D.C. United defender Aaron Herrera (22) passes the ball back past Toronto FC forward Lorenzo Insigne (24) during first half MLS soccer action in Toronto on Saturday, August 31, 2024.Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
Attacker Dominique Badji scored in the dying minutes of the match as lowly D.C. United cooled off Toronto FC with a 3-1 victory on Saturday.
Midfielder Martin Rodriguez, himself a sub, had scored earlier in the second half for D.C. United (7-12-9). Gabriel Pirani added another goal in injury time to put the Major League Soccer match out of reach.
Rodriguez replaced defender Christopher McVey after halftime as the visitors changed their tactics to be more aggressive.
Substitute midfielder Deandre Kerr had tied the game for Toronto FC (10-15-4) in the 84th minute. Kerr had subbed on for star attacker Lorenzo Insigne just eight minutes earlier with TFC trailing 1-0.
All-star midfielder Federico Bernardeschi and captain Jonathan Osorio were both unavailable for Toronto (10-15-4).
The Reds had won six of their past eight matches across all competitions heading into the match after team president Bill Manning parted with Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, the club’s owners, on July 11.
That includes a 1-0 win on the road against the Houston Dynamo in league play on Aug. 24 and a 1-0 victory over the Canadian Premier League’s Forge FC on Tuesday in the second leg of the Canadian championship semifinal.
Toronto FC’s win over the Hamilton-based CPL side advanced them to next month’s Voyageurs Cup final against the Vancouver Whitecaps.
It also meant that Saturday’s match against D.C. United was TFC’s third contest in eight days. The game in Houston and the semifinal against Forge were both played in blistering heat.
D.C. United was significantly more rested, having played only twice in August: a 10-man 2-1 loss to Mazatlan in Leagues Cup play on Aug. 9 and a 4-3 defeat to FC Dallas, again down a man, on Aug. 24.
Although D.C. was better rested, TFC possessed the ball 60.6 per cent of the time in the first half, with shots and shots on goal even at three and two respectively.
The visitors weren’t without their chances, however.
Toronto defender Nicksoen Gomis sprinted back in time to break up a three-man D.C. rush led by Christian Benteke in the first 20 minutes of play. Gomis got his foot on a cross to end the threat and not leave TFC goalkeeper Sean Johnson completely stranded.
Toronto FC’s best chance of the first half came about 10 minutes later.
Insigne’s curling kick from the top of the box was just deflected high by D.C. United ’keeper Alex Bono. The ball got tangled up in the netting on top of the goal, momentarily fooling some of TFC supporters at BMO Field into thinking it was a goal.
On the ensuing corner kick, the ball again almost wound up in D.C.’s net, narrowly ricocheting off a defender and over the goal
Insigne was creating opportunities too. He made a short pass in the box to Raoul Petretta in the 41st minute that had Bono fooled, but the low shot rolled just to the left of D.C.’s goal.
D.C. United came out aggressive in the second half.
Pedro Santos got a quality chance on net in the 57th minute when he streaked in from the left wing and fired his shot to the right, out of the reach of Johnson. Gomis played the hero again, getting the goal-line stop to keep the game scoreless.
Rodriguez scored in the 67th minute, completing a series of chips and headers to put the ball into the net from in close. His goal started on a free kick a few yards outside of the box, with the ball pinballing between Santos, Jared Stroud and Ted Ku-DiPietro before landing at Rodriguez’s feet for the tap in.
Toronto FC wasn’t done just yet though.
Defender Aaron Herrera chipped a looping pass into the box from just outside the penalty area and Kerr, who had been substituted in for Insigne in the 75th minute, got his head on it to draw the game even.
Badji put the game away in the 87th minute when he took control of a through ball and, unmarked in the box, put a hard shot on net past Johnson.
Pirani sealed the win in stoppage time when the ball deflected of a defender and back to him near the top of the box. He made no mistake, firing the ball right back into the net to make it 3-1 and empty the stadium into the Exhibition Place grounds, where the Canadian National Exhibition was open for another 30 minutes.