TORONTO — Toronto FC just keep finding ways to drop points.
Sometimes it's by a bunch of goals, and sometimes it's by an early goal. On Saturday, however, it was because of a late goal on a free kick from a team that had played most of the second half a man down.
“It’s a tough result because I think we deserved to win," goalkeeper Stefan Frei said. "We played pretty well. We’ve had a tough stretch, but finally we showed some consistency and that’s a positive. It’s going to be tough to bounce back from this.”
Fredy Montero tallied the Seattle Sounders' winner in the 90th minute with a free kick that found the upper right corner to beat Frei and hand Toronto a 1-0 home defeat. But to Frei's ire, it came after a foul was called on 18-year-old center back Doneil Henry, who has played well recently.
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“It’s very frustrating,” Frei said. “The goal itself, all credit to Montero, it was a good free kick. [But] I don’t like the way we gave away that foul. I don’t even know if it was a foul — it’s the 90th minute and the guy goes down extremely soft, and obviously they’re looking for that foul."
Head coach Aron Winter said he believes his team should have won the game and that overall, Toronto are improving. However, he conceded that while injuries have been a problem, better players and leadership are needed in all areas of the field.
“We deserved to win,” Winter said. “We we had more opportunities than Seattle. Also when they were playing with 11, we were the better team and we were giving nothing away. I’m a little bit upset, and I can’t believe that we lost the game.”
Toronto FC were without several players because of injury — including Alan Gordon, who aggravated a groin injury and could not play after appearing in the previous two games and even scoring twice against former employers the LA Galaxy last week.
Though Toronto have been playing better, more fluid soccer of late, they are still not good enough. With that, the transfer window is opening and TFC are looking.
“I’m still saying we’re rebuilding,” Winter said. “We have to get some players because we need them. We don’t have enough quality.
“I need some players who can make goals, and on each line [be] a leader and then everything is going to be different.”
