TFC's Ashtone Morgan in Wednesday's match (Mexsport/MLSSoccer.com)
I think a lot of us thought that Wednesday night's CONCACAF Champions League match between Toronto FC and Santos was going to get ugly. However, I for one expected it to be ugly on the scoreboard, not in the red card/fighting kind of ugly. Toronto was playing without their captain and key defensive player Torsten Frings, and the smart money was on the Mexican power house side to put a real whipping on TFC, but to the Reds' credit, it didn't work out that way.
It really could have though. Despite a little early possession by the Canadian champs, Santos looked to be the much more dangerous side. TFC's trap wasn't working well and was resulting in good runs and chances for the Mexican side. In the 12th minute, TFC turned the ball over in their own end and Darwin Quintero nearly made them pay, but his shot was well saved by Milos Kocic. In the 19th minute, it was American international Herculez Gomez's turn to test Kocic. but the TFC 'keeper saved his shot as well. Finally in the 30th minute, Gomez broke free off of a pass from Quintero and slotted the ball past Kocic to give Santos the 0-1 lead.
I really thought Toronto would just fold here. I even commented to that effect on my twitter stream live during the match. To their credit, they didn't. In fact, they responded really well. In the 34th minute Danny Koevermans had a shot barely cleared off the line. Then in the 37th minute, TFC equalized off of a set piece, as Miguel Aceval knocked the ball through the Santos wall and into the goal to make it 1-1 at halftime.
There would be no goals in the second half, but there was plenty to talk about. Both sides created multiple chances, but both 'keepers played well and were up to the task. The story of the match started to become it's physical nature. I had trouble believing what I was seeing, but TFC actually looked like they got into Santos's heads. Marc Crosas earned Santos's first yellow in the 76th for a hard tackle on TFC's Ryan Johnson. Then just over a minute later Osmar Mares earned a straight red for a studs up follow through into the chest of Richard Eckersley. However, in the end, TFC couldn't take advantage of the Santos shortage and the match finished at 1-1.
Then the extra drama really started. Right at the whistle, Quintero head butted TFC's Ashtone Morgan, who had been physically tangling with the Santos player all match long. The linesman saw it, called the referee's attention to it, and Quintero was issued a red card. Then an all out brawl started, with players and staff from both teams. Santos claims there were TFC players sucker punching Santos players during the melee. I didn't see it, so I don't know. Gomez claims to have seen Morgan punch Quintero in the face before the head butt, so who knows?
All I know is, TFC managed a good result that will give them a shot in the next leg. However, they still gave up an away goal, and my advice is that they should probably think twice before starting a fight down in Mexico.
Still, it was somewhat ironic to see a Mexican side complaining about an American referee for a change!
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