TORONTO — A spectacular back-to-goal header by defender Nana Attakora gave Toronto FC a 1-0 victory over Árabe Unido of Panama in CONCACAF Champions League action Tuesday in front of 10,385 at BMO Field.
Attakora out-leaped the Árabe defense and uncorked a turnaround header from a Nick LaBrocca free kick at the top of the penalty area in the 30th minute. His perfectly placed shot dipped into the bottom left corner of the Árabe goal, past the outstretched arms of goalkeeper José Calderón.
Going into the match, Toronto interim head coach Nick Dasovic altered his lineup with four new faces inserted into the attack, including several youngsters.
Veteran midfielder Dwayne De Rosario returned from his one-game MLS suspension. Nineteen-year-old midfielder Fuad Ibrahim, plus rookie defender Doneil Henry and Toronto FC academy defender Ashtone Morgan also started for the Reds. Another TFC academy player, midfielder Oscar Cordon, entered the game in the 66th minute for Julian de Guzman.
Reds goalkeeper Jon Conway made his second consecutive start despite his red-card ejection in league play on Saturday after an altercation with Columbus attacker Steven Lenhart.
Árabe Unido coach Richard Parra also altered his lineup slightly from the teams' last meeting on Aug. 24 in Panama. Midfielder Félix Góndola as well as strikers Rodrigo Niño and José González started for the visitors.
While Toronto dominated play for much of the match, the visitors rarely threatened.
The Árabe offense, while enjoying some dangerous spells of possession early on in the match, didn’t even test Conway until the 50th minute when an Óscar Londoño free kick from the top of the Toronto penalty area sliced just overtop of the goal.
De Rosario came close to adding to Toronto’s tally in the 65th minute when he ripped a hard right-footed blast just wide of the Árabe Unido goal.
Morgan also flirted with padding Toronto’s lead and scoring a goal in his first game when he made a long surging forward run from the back and unleashed a thunderous blast from the top of the penalty forcing Calderón to make a strong save.
The victory gave Toronto a form of revenge after a bitter 1-0 loss to Árabe in Panama when LaBrocca and Ibrahim were both ejected from the match.
Tuesday’s result also served as a form of redemption for a disappointed Toronto side that missed the MLS playoffs for the fourth consecutive year and will not advance to the CCL quarterfinals after their third-place finish in Group A.
TFC play their final game of the 2010 season on Saturday night at RFK Stadium against D.C. United.
