Ryan Johnson’s 30-yard strike in the sixth minute gave Toronto FC the dream start they had hoped for Saturday against the New York Red Bulls, rewarding an up-tempo start with an early advantage.
Johnson (above, right) had lots of room to operate after taking a short feed from Reggie Lambe,and there might have been dreams of a big upset and a first league win since July 18 after the shot went into the upper corner.
“That’s how you dream of starting every game, going up a goal and keeping the momentum,” Toronto FC forward Quincy Amarikwa told MLSsoccer.com.
Toronto FC’s dream, however, lasted about as long as you can say Thierry Henry. The former French international set up two goals to give the send the Red Bulls into a 2-1 lead during a well-paced first half, and it only got worse for TFC from there.
“There was high tempo, good pace, we came out trying to play and it just got away from us,” Amarikwa said. “He’s a world-class player, he’s a DP and he gets paid big bucks, that’s just what he does, that’s what he’s known to do. And you know you sometimes just have to take your hat off to him.”
Toronto were still within reach until Henry picked up this third assist in the 88th minute on Kenny Cooper’s second goal, and then scored in stoppage time for the 4-1 final.
“I thought we had some good sequences of play, we just didn’t finalize our chances,” Amarikwa said. “Up until the last couple of minutes of the game I thought we were giving ourselves a fighting chance. It just seems to be a recurring theme. We’ve got to figure it out; we’ve got to figure it out fast because there’s no guarantees.”
