August 10, 2014 League 1 Ontario--Toronto FC Academy vs Durham United FC (from League 1 Ontario website)

  
TFCA 7 - Durham United FC 1
. Mon Aug 11 
Written By: Rollins, Duane  

Toronto FC Academy remains on track for an undefeated season following a 7-1 win over 
Durham United Sunday at Downsview Park. 

The Young Reds are undefeated in eleven games in all competitions and now sit in second 
place overall with a 6-3-0 record. They have three games in hand over first-place Sigma, 
which is three points in front.

The game Sunday was closer than the lopsided score might suggest. Durham was competitive 
for long stretches of the game, which was scoreless until the fortieth minute.

It was a penalty, largely created by Marcos Nunes' speed down the wing, that broke 
the deadlock. The eighteen-year-old was a handful throughout the contest for the Durham 
back line and this occasion was no exception. A diagonal ball to the corner of the box 
gave Nunes a slight sniff of an opportunity. He pounced, and got to the ball just 
a half-second before keeper Eugene Alves. The ensuing collision was deemed a penalty.

League leading scorer Molham Babouli got the honours - and he caught the keeper guessing 
left - but it was Nunes' speed that caused the goal.

It opened the floodgates for a wild five minute stretch by TFCA.

Nunes was back at it again moments later. Another run down the right flank caused Alves 
to go well off his line. After some confusion, the ball popped to Anthony Osorio, who 
nearly walked it into the empty net for a 2-0 lead in the forty-second.

Luca Uccello played a give-and-go with Osorio a minute later, before blasting it home 
with a bullet from eighteen yards. 

The Young Reds weren't done. Babouli would get his brace two minutes later, when he ran 
onto a ball over the top from Dylan Sacramento. Arriving just before Alves, Babouli 
managed to dribble by the keeper and slide home on an empty net.

Four goals in five minutes put the result well out of reach for Durham, but to their 
credit they came out determined to play in the second half. Not that TFCA didn't. 
Young Reds head coach Michael Stefano has stressed all year that TFCA will not change 
its approach to a game based on the score. Although winning is an important component 
of his approach, it's only one part of the coaching philosophy. He wants to produce 
players that go onto higher levels of the game.

The second half performance by TFCA would reflect the benefits of Stefano's philosophy. 

Sacramento got the first goal of the half after a long stretch of possession by TFCA. 
A give-and-go with Babouli was the final play, which lead to Sacramento having 
a wide open attempt from thirteen yards. It was 5-0 in the forty-eighth.

The sixth goal came off a nice header from a corner. TFCA defender Quante 
Abbott-Hill-Smith came up from the back to get his head to it first. 

Taylor Lord got Durham a goal back with a beautiful twenty-yard run and finish. 
He managed to direct it past a diving keeper using the outside of his foot, while 
falling away from the play, in the sixty-fifth minute.

It would stay that way until nearly the last touch of the game. It was arguably the 
game's best player, Nunes, who would fittingly end the scoring when he got in behind 
a tired Durham back line to score on a breakaway to make it 7-1 in stoppage time.

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