooms the former teammates exchanged heated words and were finally separated before leaving the field.
Five minutes into the second period the physical play got the best of Cunningham as he took himself out after getting sent roughly to the turf. He was replaced by Andy Welsh.
Toronto controlled the majority of the momentum during the first 20 minutes of the second half, keeping the ball in Salt Lake's end of the field.
Reynolds came up huge for Toronto in the 68th minute, stuffing Eskandarian. The RSL striker got himself on the end of an extremely long ball out of the back. Reynolds rushed out to meet Eskandarian and smothered his shot.
Four minutes later Reynolds was there again, charging off his line to break to make the save. Salt Lake tried to send Kyle Brown through, but before Brown could catch up with the ball Reynolds swept the ball the away with a well-timed slide.
In the 77th minute Toronto regained the lead following a well-taken penalty from Collin Samuel. In his second game with the club, Samuel was pulled down from behind by Jean-Martial Kipre just inside the penalty area, and Marrufo again pointed to the spot. Samuel stepped up and scored his first goal for Toronto, sending Rimando the wrong way to put his club back on top.
Played stopped in the 84th minute as Reynolds motioned to the bench that he was injured. He left the field only with some help, staying off his right leg. Srdjan Djekanovic came in as the replacement.
The goal frame was kind to Toronto for a second time in the 86th minute. Before he had even touched the ball, Djekanovic was beaten by a chip from Jamie Watson, sent in alone from a ball played over the top by Ritchie Kotschau behind the TFC defense. But the shot bounced off the top of the crossbar and over the net.
Scott McAllister is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
