By IVES GALARCEP
When U.S. Men’s National Team defender Matt Besler was sent off with a second yellow card in the 75th minute of a tie game, Sporting Kansas City looked like a team that might have to be happy settling for a draw on the road against Toronto FC.
Second-half substitute Jacob Peterson had other ideas, finishing off a give-and-go with Dom Dwyer to tuck an 80th-minute winner past Joe Bendik in a 2-1 Sporting KC victory at BMO Field on Saturday night.
It was Dwyer’s clever back-heel pass that set up the winner for Peterson, and helped give Sporting KC their fourth straight win and sixth win in seven matches. The defeat dropped TFC to 1-2-4 overall in their past seven matches.
Toronto FC had the better of the play in the first half, led by the marauding runs of Dominic Oduro on the right flank, and took an early lead when Jackson latched onto a beautiful Oduro pass for a 16th-minute opener.
TFC came close to making it 2-0 on multiple occasions, but saw a Nick Hagglund shot clank off the right post in the 23rd minute, then an Oduro shot also blast off the right post in the 33rd minute.
The home team would pay for that failure to extend the lead just three minutes into the second half when Graham Zusi tucked home an 18-yard shot after a scramble in the penalty area left him with a clear look at goal.
Even after having squandered the lead, TFC looked good for a winner, but couldn’t find a second goal. Not even after Besler was sent off with a questionable second yellow card for a foul on Oduro, who appeared to embellish considerably on the contact.
Despite being a man down, Sporting KC kept pushing for the winner, and found one, pushing their unbeaten streak to seven matches and extending their lead atop the Eastern Conference to four points on D.C. United (though D.C. has two games in hand).
Here are the match highlights:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHnV8nueLNg?list=UUSZbXT5TLLW_i-5W8FZpFsg]
What did you think of the match? Surprised TFC couldn’t put this match away? Think Besler’s red card was deserved?
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