Toronto FC were deprived of Danny Koevermans’ services on Saturday after a knee injury to the Dutch striker forced a 41st-minute substitution in their road match against the New England Revolution.
The club didn’t know the extent of his injury following the match. But they know that the injury didn’t keep him from continuing to contribute to the Reds’ 1-0 victory.
“We don’t know anything definite at this time but we’re all very concerned for him and we came in at halftime and said, ‘We’re going to win this one for Danny,’” defender Richard Eckersley told MLSsoccer.com in a telephone interview. “And fortunately, we did that tonight and we’ve proved that we can come together when we need to.”
HIGHLIGHTS: NE 0, TOR 1
Saturday marked the first time Toronto have ever won at Gillette Stadium, and it was their second win in a row, giving the Reds their first win streak of the season.
Head coach Paul Mariner’s record since taking the reigns in June now stands at 3-2-4, a significant turnaround from their 1-9-0 start to the season.
And with six of his nine goals coming in the past eight games, Danny Koevermans deserves much of the credit for helping Mariner turn the club’s fortunes around.
“Danny is a massive part of this squad, he’s a big character on the team and we wanted to [win] for him tonight,” Eckersley said. “Hopefully now this will inspire us on to get more results.”
OPTA Chalkboard: Track Koevermans' contribution
Koevermans was involved in the game’s only goal, a Luis Silva strike in the eighth minute from a nifty 1-2 with the Dutchman after a brilliant set-up by Reggie Lambe.
It was Luis Silva’s second goal in as many games, no small feat for a rookie midfielder. But make no mistake: Saturday night was about one player
“We all devoted this win to one person,” goalkeeper Milos Kocic said. “We lost a big part of our team. Danny’s 30 percent of this team. We played this game for him.”
