After seeing his club lose a game due to a penalty kick awarded through a controversial call, Toronto FC coach Mo Johnston wasn't ranting and raving as many coaches would've been. In fact, Johnston was watching his words closely.
"I'll have to be careful with that I say," Johnston said. "I'll probably get in trouble."
With the game against D.C. United tied 1-1 in the 79th minute, D.C. forward Luciano Emilio carried the ball to the right of the Toronto goal and into the penalty area. TFC defender Marvell Wynne challenged Emilio in an effort to take the ball, and the United striker ended up on the ground.
The Toronto FC players -- not to mention the 20,183 fans at BMO Field -- thought it was a solid defensive effort. Referee Baldomero Toledo thought otherwise. United were awarded a penalty kick that forward Jaime Moreno connected on to give United the lead and Moreno his MLS record-tying 108th career goal.
Toronto goalkeeper Greg Sutton had a bird's eye view of the play, and he felt the foul shouldn't have been called.
"It was a pretty fair challenge," Sutton said. "It was a 50-50 ball. I think the speed of Marvell Wynne kind of surprised the referee. He felt [Wynne] wasn't going to get a piece of the ball and I felt he did. It was obviously a big call that went against us and it hurt us mentally. We sat back and we strugged towards the end of the second half.""
TFC weren't looking sharp at the start of the half either. After jumping out to a 1-0 lead on Alecko Eskandarian's strike in the 44th minute, Toronto FC looked overmatched by a resurgent D.C. squad early in the second half. United caught a break when TFC defender Kevin Goldthwaite accidentally headed a ball into his own net for the tying goal, and D.C. kept pouring on the offense.
Johnston said that fatigue was a factor for his team's performance in the second half. Saturday's game was the third for Toronto FC in eight days.
"There were certain things in our game that were just a little bit sluggish," Johnston said. "There was a period in the second half of about 20 minutes where I thought we were running in quicksand."
Being down a goal meant that Johnston couldn't take off midfielder Ronnie O'Brien, who is still recovering from a knee injury that caused him to miss the season's first four games. Johnston admitted it was hard to leave O'Brien in, but the situation called for the midfielder's playmaking ability.
One player that was substituted, ironically, wanted to stay in. Eskandarian came off in the 60th minute for Edson Buddle, which made it an early day for the former D.C. United star. Eskandarian, who missed last Saturday's game against Chicago with a calf injury, said he was ready and able to stay on the field against his former club.
"I felt I could've stayed on," Eskandarian said. "I was hoping to play at least 80 [minutes] today because I thought I had another goal in me. But Mo has confidence in the other forwards and we need to get them chances too."
The Toronto players' fatigue wasn't helped by a physical matchup with D.C. that saw both clubs combine for 38 fouls and six yellow cards. TFC received four of the cautions, a total that Johnston felt was slanted.
"I think a lot of the yellow cards were harsh," Johnston said. "I think it spoiled the game."
Toronto FC won't get much opportunity to give their players a needed break. TFC welcome Portuguese side Benfica to BMO Field for an exhibition game on Wednesday, and then Toronto travels to Columbus to face the Crew on Saturday. In addition, TFC's roster might be shortened due to players being selected for the upcoming CONCACAF Gold Cup and the Under-20 World Cup.
Whatever the next few weeks brings for Toronto, midfielder Carl Robinson was satisfied with how his team weathered a difficult part of the schedule. The loss to D.C. ended a two-game winning streak for TFC at BMO Field.
"You've got to look at the bigger picture," Robinson said. "Look at the week overall, we've won two games out of three. It was a lot of effort and hard work but it just wasn't our day today."
Mark Polishuk is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
