TORONTO – The proverbial saying "there’s no place like home” can apply in many situations.
Toronto FC would definitely be one of them.
After a harrowing trip to two countries and thousands of kilometers of travel, the team was at its dominating best back at their fortress BMO Field, downing Chivas USA 2-1 Saturday.
WATCH: Full match highlights
The win accomplished many things. It halted the clubs winless streak at three, provided some breathing room in the playoff chase and was an offensive breakout of sorts for a team that had scored more than one goal just once in its last eight MLS games.
“Great three points for us first of all, after a long week and long travel and an emotional game down in Honduras, this could be the game that might be difficult for us, but I thought we came out in the first half, apart from maybe five six minutes at the start, we played pretty well,” TFC coach Preki said. “I thought it was a pretty good team effort considering what’s been happening the last week for us.”
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A tortuous week began with the team’s equipment disappearing en route to Kansas City. The situation put the game in doubt, but the mental distraction probably played a part in the team’s listless 1-0 defeat.
From there, the team headed to the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa, but it couldn’t land at the airport and instead had to fly into San Pedro Sula. It then had to bus five hours to Tegucigalpa.
On Tuesday, the team endured stifling heat and hostile fans, yet played its gutsiest game this year in drawing Club Deportivo Motagua and advancing to the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions league.
TFC then took the red-eye overnight back to Toronto early Wednesday morning and enjoyed the next two days off.
The respite played a role in Saturday’s win, but for this team it just comes down to one thing: being home.
It’s no secret TFC play well at BMO Field – an undefeated mark of 6-0-4 is evidence of that. But the image of passionate red and white-clad fans seems to have a psychological effect that takes their play to another level.
“The fans, you come here and see 20,000-plus and it’s like our 12th man, it gives us so much confidence to play that we can’t disappoint our home fans and we know that,” said defender Nana Attakora, who scored the first of Toronto’s two goals.
Despite a brief few minutes of dominance by Chivas USA, Toronto controlled much of the match jumping out to a quick two goal-lead.
Even Giancarlo Maldonado’s penalty goal that brought Chivas to within a goal with plenty of time left seemed inconsequential in what would eventually be a TFC win.
However, the fans can only do so much. Many of them have traveled to games as far away as the recent preliminary round series leg in Tegucigalpa, but they can’t totally replicate the entire BMO Field experience on the road.
It’s up to the team to find a way to play better away, and there’s no better time to start than Wednesday when TFC is in Harrison, N.J., to face what striker Chad Barrett calls the “Miami Heat of MLS,” Red Bull New York.
With more away games and San Jose, Houston and Seattle in close pursuit, taking points away is paramount. A win will also help Toronto leapfrog New York into second place in the Eastern Conference and occupy a guaranteed playoff spot.
It’s a nice carrot to dangle, but first, they’ll have to somehow “imagineer” BMO Field inside Red Bull Arena.
“We have to find a way to start picking up points on the road because the season is coming to an end quick and if we don’t start picking up points quick teams will be coming up behind us,” said Attakora.
