Toronto FC needed plenty to go their way in Tuesday’s Concacaf Champions League second leg against Independiente. After a dismal first-leg performance in Panama, the Canadian club was unable to overcome a heavy aggregate scoreline at home.
TFC tied Independiente 1-1 at BMO Field but was eliminated after falling 5-1 on aggregate.
Jordan Hamilton gave TFC an early lifeline in the 19th minute, scoring his first goal of the season. The striker rose highest and got his head to a Justin Morrow cross to break the deadlock.
Hamilton came close to adding to TFC’s lead on the evening, but a diving save from Jose Carlos Guerra kept the second-leg deficit at one.
After scoring a brace in the first-leg triumph, Omar Browne continued his strong run of form as he iced the tie for Independiente in the 67th minute. A poor header from Laurent Ciman allowed Browne to take off on a breakaway before he rounded Alex Bono and slotted into an empty net.
Despite 10 shots on goal and 28 in total, Greg Vanney’s side were eliminated at the Round of 16 stage.
TFC now heads into their MLS regular season opener on Saturday against the Philadelphia Union, looking to bounce back from their early exit in CCL.
TFC’s situation shows why MLS owners will never go in for promo/rel. Toronto was the best team ever in MLS, and the next season they were abysmal, and now they aren’t seen as hardly a threat.
There’s not enough money or stability in MLS for any franchise, no matter how strong the fanbase is, to sustain long term success in the form of a team that competes for championships every season. Till that changes, forget it.
TFC—————————–Independiente
28—————–Shots——————-6
10————Shots on Target———–3
9——————-Corners—————-2
33——————Crosses—————-6
621————-Total Passes———–209
87 %———-Passing Accuracy——53 %
75.3 %————Possession——–24.7 %
2———————Saves——————8
4——————-Clearances————34
Lets just face it, TFC sucks. We just need to accept the fact that the players that made this team worth ANYTHING are gone. Poor moves by management and now they are an embarrassment to the league in this Tournament. Teams and management like this are why MLS is not respected in CONCACAF, let alone around the world. How can ONE OR TWO PLAYERS deflate and disrupt a whole franchise??? Wow……..even with the domination in possession, the man of the match was from Panama lol
“How can ONE OR TWO PLAYERS deflate and disrupt a whole franchise???”
Happens all the time and is not specific to MLS.
From the best team in a league, losing one STAR player, and becoming one of the worse teams in the league? Name one?
28 shots and only one goal. Statistics say TFC dominated, but could not score. This is not surprising since Panama enjoyed such a big lead, all they had to do was put 10 men in the box and defend. It sounds like that is what they did quite successfully.
It wasn’t the loss of one player that caused the slide, it was the loss or injury of five starters (4, I guess Moor did play some last night) from MLS Cup 2017 plus all three reserves combine that with aging of players, a terrible academy whose USL club elected to move down to USL 2 and an apparent directive from the top to dump payroll and you end up with where Toronto is. Vanney’s managing is also pretty questionable, I know he was changing formation but when you are pushing for 5 goals adding a CB in the 76th is a bit of a head scratcher.