Toronto FC Edge Red Bulls 2-1
Posted June 13, 2009 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Rookie midfielder Sam Cronin scored his first goal in Major League Soccer, drilling home the rebound from Amado Guevara’s missed penalty kick in the third minute as Toronto FC went on to defeat the New York Red Bulls 2-1 on Saturday.
Cronin scored after New York goalie Danny Cepero dove to foil Guevara. The penalty kick was awarded after Red Bulls defender Seth Stammler handled the ball in his own penalty area.
Toronto fan favourite Danny Dichio doubled the home side’s lead just before halftime. Guevara had sprung Pablo Vitti on a clean breakaway, but Cepero came way out of his net to foil the chance. The ball fell perfectly for Dichio, who ripped the rebound home from 25 yards out.
New York outshot Toronto 12-11 on the night but generated very little in the way of dangerous attack.
Albert Celades put New York on the scoreboard in the 54th minute. After stepping around Toronto defender Nana Attakora-Gyan at the top of the penalty area, he fired a low bouncing past goaltender Stefan Frei just inside the right post. It was his first goal of the year.
Kevin Harmse had a fine chance to restore Toronto’s two-goal lead in the 66th minute, but his hard drive from 20 yards was deflected over the crossbar by Cepero. A minute later, Serioux forced the Red Bulls’ goalie into a diving save on another hard shot from in close.
Kandji Macoumba had New York’s best chance for an equalizer in the 80th minute. He pounced on a poor clearance from Frei, but the Toronto ‘keeper recovered to make the save.
Toronto’s next MLS game is June 24 – a rematch against New York at BMO Field. Toronto travels to Montreal on Thursday for the final match of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship. Toronto needs to defeat the Montreal Impact by at least four goals or the title in the round-robin tournament will be awarded to the Vancouver Whitecaps.
