I didn't blog the opening match of this two-legged affair last week in Toronto, but it was a decent enough match. TFC was sparked by two goals from Plata, but Kocic bungled a ball in the box late that gave the Nicaraguan side life with an away goal. TFC took the win 2-1 at BMO.
Since then, the revolving door that has been TFC's locker room has kept spinning. Today they dealt Maicon Santos to FC Dallas for Eric Avila. Maybe all MLS teams should just totally change their rosters every few weeks, yeah?
At any rate, tonight TFC traveled to Nicaragua to take on Esteli on their home turf. The turf was butt ugly. The grass, I should say. The pitch was bumpy, patchy, wet, uneven, and in dire need of a visit from a lawn mower. Real Esteli counted on this helping them out, and I really thought it might.
The first half was pretty ugly. Both teams had trouble stringing passes together. Yes, the pitch looked to be giving TFC some issues, but Esteli wasn't doing much either. Toronto finally drew first blood in the 37th minute, when Ryan Johnson took a ball outside the top of the area and absolutely ripped it into the back of the net to give the Reds a 0-1 lead. It looked like that would hold into half time, but in the 45th minute Andy Iro got hit with a handball in the box to give Real Esteli a PK. Rosas converted and we went to half time tied at 1-1.
However, any fight in Esteli was quickly snuffed out right after half time. In the 47th minute the Nicaraguan keeper kicked an idiotic ball softly out right to Johnson. The Jamaican international took advantage and slotted it past the bewildered keeper to make it 1-2 TFC. Neither side really threatened much throughout the second half, and TFC took the win by the 1-2 margin.
The Reds now advance to group C, where they will get to take on PUMAS, one of the Mexican champion sides, and perhaps FC Dallas.
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