Toronto FC's road woes continue.
Virtually unbeatable at home, TFC stumbled to a shocking 1-0 loss to Panamanian champions Arabe Unido Tuesday night in the CONCACAF Champions league.
With the win, Arabe Unido moves into a three-way tie with Toronto and Real Salt Lake for first place in Group A with three points each. Real Salt Lake, with a game in hand, visit winless Mexican outfit Cruz Azul on Wednesday.
The Agustin Sanchez Stadium, located in La Chorerra, 50 kilometres southwest of Panama City, was the site of the latest road capitulation by TFC, who finished the game with nine men following the second-half expulsions of midfielder Nick LaBrocca and forward Fuad Ibrahim.
As a sporting spectacle, this game left a lot to be desired. The play-acting, shameful diving and time-wasting tactics of the Panamanians, not to mention the heavy-handed officiating by referee Marlon Mejia of El Salvador (both red cards were questionable, to say the least), resulted in a match that never found its rhythm.
But Toronto was just as much to blame for Tuesday's debacle, as the Reds created very little offensively. A shocking lack of inspiring and urgent play, especially from Canadian Julian de Guzman, hardly helped Toronto's cause.
With Toronto slated to visit Cruz Azul and Real Salt Lake next month, the general belief was that this was by far the easiest of its three road contests, and that if the Canadian club had any hope of making it out of the group stage of this tournament, it had to take three points in Panama.
It's hard to figure this Toronto FC team out.
In Major League Soccer play this season, the Reds have lost only one of 11 home games, but they've been terrible on the road, with only a single win in nine games away from BMO Field.
Last Tuesday, the Reds shocked Cruz Azul, runners-up in the Champions League for the past two years, with a 2-1 win at home. The opening half was Toronto's best 45 minutes of 2010, as they dominated the Mexicans en route to recording a historic victory.
Compare that with Tuesday's tilt in Panama, which saw a lacklustre TFC fall short against a very modest Arabe Unido side.
Toronto coach Preki fielded an experimental starting line-up that included third-string goalkeeper Milos Kocic, defender Ty Harden and Canadian midfielder Gaba Gala. With forwards Chad Barrett and Maicon Santos nursing injuries, O'Brian White and Fuad Ibrahim started up front, with captain Dwayne de Rosario and Spanish veteran Mista on the substitutes' bench.
Some slack defending by Toronto led to the opening goal with five minutes left in the first half. An Arabe Unido corner kick found an unmarked Manuel Mosquera, who controlled the ball with his thigh before volleying the ball home from eight yards out.
De Rosario came on for White at the start of the second half, but the Canadian's introduction failed to spark TFC into life.
Things went from bad to worse for Toronto early in the second half when LaBrocca was shown a red card for a foul on goalkeeper Jose Calderon. Ibrahim was given his marching orders late in the 87th minute, after nearly notching an equalizer for Toronto.
Toronto returns to Major League Soccer action on Saturday when it hosts Real Salt Lake. Its next Champions League match is also against the MLS champions, on Sept. 15 in Utah.
