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FC Dallas marched into BMO Field and defeated Toronto FC with the only goal of the night.
But the visitors’ 1-0 win does not begin to tell the story of a game filled with chances for both sides, most of which were passed up.
“It was primarily about missed chances and giving up a soft goal,” Toronto coach Greg Vanney said of his team’s loss. “We had 23 shots and zero goals. They come away with it. Those aren’t 23 light looks — within there are probably eight or nine really good looks, including a penalty kick.
“Goals change games. Goals change the flow of games, goals change the approach of the opposition — they change a lot of things. The first goal, we can’t give up.”
Somehow, Maxi Urruti’s 11th-minute opener stood up as the decisive moment, with Sebastian Giovinco the guilty party from the penalty spot.
Urruti’s close-range finish dealt Toronto its seventh loss of an increasingly troubled season, and the Reds’ evening was made worse by yet more injury problems. Eriq Zavaleta (groin), Marky Delgado and Ager Aketxe (both muscle tightness) did not feature in the 18-man squad and Chris Mavinga was removed shortly before the half with hamstring tightness.
Drew Moor, Justin Morrow, Jozy Altidore, Nicolas Hasler and Ashtone Morgan were also out, and first-choice goalkeeper Alex Bono is away on international duty.
That meant a start for backup Clint Irwin, with Michael Bradley dropping back into a five-man defense. Dallas left Mauro Díaz and Roland Lamah on the bench, with Victor Ulloa added to the lineup as a screen for the back four.
Neither side’s defensive measures looked particularly effective early on. Dallas goalkeeper Jesse González was forced into two good saves within five minutes, first palming away a Giovinco free kick before producing an even better effort to deny the Italian on the volley.
TFC looked open at the back too, though, and was punished before long. Santiago Mosquera escaped Bradley from a throw before dodging Mavinga’s sliding challenge to get a low cross away. It evaded Michael Barrios but reached Kellyn Acosta, whose shot was diverted past Irwin by Urruti.
Toronto was lucky not to have conceded again in the first 45 minutes. Urruti sent a header wide from close range and Barrios was denied by Irwin.
In the meantime, however, the Reds created a few more opportunities of their own. The best of them fell to Giovinco from the penalty spot after the 31-year-old’s neat one-two with Tosaint Ricketts resulted in Matt Hedges bringing him down.
Unfortunately for the hosts, Giovinco’s record from 12 yards is not good and González denied him again.
That was not the worst of the missed chances. Auro was a constant source of quality crosses from Toronto’s right, and he picked out Victor Vázquez with one such delivery in the 34th minute. But González saved it, and Ricketts was guilty of a shocking miss from inside the 6-yard box on the rebound.
“You don’t execute, you don’t win games,” Vanney said. “It doesn’t matter how you play. It doesn’t matter how many passes you put together.”
The second half saw Dallas tighten things up. Oscar Pareja’s team did not test Irwin after the break but also reduced TFC’s first-half tally of seven shots on target down to two.
Jonathan Osorio produced another superb save out of González with a looping shot, while Ryan Telfer had earlier missed both the far post and Ricketts’ boot by inches with a low drive across the goalkeeper.
TFC was left to throw Irwin up for a corner in desperation but Dallas held firm for the three points.
“We’ve got to look pretty closely at ourselves now,” Bradley said. “Our margin for error is becoming slimmer and slimmer with every game.”