The road was long and winding, but Toronto FC has advanced to the CONCACAF Champions League.

A 2-2 tie against CD Motagua in the heat, humidity and altitude of the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa Tuesday night gave the Reds a 3-2 victory on aggregate in their preliminary round match-up.

Second-half goals by Dwayne De Rosario and Chad Barrett gave the Reds the biggest victory in their four-year history, as they for the first time move onto the group stage of the competition featuring the top club teams from North and Central America as well as the Caribbean.

“I can’t say enough for our guys,” De Rosario told GOL TV after the match. “We worked ever so hard in a tough environment and we came out of here with the point we needed to move to the next round.

“You need every guy to win this match.”

TFC will now host Cruz Azul of Mexico on Aug. 17 in the first of six games — home and away — against three Group A opponents, which wraps up on Oct. 21. The other two teams in the group are defending Major League Soccer Cup champions Real Salt Lake and Arabe Unido of Panama.

Tuesday’s triumph capped an arduous journey for Toronto. After losing their luggage on the trip to Kansas City for a Saturday MLS match — and then the game itself — the Reds’ charter flight into Honduras was diverted from Tegucigalpa to San Pedro Sula, a five-hour bus ride away from the capital.

As a result, TFC, which went into Tuesday’s match up 1-0 on aggregate after a win at BMO Field last week, spent almost all of Monday making their way from Kansas City to their Honduran hotel.

The Reds’ legs were heavy early, as they conceded a goal in the sixth minute — a diving header by former TFC fan favourite Amado Guevara — to tie the competition 1-1.

But De Rosario, playing inspired from the start, got the Reds on the board in the 59th minute. Maicon Santos, who came on as a substitute in the 32nd minute, worked a perfect give-and-go, playing a low ball through the Motagua defence to the hard-charging Toronto captain.

De Rosario, who was a threat all night, calmly struck a right-footed shot into the bottom right corner past a diving Donaldo Morales in the Motagua net.

The strike, De Rosario’s first goal in a Reds uniform since netting a pair in a win over San Jose on May 29, tied the score 1-1. Even more importantly, the all-important away marker meant Motagua would have to win the game by two goals in order to advance.

Guevara’s second of the night just five minutes later got Motagua half-way there. A left-footed rocket from 18 yards, it struck the top left corner as Stefan Frei dove in vain to get a hand on it.

Motagua kept pushing forward in an attempt to make it 3-1 and take back the lead on aggregate.

Striker Shannon Welcome, who came on with a half-hour to play, had the two best chances. Sent in alone on Frei in the 73rd minute, he thumped a right-footed shot wide. Three minutes later, he hit the target but the TFC goalkeeper rose to get both hands on it and push it over the crossbar.

Motagua ended the night with a 17-8 edge in shots, nine on target compared to four for TFC.

Barrett finally sealed TFC’s passage to into the next round in the 79th minute.

Once again, Maicon Santos was the playmaker. He sent the ball through the Motagua defence where Barrett hit a right-footed shot, which deflected slightly off a diving defender and past Morales.

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After the goal, Barrett ran to the TFC bench where he was mobbed by his teammates.

The winner of the CONCACAF Champions League, which is the lower-profile cousin of the European competition, is crowned next spring. That team advances to the annual FIFA Club World Cup against the title-holders from other continents.

Past winners of the FIFA Club World Cup include Manchester United, FC Barcelona and Corinthians of Brazil.