September 1, 2018 MLS Toronto FC--Toronto FC vs Los Angeles FC (by Rocket Robin)

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Result and details of the Saturday September 1, 2018 MLS game between Toronto FC and Los Angeles FC played at BMO Field in Toronto at 8:00PM. 21 min...LAFC Carlos Vela GOAL...LAFC Diego Rossi receives headed ball back to him and from TFC 40 yard line on left runs to midddle staying ahead of TFC Michael Bradley and from 25 yards shoots ball low and up middle and hits foot of TFC Justin Morrow at 22 yards and deflects forward and up and hits Vela in the side of arm at 15 yards and bounces into right corner of net past diving goalie Clint Irwin. 46 min...LAFC Diego Rossi GOAL...LAFC Carlos Vela at 58 yard line on right chips long forward pass that TFC Gregory van der Wiel raises foot at 22 yards line and tips ball forward for Rossi at 20 yards on left and he steps forward and before TFC Eriq Zavaleta can block blasts 15 yarder from left into mid right corner of net. 48 min...LAFC Lee Nguyen GOAL...LAFC Carlos Vela receives short forward pass at 35 yards on right and eludes TFC Michael Bradley and then at 30 yards on sideline steps around TFC Justin Morrow and runs forward to right side of box and sends short pass to charging Nguyen who steps in front of TFC Marky Delgado to get to ball and one-touches low shot under diving goalie who'd been guarding right post and ball rolls into left corner of net. 73 min...TFC Jozy Altidore GOAL...TFC Jay Chapman at 50 yards on right sideline centers low pass to TFC Sebastian Giovinco who runs forward to 30 yards and threads pass forward between three defenderrs to Altidore charging forward at 15 yards and he dekes sliding goalie Tyler Miller at 10 yards and rolls ball into center of empty net. 92 min...TFC Jozy Altidore GOAL...TFC Michael Bradley survives grab by LAFC Eduard Atuesta at TFC 50 yard line and referee plays advantage. Bradley runs down left and at 33 yard line taps short centering pass to Altidore who rolls ball forward to TFC Sebastian Giovinco at 22 yards and he chips short pass forward between defenders just a steps in front of charging Altidore at 15 yards but TFC Lucas Janson in middle at 15 yards taps ball down and forward to Altidore now even with left post at 8 yards and he one-touches shot over sprawling goalie and off underside of bar and ball bounces down into right side of net. 93 min...LAFC Carlos Vela GOAL...LAFC Benny Feilhaber recovers TFC player's rolled clearance who was trying to pass around Vela near right sideline and from 15 yard line on right rolls ball between defenders to charging Vela on right edge of box. He runs to near end line and from 12 yards on a tough angle shoots around TFC Gregory van der Wiel at 9 yards and between outstretched arms of goalie guarding right post and off underside of bar into left corner of net. Final Score:...Toronto FC.......2.....Los Angeles FC........4........ Attendance was announced as 28247 on this hot and humid night with the CNE fair in progress for its second weekend. I found the exhibition more crowded than last Saturday's game against Montreal. TFC had enough chances to win this game but so did LAFC so an 8-8 scoreline would have been believable. Jozy Altidore wasn't running back for the last 20 minutes but if he was conserving energy it worked because of his two late goals. He scored his second in injury time to bring then close but Vela scored his second in reply within a minute to close the door from a tight angle near the right end line. The LAFC defence played wll for the majority of the game with a lot of 'all ball' tackles and blocks. Dejan Jakovic was one of those defenders and has been named as one of the veterans to the Canadian National team for this game next week against the US Virgin Islands in the CONCACAF Nations League. Jonathan Osorio of TFC is also one of those players as well as Jay Chapman and Ashtone Morgan [although because of his injury that was switched to TFC's Liam Fraser]. The playoff race started today with TFC 6 points behind Montreal with one game in hand. The Impact won a stunner beating first place New York Red Bulls 3-0 to pull 9 points ahead. Also between the two Canadian teams are New England who tied Orlando City on the road today and DC United who will host Atlanta tomorrow. Another disappointment for me is TFC only had one Canadian starter and that was midfielder Jonathan Osorio who signed a big contract to stay with the team earlier this week. Midfielder/forward Jay Chapman was on the bench and was the only other Canadian to make an appearance at 67 minutes replacing defender Eriq Zavaleta. Besides Canadian Jakovic, midfielder Mark Anthony Kaye is a star player from Toronto who suffered a season ending injury. Canadian goalie Quillan Roberts is also on their roster. Fans in the south end let off smoke cannisters at 66 minutes as they had nothing else to cheer for up to that point. The loud fan in the aisle seat the row in front of me left early in a huff and took his two kids so missed Altidore's two goals. The stadium was half empty by 80 minutes. Oh well a few more minutes to see the CNE before the buildings closed. I didn't think I'd see Giovinco, Altidore, and newly acquired Lucas Janson on the field at the same time as three forwards but a 23 minute injury to Victor Vazquez forced a move like that and TFC were already behind 1-0 and new they had to win to have a chance at making the playoffs. Clint Irwin was the surprise starter in net for TFC. He had played in their Wednesday game in Portland which wasn't unexpected because of the quick turnaround from last Saturday's game but was given a start again tonight because coach Vanney had thought number one goalie Alex Bono needed a break after letting in some soft goals. Irwin was victim of a two-deflection bounce on the first goal but gave up a tough angle extra time goal that shouldn't have gone in. There has been talk all year that TFC would probably not renew the contract of Irwin now that he's not the #1 goalie because of his salary but they kept him for this year. I suspect this will be brought up again because of the new contracts that have been given out to other players to keep them in Toronto. TFC have never been a team that platoon their goalies so use their best maybe 90% of the games. Referee Ted Unkel gave out four Yellow cards in the game--three to TFC including one to Jozy Altidore for punting a ball away after the whistle with TFC already behind by two goals. TFC won most of the statistics but mostly because they were behind and LAFC waited for their chances to counter attack. TFC had 21 shots but only 7 on target. LAFC had 14 but 8 were on net. The web site sportsclubstats.com has the odds of TFC making the playoffs down to 2.4% (from 8.7%) because they lost 3.7% for losing and 2.5% because Montreal won. [Late news: it's now down to 1.7% because D.C. United beat Atlanta on Sunday]. Because of multiple games in hand on Montreal, D.C. United has the best chance of catching and passing Montreal for that sixth playoff spot. Today's cardboard ticket was titled 'Making History'. Ooh. Today might be for the wrong reason as they could be one of the few teams that goes from finishing first and winning the championship to missing the playoffs the following season. For me I took a chance that I would not be able to watch the League 1 Ontario Women's Championship Final up in Vaughan and drive to the subway and get here in time. That proved true as the game started at 3:00pm but went to extra time and then to Penalty kicks so I wouldn't have made it. Rocket Robin robing@eol.ca twitter @RocketRobin01

stats from MLSsoccer.com
Match Information

Goals and Assists
23'    LAFC  Carlos Vela
47'    LAFC  Diego Rossi
49'    LAFC  Lee Nguyen       Assisted By: Carlos Vela
74'    TFC   Jozy Altidore    Assisted By: Sebastian Giovinco
90'+3' TFC   Jozy Altidore    Assisted By: Lucas Janson, Sebastian Giovinco
90'+4' LAFC  Carlos Vela      Assisted By: Benny Feilhaber

Disciplinary
18'    LAFC  Dejan Jakovic    Reason: Unsporting Behavior
34'    TFC   Marco Delgado    Reason: Unsporting Behavior
48'    TFC   Jozy Altidore    Reason: Unsporting Behavior
78'    TFC   Michael Bradley  Reason: Persistent Infringement

Lineup

Toronto FC
 7 F Víctor Vázquez         (27')
17 F Jozy Altidore
10 F Sebastian Giovinco
 1 G Clint Irwin
 9 D Gregory van der Wiel
15 D Eriq Zavaleta          (68')
 3 D Drew Moor
 2 D Justin Morrow
18 M Marco Delgado
 4 M Michael Bradley
21 M Jonathan Osorio

Bench
25 G Alexander Bono
 5 D Ashtone Morgan
14 D Jay Chapman             (68')
 6 D Nick Hagglund
87 F Tosaint Ricketts
16 F Lucas Janson            (27')
11 F Jon Bakero

Manager  Greg Vanney

Los Angeles Football Club
10 F Carlos Vela
21 F Marco Ureña             (79')
 9 F Diego Rossi
 1 G Tyler Miller
 3 D Steven Beitashour       (87')
 5 D Dejan Jakovic
25 D Walker Zimmerman
 2 D Jordan Harvey
 8 M André Horta             (63')
20 M Eduard Atuesta
24 M Lee Nguyen

Bench
13 G Charlie Lyon
27 D Tristan Blackmon        (87')
33 M Benny Feilhaber         (63')
12 F Christian Ramirez
18 F Joshua Pérez
 7 F Latif Blessing
44 F João Moutinho           (79')

Manager  Bob Bradley

Officials
Referee                 Ted Unkel
Assistant Referee       Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho
Assistant Referee       Brian Dunn
Fourth Official         Sorin Stoica
Video Assistant Referee Kevin Terry Jr.

Match Information
MLS at BMO Field
Toronto, ON
Attendance 28247
Weather Clear

Team Statistics

TFC                             LAFC   
 21    Shots                      14      
  8    Shots on Target             8    
  8    Shots off Target            5       
  5    Blocked Shots               1      
  5    Corners                     2    
 23    Crosses                     5      
  2    Offsides                    2       
  8    Fouls                      11      
  3    Yellow Cards                1     
  0    Red Cards                   0    
609    Total Passes              396     
 89 %  Passing Accuracy           81 %      
 61 %  Possession                 39 %     
 54    Duels Won                  39       
 21    Tackles Won                15      
  4    Saves                       6       
  9    Clearances                 19

Toronto FC starters