Toronto FC's Danny Koevermans batlles for the ball with Santos Laguna's Santiago Hoyos during first half action in the CONCACAF Champions League semi-final in Toronto.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
If the opening act is anything to go by, the resumption of this CONCACAF Champions League semi-final should certainly make for appointment viewing.
Goals, red cards, ill will and head butts were the order of the day at BMO Field Wednesday night, where Toronto FC eked out a 1-1 draw with current Mexican league leader Santos Laguna, giving them a chance, albeit a slim one, when this two-legged tussle resumes next week in Torreon.
"It's going to be all-out war," was how defender Adrian Cann billed next week's second leg after watching the first instalment from the bench as an unused substitute. For a man recovering from torn knee ligaments, it was perhaps a wise coaching decision to leave him on the bench for this one, although Cann confirmed he should be good to go, perhaps as soon as this weekend against Columbus Crew.
He will certainly wake up Thursday more refreshed than fellow defenders Ashtone Morgan or Richard Eckersley, both of whom were on the receiving end of violent red-card fouls. Eckersley was first up, receiving a studs-up challenge from Osmar Mares in the 77th minute, and while that resultant gash on his leg was far from pretty, it can at least be described as the cost of doing business at this level of the game.
The same, however, cannot be said of Morgan's fate, the young defender the recipient of a flagrant headbutt from winger Darwin Quintero in second-half injury time. That sparked a bench-clearing melee for both teams, and while tempers flared, no further injury ensued.
The incident was interpreted very differently from the two managers. While TFC coach Aron Winter embarrassingly calling the display "not good for soccer," his Mexican counterpart Benjamin Galindo blamed it on a "gringo."
"I don't like the fact that it was an American basically refereeing for Americans," was how his translator put it, although the word "gringo" was clearly heard from Galindo's lips in reference to United States referee Ricardo Salazar.
The Santos coach was unhappy with the second dismissal, claiming that it was in fact TFC goalscorer Miguel Aceval who had done the striking and that the red card "should have been given to a Canada player."
Despite the difference of opinion, one thing that was beyond reproach was that in the preceding 90 minutes, Toronto FC had cast off the shackles of its early season malaise, taking the game to the three-time Mexican champions and doing its utmost to show that the first Canadian team to reach the semi-finals of this tournament has designs on going at least one step further.
Ryan Johnson, Terry Dunfield and Danny Koevermans all had clear-cut opportunities in the second half to give Toronto a first-leg victory, and although Christian Suarez may have felt hard done-by not to get a penalty when shoved from behind by substitute Aaron Maund, Winter certainly felt his team had done enough for the win.
"I think that a draw is not a bad result, but we deserved more," he said. "If you watch the whole game, the opportunities that we had were easily enough to make two goals."
After having 13 shots, of which only six were on target, Winter had best hope that his players pack their shooting boots for next week's jaunt to Mexico. While his team will need to score if it hopes to stay in the competition – another 1-1 draw would send TFC home on the away-goals rule – the omens are far from good. No Major League Soccer team has beaten a Mexican club over two legs for 10 years, a span that has seen 11 North American clubs try their hand and fail.
The last to try was the Seattle Sounders, who trounced TFC in a season-opening 3-1 win just 12 days ago. But after taking a 2-1 lead to Torreon in the quarter-final of this year's competition earlier this month, Sigi Schmid's club was turned over in the worst possible way, conceding six goals to exit the tournament with a 7-3 aggregate loss.
U.S. international Herculez Gomez scored three goals in those two games, and although he was largely held in check by TFC on Wednesday, he still continued his love affair with the city he talked up as "absolutely one of my favourites."
De Guzman lost the ball to Carlos Ochoa just after the half-hour mark, and once he'd found Quintero on the wing the resultant cross only had one destination, finding the right foot of Gomez and the back of the net soon after.
Still, despite the 1-1 draw, and the yellow card to Koevermans that rules the Dutch striker out of the second leg, de Guzman is optimistic about his team's chances next Wednesday.
"It's never impossible," he said. "We've proved it already going to Dallas and L.A. on the road – so there's no reason why we can't give them a good run down there."
Paul Attfield