The Chicago Fire have the dubious honor of being the first team to concede a goal -- and the first team to lose -- to expansion Toronto FC, as TFC claimed a 3-1 victory on Saturday afternoon at BMO Field.
Toronto FC defender Kevin Goldthwaite's strike in the 51st minute was the difference in the contest. Danny Dichio had give Toronto the lead midway through the first half, but Chris Rolfe levelled the score before halftime. Then after Dichio and Diego Gutierrez were both sent off just before halftime, Goldthwaite scored the eventual game-winner.
After going scoreless in the first 384 minutes of their MLS tenure, Toronto finally got on the board in the 24th minute against the Fire. Toronto defender Marvell Wynne knifed a pass in front of the Chicago net, and from the resulting scramble, the ball ended up in the possession of TFC's Edson Buddle. The striker carried the ball to the right side of the net and centered the ball into the box.
Striker Dichio, playing just his second game in MLS after being acquired on April 19, made no mistake in knocking it home for the historic goal that gave Toronto a 1-0 lead.
The goal incited a raucous celebration amongst the sellout crowd at BMO Field, many of whom littered the field with soccer ball-shaped seat covers given out as a promotion before the game.
The Fire had trouble getting on track offensively in the first half-hour of play, but broke through in the 36th minute.
Midfielder Justin Mapp's corner kick was cleared just outside the penalty area, where Rolfe pounced upon it. The Chicago striker fired it past TFC 'keeper Greg Sutton to tie the game at 1-1 in a goal very reminiscent of his goal last Sunday against New England.
It was Rolfe's fourth of the season, his fourth in the last four games, and tied him with New England's Taylor Twellman for the MLS lead.
Dichio made some more TFC history just before the end of the half, though in a much less creditable category, when he became the first Toronto player to be sent off after a near-brawl developed in the Chicago goalmouth in the 44th minute.
A shoving match in front of the Fire goal between Dichio and Fire 'keeper Matt Pickens resulted in a scrum that involved nearly every member of both teams. The skirmish resulted in both sides being reduced to 10 men, as both Dichio and Gutierrez were sent off.
The decision to send Dichio off prompted another hail of seat cushions from the Toronto fans, upset at seeing their newest hero ejected from the game. It was a fitting end to an overly-spirted half that saw both clubs combine for 25 fouls.
The deciding goal came just after the halftime break, after three touch passes from Toronto deep in the Chicago end of the field.
Buddle's final pass of the string found Goldthwaite alone on the left side of the net, and the defender sent a well-placed strike into the right corner of the net to put TFC in the lead for good. The goal was Goldthwaite's first in 27 career MLS games.
The Fire couldn't find a way back, as their offensive disorganization continued into the second half. Seemingly every Fire charge was prematurely halted by an offside call, a pass out of bounds or a foul. It didn't help matters that their attacking spearhead, Rolfe, was substituted in the 59th minute for forward Ivan Guerrero.
TFC put things away in the 75th minute thanks to 21-year-old Maurice Edu. The midfielder, selected first overall by Toronto in the 2007 MLS SuperDraft, took a pass in the penalty area from substitute striker Andrea Lombardo and drove it home for his first professional goal.
The loss was a discouraging end to a three-game road stretch for Chicago, as they have now dropped their last two matches after opening the season with three wins and a draw in their first four games. The Fire will look to turn things around back home at Toyota Park when they play host to FC Dallas on ESPN Primetime Thursday.
Toronto won't have much time to celebrate their victory however, as defending MLS Cup champion Houston Dynamo visit BMO Field on Wednesday. But if the suddenly potent Toronto offense and increasingly intimidating BMO Field crowd are any indication, it could be the Dynamo who should be concerned.
