Toronto FC stages 2nd-half rally to defeat FC Cincinnati, exit MLS basement
CF Montreal loses to New England Revolution; Whitecaps draw Dynamo
Canadian winger Jacob Shaffelburg scored one goal and set up two more as Toronto FC rallied in the second half to defeat Cincinnati 3-2 in MLS play Wednesday.
Ifunanyachi Achara and Mark Delgado also scored for Toronto, whose three goals came in a 17-minute span, with Yeferson Soteldo picking up two assists.
The game, played in front of a sparse crowd of 5,110 at BMO Field, featured the two bottom teams in the Eastern Conference, with Cincinnati arriving with a one-point advantage over Toronto. The win lifted TFC out of the MLS basement and above Cincinnati.
Toronto (5-15-7) extended its unbeaten run to four games (3-0-1) in all competitions, winning for the first time in 18 MLS matches (1-14-3) this season after conceding the first goal.
Cincinnati (4-14-8) went ahead against the run of play in the 38th minute when captain Luciano Acosta found Ronald Matarrita, who had shed Toronto's Achara, racing into the penalty box. The Costa Rican fullback beat Alex Bono with a powerful left-footed shot.
WATCH | Toronto FC hangs on to defeat FC Cincinnati:
"When we were down 1-0, I asked them to stay calm, to stay in the game mentally because we were the better side and the goals were going to come," said Toronto FC coach Javier Perez.
"By staying calm and just moving the ball fast, we got rewarded on the second half," he added.
Toronto answered in the 48th minute on a counterattack when Soteldo put Shaffelburg in behind the defence and the young Canadian winger hammered a right-footed shot through Przemysław Tytoń's legs. It was the third goal of the season for the 21-year-old from Port Williams, N.S., who has been one of TFC's bright lights recently.
Defender Omar Gonzalez started the play, keeping the ball from going out of play by his own goal.
Shaffelburg played provider in the 55th minute, sending in a cross for Delgado to knock in at the far post for his second of the season. It was a well-worked goal.
"I haven't felt like this way in a while. I always knew I had it in the back of my head but it's just all about my confidence," Shaffelburg said. "At the start of the year it was up and down. Mid-season I didn't have the best confidence."
"Now I feel I can do this almost game-in game-out with how I'm feeling right now," he added.
It was more of the same in the 65th on another rapid-fire counter attack, this time with Shaffelburg's cross finding an unmarked Achara in front of goal for his second of the season.
"Playing with Jacob is easy because most of his game is pace. When he starts running as fast as he can, you want to be in the [penalty] box when the ball comes in," said Achara, who played with Shaffelburg at the Berkshire School in Massachusetts before college. "And I try to be in the right spot for him to cross it and tonight was another good delivery from him and I was there to finish."
Toronto's strike force was depleted on the night with Ayo Akinola, Jozy Altidore, Dom Dwyer and Jordan Perruzza were all out injured while Spanish playmaker Alejandro Pozuelo missed his sixth straight game with a lower body injury.
Midfielders Ralph Priso and Tsubasa Endoh and centre backs Chris Mavinga and Eriq Zavaleta were also out injured.
Toronto was coming off a weekend 0-0 draw in Colorado, having previously blanked York United FC 4-0 in Canadian Championship play and edged Nashville SC 2-1, both at home. The Sept. 18 win over Nashville snapped a six-game league losing streak and a nine-game winless run (0-7-2) that dated back to Aug. 1.
Montreal loses 2nd-straight match
A nightmare 20 minutes was too much for CF Montreal to overcome as they fell 4-1 to the league-leading New England Revolution.
DeJuan Jones, Adam Buksa, Gustavo Bou had goals for New England (20-4-5), which also got an own goal from Rudy Camacho.
Joaquin Torres scored for Montreal (10-10-7) as the home side lost its second straight game.
Montreal did not shy away from pressing high early, despite going up against the team with the best record in Major League Soccer.
WATCH | Loss to Revs bumps CF Montreal out of playoff position:
At the seven-minute mark, a cross from Montreal's Mathieu Choiniere gave Romell Quioto a free shot in the box but he put it wide.
Montreal would live to regret the miss as only three minutes later; Jones opened the scoring by putting away the rebound from a Carles Gil shot. Sensing a change in momentum, New England continued to press and look for a second.
That second would come 17 minutes in as Gustavo Bou played a ball into the towering Buksa who made no mistake.
Things would go from bad to worse for the home side as another cross from Bou was deflected by Rudy Camacho into his own net right before the half-hour mark.
In the second half, Montreal looked to continue the progressive play seen at the end of the first, bringing on Zachary Brault-Guillard for Zorhan Bassong. The latter struggled and all three New England goals came from his left wing.
The substitution bore fruit almost immediately with Brault-Guillard's pace causing problems for the Revolution defence. In the 65 minute his low cross was missed by both Quioto and Djordje Mihailovic who could have had easy tap-ins.
That's as close as Montreal would get after two defensive substitutions from New England shut the door.
The game was the put to bed when Bou carefully slotted the ball into the bottom right corner in the 86 minute.
Montreal will stay home and host Atlanta United on Oct. 2 in a must-win playoff race showdown while New England receives the Chicago Fire after the international break on Oct. 16.
Whitecaps, Dynamo play scoreless draw
Maxime Crepeau made four saves for Vancouver in the Whitecaps' 0-0 tie with the Houston Dynamo.
Crepeau had the save of the match in the 84th minute, just deflecting a tight shot over the cross bar.
WATCH | Whitecaps 'keeper Crepeau holds Houston at bay:
Vancouver (8-8-10) picked up a critical point after starting the night in a three-way tie for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
The Whitecaps didn't have a shot on goal. Michael Nelson had his second shutout for Houston (5-11-12), making one save on a deflected ball.
With files from The Associated Press
