Have Toronto FC finally turned a corner in their season? The Reds picked up their first-ever win in Miami on Saturday night and did it in impressive fashion.
TFC scored twice in Miami for the first time in the 2-1 victory, with Josh Sargent and Derrick Etienne Jr both finding the back of the net within three minutes of each other, stunning the reigning MLS Cup champions to take a commanding 2-0 lead after a largely uneventful hour up to that point.
Sargent brilliantly guided a shot into the bottom-left corner of Dayne St. Clair’s net, beating the Canadian goalkeeper from the edge of the penalty area after receiving a lateral pass from Daniel Salloi. TFC barely finished celebrating their opener, featuring a Sargent cartwheel, before they put the ball into the back of the net again.
Miami kept retreating as Richie Laryea charged at them with the ball and Laryea was happy to keep bringing it forward, laying it out wide for Salloi. His cross along the ground landed at the feet of Etienne Jr after St. Clair kicked it away, and the Haiti international smashed a low shot over the line to silence the stunned home supporters.
Despite TFC keeping him quiet to that point, Lionel Messi did as Lionel Messi does in the 82nd minute, finding the back of the net to cut TFC’s lead in half. Rodrigo De Paul sent his fellow Argentine World Cup winner through on goal with a perfect pass through the TFC defenders, and Messi calmly lifted it past Luka Gavran to make it 2-1.
Robin Fraser went very defensive after that goal, taking off Djordje Mihailovic and Etienne Jr for defenders Nicksoen Gomis and Jackson Gilman, inviting Miami to send waves of attacks at them. TFC held strong, though, with only a long-distance shot from another Argentine — David Ayala — really testing Gavran.
He pounced on it relatively comfortably, but there was a moment of fright for the visitors when Ayala winded up his shot. TFC handed Miami just their second home defeat of the season, and a much-needed result for their own playoff aspirations.
The last few minutes ticked away, with the Reds holding on for a huge win, their second in the last week, with a comeback draw vs. Charlotte FC in between. A week where they get seven points from a possible nine was exactly what Toronto FC needed at this stage of the campaign.
TFC came from behind to draw 3-3 with Charlotte FC on Wednesday night to make it three games in a row without losing, now four, after beating the New England Revolution on Saturday for their first win since April. As the weekend rolled around again they were looking to make a major statement against another of the Eastern Conference’s best teams, and did just that with the well-deserved win in Miami.
“Incredible diligence and awareness and effort,” said Fraser to reporters including Waking The Red after the match. “Obviously, a big part of trying to get a result here is being able to stop them because they have so many good attacking players. I thought defensively the group worked incredibly well and had some really good moments with the ball, created some decent chances, and then really buried the ones that we got.
“It was a very complete performance that required a lot of guys to dig in and really work hard. I keep talking about the character of the group. You see it on a night like this — the conditions were quite miserable, quite hot, extremely humid, and guys just dug in so I’m really proud of the effort.”
They did it without Jonathan Osorio, Niklas Dorsch or Walker Zimmerman as well — Osorio and Dorsch due to injury and Zimmerman to a red card midweek — three players that would be expected to start every week for TFC when available.
“Such a such a gritty performance from the squad feels so good to pull out a result like this over here in such a crucial point in our season,” added Kobe Franklin. “The guys are very proud of each other. Such a big team win, everyone’s definitely happy.”
With Orlando City winning as well Toronto FC didn’t climb into a playoff spot just yet, but seven of a possible nine points this week have them tied with Maxime Crepeau and Antoine Griezmann’s side on points for what would be the second Eastern Conference wild card spot with 13 matches still to be played this season.
Miami’s poor form continues, adding a loss after drawing 2-2 midweek against Philadelphia after getting smashed 4-1 by Nashville SC last Saturday. Before that they lost two games in a row in Leagues Cup action, 2-1 to Monterrey and 3-2 to Club León.
More to come.