Saturday marked the final day of competition in the Carolina Cup Challenge, and to wrap up their first preseason tournament, Toronto won big, 3-0 over the hosts Charleston Battery.
It was a very quick start for Toronto; 3 minutes in Ronnie O'Brien fed Alecko Eskandarian who had space and a clear view of goal. He blasted a 25 yard strike that found the top corner beating Keith Wiggans in the Battery goal. It was Eskandarian's second tally of the tournament.
Shortly after, Charleston almost tied things up when Mike Richardson got close, but he sent his shot over the cross bar.
Ten minutes before the teams headed to the locker room, TFC doubled their lead off an Eskandarian corner. His curling ball was knocked down in front, and Abbe Ibrahim knocked it in from close range, in his first start in the tournament. 2-0 Toronto after 35 and that was the score at the half.
No changes once again to start the second half for Toronto, while the Battery made two substitutions.
Charleston had the first good chance in the second half, Greg Sutton got his finger tips to a shot, the loose ball came to Lee Sandwina, but he couldn't get a decent strike off as the play was nicely broken up by Saturday's captain, Jim Brennan.
In the 73rd minute, Edson Buddle scored his second goal of the tournament, as Sutton played a long ball up to Eskandarian, who put a quick touch right to Buddle who hit it on the run surrounded by yellow and black Battery jerseys. He tucked it away top corner, scoring on a beautiful strike.
"We finished our shots off, but we were a lot quicker," said Head Coach Mo Johnston, "it's a first test for us; we applied ourselves better each game."
The final game of the Carolina Challenge Cup featured the New York Red Bulls and Houston Dynamo. Houston went down a goal early after Dave van den Burgh put Red Bull ahead in the 7th minute.
New York went a man down for the remainder of the half in the 43rd after Dema Kovalenko picked up his second yellow of the game after a hard foul on Brian Mullan. When the second half got underway, Red Bulls emerged with eleven players as good sportsmanship prevailed in the preseason. Houston tied it in the 70th on a header by Brian Ching, then 10 minutes from time, substitute Alejandro Moreno wrapped up the match and tournament for the Dynamo making it a 2-1 final giving Dominic Kinnear's squad their third straight Carolina Challenge Cup title. Toronto finishes as runners-up after two wins and a loss (Houston), with New York, and Charleston in the final two places.
Toronto returns back home after a month on the road Sunday morning and will enjoy a much needed day off Monday before resuming training at their brand new home, BMO Field Tuesday morning at 11am. A full training schedule will be released to the media shortly.
Scoring Summary:
Toronto: Alecko Eskandarian (O'Brien) 3'
Toronto: Abbe Ibrahim (Eskandarian) 35'
Toronto: Edson Buddle 73'
Lineups:
Toronto FC: Greg Sutton, Andrew Boyens, Adam Braz (Tyler Hemming 89), Jim Brennan, Chris Pozniak, Ronnie O'Brien, Richard Asante (Maycoll Canizalez 56), Richard Mulrooney, Abbe Ibrahim (Jose Cancela 53), Alecko Eskandarian, Edson Buddle (Joey Melo 88)
Charleston Battery: Keith Wiggans, Jordan Hughes, Brandon Curran, Chris Gores, Lee Sandwina, Lazo Alvarez (Aaron King 72), Ian Bennett (Luke Vercollone 57), Ian Fuller (Armand Romero 45), Mike Richardson (Louis Rolko 79), Newton Sterling (Michael Todd 45), Byron Alvarez
