and had the game's best opportunity in the 68th minute, when 16-year-old forward Abdus Ibrahim was fouled in the area. But Amado Guevara saw the resulting penalty kick saved by Quakes goalkeeper Joe Cannon.
• Cannon ended up with his sixth shutout of the year, tying him with Kansas City's Kevin Hartman and Real Salt Lake's Nick Rimando for the league lead.
• TFC head coach John Carver made three changes to the team that lost 2-1 away to the Chicago Fire the previous weekend. Rohan Ricketts and Tyler Rosenlund came into the midfield and Abdus Ibrahim started up top, replacing Julius James, Jarrod Smith and Maurice Edu.
• Here's Carver's team (4-4-1-1): Greg Sutton - Marvell Wynne, Tyrone Marshall, Marco Velez, Jim Brennan - Rohan Ricketts, Carl Robinson, Tyler Rosenlund (Jeff Cunningham 70), Laurent Robert - Amado Guevara - Abdus Ibrahim. Substitutes Not Used: Nana Attakora-Gyan, Brian Edwards, Gabe Gala, Tyler Hemming, Julius James, Jarrod Smith
• "I thought we dominated the game," Carver said. "We've thrown the kitchen sink at them. We missed a penalty, we missed a one-on-one. Amado [Guevara]'s got one from six yards that's over the bar, and you'd put your mortgage on him [making it]."
TEAM NEWS
• Of Toronto's 11 shots, four were taken by Ibrahim, the 16-year-old forward who was making his first MLS start after notching his first career goal last Saturday in Chicago. It was the latest step in the youngster's development as he played the full 90 minutes and created problems for the Earthquakes' back line.
• "I can't rely on a young kid to go out there and perform," Carver said. "But I'll tell you what, he's not bad either. He did OK today, but I can't keep throwing him in there. I've got to protect him and look after him, so yes, we need more than one [forward], it's pretty obvious."
• Carver said he was pleased with the fact that the back line and goalkeeper Greg Sutton were able to record a fairly uneventful clean sheet, and that his team was still playing hard in its seventh game in a 22-day span.
• "What I said to them was, 'you can't give any more than you've given,' " Carver said. "They've given every ounce in there. We've had a lot of football recently and they've given all they've got. They created chances, they've not put the chances away. Eventually that will come. If you keep consistent with things and believing in what you're doing, eventually the ball will go in the back of the net."
• The Reds have scored just two goals in their last four league games, and one of those came from an own goal.
• "I think it's blatantly obvious what we need to do," Carver said. "We don't need one striker, we need two strikers and we need somebody to put the ball in the back of the net. I feel Amado can play in a 4-4-2 with Carl Robinson, and if we get two strikers in, we can move on to the next step."
• On Tuesday night, the goal drought continued. TFC took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Rohan Ricketts in the 14th minute, but Roberto Brown headed home a corner kick 12 minutes later, and despite a ton of chances down the stretch, TFC couldn't score and the 1-1 draw was enough to give the Montreal Impact the Canadian Championship and the berth in the inaugural CONCACAF Champions League.
• "We had to go and win the game tonight," Carver said. "A draw wasn't good enough. We did leave ourselves open a little bit, but I had to try and get my fullbacks involved in the game to try and create something. Normally you don't have both fullbacks up at the same time, and unfortunately the lack of quality was disappointing."
• Here's Carver's team: Greg Sutton, Marvell Wynne, Tyrone Marshall, Marco Velez (Julius James 86), Jim Brennan, Rohan Ricketts, Maurice Edu, Carl Robinson, Laurent Robert, Abdus Ibrahim (Jeff Cunningham 68), Amado Guevara.
