knocking the ball back and forth. Jaime played me a ball through, and luckily I found the back of the net," said the Costa Rica native and sixth overall selection in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft.
• Janicki and John were straight changes as United maintained the back three they've used all year. Chris Pontius remained in a wide midfield role and Santino Quaranta moved to partner Jaime Moreno in attack, as Brandon Barklage - who had just 33 minutes in league play - played the attacking midfield role. Barklage had filled that spot in the Open Cup win against FC Dallas.
• Of the effect the changes will have, as United tries to attain their goal of seven points from the three-game stretch, Soehn said: "You can ask me Saturday after the game. I'm hoping we injected some legs in these guys now, so they can be effective at home."
• United have scored the opening goal in six of their eight games this season, yet have only a pair of victories to show for the early advantage. Three of those games have ended in ties.
• "Whenever you're up and end up losing a lead, you're a little down," Clyde Simms said. "But we are on the road and in first place right now. A tie is not a bad result. We can go into Saturday with some confidence."
TORONTO FC
Toronto FC extended their unbeaten run to three games in the first match after Chris Cummins was installed as interim head coach, coming back for a 1-1 home draw with the Columbus Crew on Saturday afternoon. TFC are now in second place in the Eastern Conference with 12 points from eight matches, trailing D.C. United by a single marker.
LAST MATCH
• Toronto FC came into the game as the Eastern Conference leaders following a pair of wins on home turf the weekend before, while the Crew entered at the foot of the division, still winless and off to the worst start for a defending champion.
• The Crew finally broke through nine minutes into the second half. Emmanuel Ekpo picked off a bouncing ball in midfield and raced goalward, splitting a pair of defenders on his way into the penalty area. There he rounded TFC goalkeeper Stefan Frei and rolled the ball into the empty net, the first goal allowed by Toronto in 240 minutes.
• But Toronto FC pulled even in the 64th minute. Sent down the left flank, Sam Cronin flighted in a cross that dropped perfectly between defenders and Chad Barrett stole in to snap a header past Andy Gruenebaum for his second goal on the season.
• TFC interim head coach Chris Cummins made no changes to the team he put out in his first match officially in charge, a 1-0 victory against the Kansas City Wizards.
• Here's Cummins' team (4-2-1-3): Stefan Frei - Marvell Wynne, Adrian Serioux, Marco Velez, Jim Brennan - Sam Cronin, Carl Robinson - Amado Guevara (Rohan Ricketts 80) - Chad Barrett, Danny Dichio (Dwayne De Rosario 46), Pablo Vitti. Substitutes Not Used: Nana Attakora-Gyan, Kevin Harmse, Fuad Ibrahim, Johann Smith, Greg Sutton
• "It was beautiful sunshine when we went out and then the heavens opened up," Cummins said. "We were still trying to play tippy-tappy football in the wrong areas. We tried to slide balls though and they were running off the pitch. We didn't play the conditions very well."
TEAM NEWS
• In his first official match in charge after being named interim head coach (he was the coach of record, still technically an assistant, for the Kansas City game), Cummins did not change the formula that led to back-to-back wins. But he made a significant change after the break, bringing on Dwayne De Rosario - who had missed two full games with a hamstring injury - and revering to twin strikers with four midfielders.
• "I thought we did a bit better second half we started getting balls in the right areas and we got Amado [Guevara] a little more upfield and we showed more quality," Cummins said.
• The goal allowed by Stefan Frei against the Crew ended a 239-minute shutout streak, ranking third in TFC's short history, behind Greg Sutton's scoreless streaks of 273 and 250 minutes, respectively.
• "Stef's a fantastic young 'keeper -- he's got a bright future ahead of him, Cummins said. "I think he was on for keeping the longest clean sheet for so many minutes -- but let me tell you he'll get it again. Stef comes up with big saves for us and for a young lad he's got a terrific head on his shoulders."
• For Barrett, it was his second goal in four games after going the opening four matches of the season without finding the back of the net. "In the second half it was a pretty even game. We kind of woke up after they scored and we strung some passes together and took some control in the match. We showed a lot of character to get back in the game," he said.
• On Wednesday night, Toronto FC won the first match in the 2009 Nutrilite Canadian Championship, defeating Vancouver Whitecaps of the USL First Division 1-0 at BMO Field. The game's lone goal came after just three minutes, when Kevin Harmse strode forward to head home a Dwayne De Rosario cross.
• Harmse returned to his usual central midfield spot after making a series of league starts in central defense, while Nana Attakora-Gyan made his first start of the season in all competitions. "I thought Nana and Kevin were fantastic in their first starts of the season," said Cummins. "The two of them have gone in and did a great job. It's a squad game and I'm going to need the full squad. To the boys that have stepped it, they were first-class."
• Here Cummins's team (4-2-1-3): Stefan Frei - Marvell Wynne, Nana Attakora-Gyan, Marco Velez, Jim Brennan - Carl Robinson, Kevin Harmse - Amado Guevara - Pablo Vitti (Fuad Ibrahim 78), Chad Barrett (Danny Dichio 73), Dwayne De Rosario. Substitutes Not Used: Sam Cronin, Emmanuel Gomez, Rohan Ricketts, Johann Smith, Greg Sutton
• The game also avenged a home loss to Vancouver in the inaugural Canadian Championship, the qualifying event for the CONCACAF Champions League. TFC plays host to Montréal next Wednesday in their next match in the tournament.
• "We had a game plan. We tried to open the game up, we played with two out-and-out wingers with DeRo and Pablo [Vitti]," Cummins said. "We wanted to stretch the game, hit diagonals and cause them a lot of problems so we could get Amado on the ball and Harmsey on the ball."
