Toronto FC is still looking for its first victory — and its first goal — in its inaugural Major League Soccer campaign after losing for the second straight time on Saturday.
Taylor Twellman scored two first-half goals to lead the New England Revolution to a 4-0 rout of Toronto at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, Mass.
New England Revolution's Avery John, left, heads the ball as Toronto FC's Paulo Nagamura, right, looks on during the first half of Saturday's game.
(Chitose Suzuki/Associated Press)
Last Saturday, Toronto's expansion franchise was blanked 2-0 by Chivas USA.
The difference between that loss and Saturday's defeat to New England could not have been any starker.
Against Chivas, Toronto showed plenty of life in the first half and produced several scoring chances before falling apart in the final 45 minutes.
It would be charitable to say Toronto produced even 10 minutes of quality soccer against the Revolution, let alone 45.
Toronto looked totally outmatched and outclassed by the Revolution, MLS Cup runners-up the last two seasons. Forwards Edson Buddle and Alecko Eskandarian, so dangerous against Chivas, hardly looked threatening as Toronto's impotent attack failed to test New England goalkeeper Matt Reis.
The defence, which played admirably last week, was erratic and confused against New England, while the midfield struggled to string two passes together and gave the ball away too cheaply.
Canadian youngster Miguel Canizalez, in particular, looked completely out of his element and was unable to keep up with the pace of the game.
Bright spot
The lone bright spot for Toronto was the play of Carl Robinson. The Welsh midfielder worked hard and showed a nice touch on the ball, even though it didn't lead to anything.
"We've lost the last two games, and we’ve not scored. We have guys on this team that can score. We’re just not gelled properly at the moment. … Tonight [there] was no positives. Tonight’s a night you go back and look at the game tape and point out all the mistakes you’ve made," Toronto coach Mo Johnston said.
Twellman opened the scoring on a brilliant setup in the 12th minute.
Revolution forward Khano Smith blazed down the left wing and whipped a cross into the middle where Twellman played a quick 1-2 with teammate Adam Cristman before blasting a shot from just inside the box past Toronto goalkeeper Greg Sutton at the near-post.
Twellman made it 2-0 with a goal in the 18th minute, scoring on a header off a sensational cross from the right wing from Steve Ralston.
Twellman, the league's top scorer and MVP in 2005, nearly completed his hat trick a minute later but the St. Louis native dragged his shot just wide of the post.
Needing to invigorate his team, coach Johnston switched from a defensive 3-5-2 formation to an attacking 3-4-3 setup in the 56th minute when he substituted Canizalez with forward Conor Casey.
The move made little difference and New England put the game away five minutes later when Shalrie Joseph scored on a penalty shot after Toronto defender Andrew Boyens clumsily brought down Cristman inside the penalty box.
The Revolution added a fourth in the 72nd minute when Ralston made a deep run into the box before playing the ball into the middle where an onrushing Andy Dorman blasted it into the net.
"New England was by far the better team in the first 17-20 minutes. And then we couldn’t string any passes along. Our defence was very poor other than Jimmy Brennan," admitted Johnston.
Toronto's next contest is an April 25 road game against the Kansas City Wizards. Toronto plays its home opener at BMO Field on April 28 against Kansas City (CBC, 12:30 p.m. ET).
