TORONTO – Jack Stewart scored in first-half stoppage time and FC Dallas defeated Toronto FC, 1-0, on Thursday morning in the replay of their CONCACAF Champions League Group C match.
Severe weather conditions had forced the game to be abandoned on Wednesday night after halftime. Dallas had led 1-0 in that match, but the teams restarted at 0-0 in the replay, which was played before a sparse crowd at BMO Field.
Dallas are 2-0-0 now in Group C while Toronto dropped to 1-1-0. Dallas have also defeated Toronto 1-0 twice in Major League Soccer play this season.
Dallas escaped Toronto with the narrow victory despite captain Daniel Hernandez missing a penalty after Richard Eckersley fouled Marvin Chavez in the 45th minute. TFC goalkeeper Milos Kocic guessed correctly, but the effort hit the left post.
However, the visitors got their breakthrough shortly after when Stewart took advantage of lax Toronto marking to head home Ugo Ihemelu's cross from the left.
After taking the lead, Dallas played a possession game and made the home side work hard to try and get the ball back. With no Danny Koevermans up front (ankle injury), Toronto struggled to hold the ball up against the quick Dallas team.
But the Reds had a splendid chance in the 79th minute when Joao Plata sprung former Dallas player Peri Marosevic in the center of the box. However, goalkeeper Kevin Hartman was up to the task.
Marosevic had an attempt blocked in the center of the box and Torsten Frings forced a save with a shot from outside the box as Toronto began to show some inspiration.
But as stoppage time approached, defender Richard Eckersley picked up his second yellow of the game for kicking the ball away, and Toronto were down to 10 men.
In the tightly played first half, Frings took a yellow card for his foul on Brek Shea in the 37th minute. A couple of minutes later, Toronto had their first good chance.
Gianluca Zavarise picked off a pass and sent the ball to Plata, who forced a save from Kevin Hartman. The 'keeper didn’t handle the right-footed shot cleanly and wound up searching for the ball as it went behind him.
Dallas made one change from Wednesday’s lineup with Stewart in and Andrew Jacobson out. Toronto made two changes, with Matt Stinson and Zavarise starting while Andy Iro and Terry Dunfield were on the bench.
