After going 824 minutes without a goal, Toronto FC has now scored first in their last two matches, but could not hold either lead. That cost the Reds last week vs. the Columbus Crew, and again on Saturday in a loss to league-leading D.C. United 4-1 on TFC's first ever visit to RFK stadium.
To compound the problem, they have taken leads into the second half of both matches before squandering them. They gave up two goals to Columbus in the second half last Saturday against Columbus and all four in the same fashion to a relentless United side, who is making another strong push to capture the Supporters' Shield, which goes to the club with the most points in the regular season.
Toronto has not won since beating Real Salt Lake 2-1 on July 4.
Despite not controlling possession early, Toronto took the lead in the 14th minute on a free kick by Carl Robinson. United's Greg Vanney arrived a split second late, stumbling into Maurice Edu just 22 yards away near the center of the field. Robinson bent a strong right-footed shot over the leaping United wall and into the far corner, beating Troy Perkins, who took a step to his left before diving back in vain.
After a shaky first half, United inserted Jaime Moreno and Ben Olsen, two savvy and skillful veterans, at the start of the second and the quality of United's play immediate improved.
Maurice Edu actually had a golden opportunity to increase the early in the second stanza but his cracker of a shot from 22 yards went wide.
United struck shortly after on an equally hard blast that was on frame by Marc Burch to make the score 1-1. With good, quick possession around the perimeter of the Toronto penalty area, Fred laid off a simple ball for Burch at the left corner of the penalty area with his left foot beating Kenny Stamatopoulos to the upper corner on the short side in the 52nd minute.
Five minutes later from almost the same spot, Stamatopoulos couldn't get a hand on Fred's bending shot to the upper corner of the far post to quickly make the score 2-1.
United continued to pour it on, making it 3-1 in the 67th minute despite the desperate pleas for offside from most of the Toronto defenders. Moreno snuck in behind the Toronto back line, collecting a Simms ball and blasting through Stamatopoulos to make the score 3-1.
Emilio, the league's leading scorer, couldn't let his teammates have all the fun, scoring three minutes later, tagging in a full volley from inside the penalty area after Gomez's free kick caromed off the crossbar directly to him.
Emilio became the league's first twenty goal scorer since 2002, when both Taylor Twellman and Carlos Ruiz eclipsed the mark.
After the Edu blast, Toronto rarely challenged United's goal. Despite that lack of possession, Toronto had good chances before and after Robinson's goal.
Marvell Wynne challenged the United back line in the 21st minute, dribbling around and through Vanney and Marc Burch but his final touch eluded him and the ball was knocked away by a sliding Perkins.
Wynne played in a flank midfield role hoping to use his speed to attack United with penetrating runs from deeper positions.
United had their first premium opportunity only a couple of minutes earlier, as Fred sprung Guy-Roland Kpene with a crafty ball but Stamatopoulos got a good piece of the shot with Adam Braz clearing the ball off the line as it bounded toward the open goal.
As United continued to relentlessly attack, Toronto was equal to every task. Simms skimmed the crossbar with a 35-yards blast in the 32nd minute. United won the ball back immediately with Kpene got on the end of perfect Birch cross from the left flank. Kpene's well struck downward header was knocked straight into the air by Stamatopoulos, who was subsequently knocked down by Emilio attempting to latch on to the loose ball.
In the end, United's attack was just too much for Toronto.
Chris Snear is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
