COMMERCE CITY, Colo.—It was far from a hero’s welcome for Drew Moor and Clint Irwin.
For two of Toronto FC’s newest arrivals, Saturday’s 1-0 loss to their former team surfaced an all-too-familiar feeling: As members of the Colorado Rapids, Irwin and Moor experienced 33 losses over the past two seasons.
Both players felt mixed emotions as they once again stepped onto the pitch at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, and were presented with a thank-you card by Rapids supporters after the match.
“It was tough, but I haven’t been gone for too long, so it still kind of feels like home,” said Moor. “Tonight it was all about the 90 minutes and the game, and it was an interesting game.”
In the end, the homecoming of the two former Rapids was not the biggest storyline of the night for Toronto. Instead, it was the controversial ejection of Benoit Cheyrou in the 13th minute. The French midfielder earned his second yellow card of the match for a collision with Rapids defender Bobby Burling.
While Greg Vanney said “fair enough” in response to Cheyrou’s initial yellow card, the TFC manager believed the second booking was harsh on the part of referee Ismail Elfath.
“[Cheyrou] has every right to go for the ball, as does [Burling],” Vanney said of the challenge. “That one, for me, is not a yellow card. Ben did nothing more than jump in a natural jumping motion and went for the ball.”
Shortly after the ejection of Cheyrou, Colorado took advantage with the game’s only goal, by Luis Solignac in the 18th minute. All in all, Colorado dominated the first half offensively with more than 63 percent of possession, seven shots and three on target.
“To give them credit, when it was 11v11 they had a good piece of the ball,” Vanney said. “Our defending group was too wide and we needed to get our wingers drawn in.”
TFC star Sebastian Giovinco was held in check for much of the night. The Italian international managed only one shot on goal, but his signature free kick in the 56th minute was saved by Rapids ‘keeper Zac MacMath.
The Atomic Ant continued to apply pressure on Colorado’s back four, which drew physical play from Burling and additional protests from Vanney as a result.
“When Sebastian spins Burling at the end of the game and Bobby grabs him, it’s a yellow card,” Vanney said. “A second yellow card for Bobby is a red card. It should have been even.”
Tension mounted as the Reds looked for an equalizer, aided by the injection of Jozy Altidore, who entered the game as a substitute in the 60th minute; the US international was coming off a short week following World Cup qualifying.
“I always wanted to get Jozy on the field and start pushing him in a number of ways,” Vanney said.
Toronto was unable to draw level, but Vanney was still encouraged by the effort he saw on the road while down a man for the majority of the match.
“Beyond [the result], I thought we fought valiantly,” he said. “In terms of the overall commitment and work rate, I think this group is growing leaps and bounds beyond where we were last year. Now we’ve got to get out of these controversial moments and keep 11 guys on the field.”
