Sebastian Giovinco earned his first goal of the 2017 season early against Atlanta United on Saturday (photo credit David Chant)
By Luis Martinez (Twitter: @canadaluis) and Photos by David Chant
Toronto, ON – BMO Field encased a very emotional and tight 2-2 match, this Saturday night, April 8. With some questions surrounding the actions of the referee, who after some decisions, provoked the fury of thousands of spectators in the house of TFC.
At the beginning of the match, the visiting team started with strong ball possession until minute 14, when Tito Villalba, assisted by the Paraguayan, Miguel Almiron, surprised the arc defended by Alex Bono, scoring and marking the first goal of the night.
TFC reacted a few minutes later, with the magic of Sebastian Giovinvo, appears a work of art between Jozy Altidore and the Italian star, completing an amazing goal that can only be classified as 1st grade.
Once the 1st goal from Giovinco was in, the team got more confident and organized, the middle of the field was perfectly positioned. Whereas on the other hand, things seemed to get out of control for their counterparts, with Justin Morrrow’s miss that a clear opportunity by a “chilena”. Then with a group effort propelling Morrow to score the 2nd goal for the Reds, which could have been the last of the encounter, but the Atlanta United FC surprised once again with South American star, Tito Villalba, marking another point for the visitors.
After the equalizer, the 2016 Eastern Conference champions put all it’s arsenal on the front attack. Greg Vanney’s boys showed their best skills to get the 3 points, but unfortunately there just wasn’t enough time to get that victory for themselves and their home fans.
It is very important to point out the number of fouls against TFC’s number 10, he is the man most knocked in Canada, which is one of the reasons aficionados reacted so strongly tonight, defending their home and brother here on Princes’ Blvd.
A couple of statistics from the match :
Lineups
TFC – Bono, Zavaleta, Moor, Mavinga (sub Hagglund 51′), Beitashour (sub Ricketts 82′), Vazquez (sub Osorio 73′), Bradley, Cooper, Morrow, Altidore, Giovinco
ATL – Kann, Mears, Parkhurst, Gonzalez Pirez, Garza, Larentowicz, Carmona, Asad, Gressel (sub Heath 90′ + 2′), Almiron (sub McCann 82′), Villalba (sub Jines 84′)
Goals
Villalba 14′ (ATL)
Giovinco 19′ (TFC)
Morrow 44′ (TFC)
Villalba 47′ (ATL)
Shots: 20 TFC and 6 ATL
Shots on target: 9 TFC and 5 ATL
Fouls: 12 TFC and 12 ATL
Yellows cards: 1 TFC and 2 ATL
Red cards: 0 TFC and 1 ATL
Offsides: 1 TFC and 2 ATL
Corners: 6 TFC and 2 ATL
Toronto FC
Atlanta United FC
