



After a thriller last weekend in Columbus, a short-handed TFC side were back in action on the road on Saturday against a talented New England side that have found their top form in recent weeks.



With Michael Bradley and Ashtone Morgan unavailable due to injury and Collen Warner suspended due to yellow card accumulation, TFC Head Coach Greg Vanney made three changes to his starting eleven with Jonathan Osorio and Robbie Findley returning to the starting XI and newcomer Ahmed Kantari making his first appearance for the Reds.



Jozy Altidore wore the captain’s armband for the first time for Toronto and Sebastian Giovinco paired with the American International up top after missing the MLS All Star Game due to a heel injury.

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The Revolution came out of the gate flying and dominated the game right from the opening whistle.



New England came close to opening the scoring in the 13th minute when Lee Nguyen sent in Chris Tierney via a well weighted pass, but Reds keeper Joe Bendik came up with a big save to keep the proceedings scoreless.



While Toronto generated very little in terms of scoring chances offensively in the first half, they had an excellent opportunity to take the lead in the 25th minute when Giovinco played a short corner kick to Justin Morrow, with the TFC left back delivering a fine cross to an unmarked Robbie Findley in the box. However, the snake bitten forward ultimately sent his header wide of the target.



The Revolution were rewarded for their dominating play in the 35th minute when Charlie Davies got on the end of a Kelyn Rowe and opened the scoring.



Toronto’s evening took a turn for disastrous in the 39th minute when Jozy Altidore showed a complete lack of discipline when he was sent off via a straight red card for an angry kick out at Revolution defender José Gonçalves.



With Toronto down to ten men, things went from bad to terrible in the 43rd minute when Damien Perquis delivered a bone-headed foul on Rowe in the Reds box, with the referee seeing the infraction and calling a penalty.



Lee Nguyen punctuated a fine first half by New England by easily slotting home the penalty kick just prior to the half time whistle.



The Second Half



Toronto FC Head Coach Greg Vanney all but waved the white flag when he took off Giovinco to start the second half, with Canadian midfielder Jay Chapman coming on in place of the Italian.



While New England took their collective foot off the pedal a bit in the second half, Diego Fagúndez came close to adding to the Revolution’s lead in the 57th minute, with Bendik again coming up big to prevent a goal.



The Revolution sealed the win just past the hour mark when Davies took advantage of some poor marking by Toronto to tap in his second of the game.



Toronto pulled one back in the 75th minute when Jonathan Osorio received a nice pass from Marky Delgado and showed some nice technique to curl the ball into the back of the New England net.



As much as the poor decision-making by Altidore and Perquis sealed Toronto’s fate on this day, the most disconcerting aspect of TFC’s performance was the fact that they conceded three goals. While the magnificence of Giovinco has papered over the Reds leaky team defense on multiple occasions to date, this game only reinforced the shaky nature of Toronto’s defense over the last number of weeks.

#TFCLive Video: @MarkyDelgado and @OsoJ92 combine to get one back for the Reds pic.twitter.com/FpfMJHelTZ — Toronto FC (@torontofc) August 2, 2015



Man of the Match



Joe Bendik



On an evening in which no TFC player really stood out as deserving of the designation of Man of the Match, keeper Joe Bendik delivered a solid effort in a miserable performance by his side. While the score line was indicative of the run of play, the Reds keeper made a number of big saves to prevent the final score from being completely embarrassing.



Another positive in this match for Toronto was the play of youngsters Marky Delgado, Jay Chapman and Jonathan Osorio, who linked up well on Toronto’s goal, with Osorio delivering a very fine finish to beat Revolution goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth.



Toronto FC Line-up

12 Joe Bendik

11 Jackson

24 Damien Perquis

41 Ahmed Kantari

2 Justin Morrow

8 Benoit Cheyrou

55 Jonathan Osorio

11 Robbie Findley

18 Marky Delgado

17 Jozy Altidore

10 Sebastian Giovinco



Substitutions: Jay Chapman for Sebastian Giovinco (46’); Eriq Zavaleta for Damien Perquis (69’); Warren Creavalle for Benoit Cheyrou (75’). Who is your Man of the Match?