FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — An undermanned Toronto FC, missing 11 players through injury and international duty, got the start it wanted Saturday in New England.
An 11th-minute goal by Deandre Kerr gave Toronto the lead. But New England rallied for a 2-1 win on goals by Bobby Wood, in the 33rd minute, and substitute Giacomo Vrioni, in the 52nd.
While Toronto outshot New England 14-12 (10-2 in shots on target), both teams finished with an XG (expected goals) of 0.8.
"We took the lead away from home against a top team in the league and then I think we were defending well," said Kerr. "It was just two moments we switch off. They score and then we're playing comeback away from home against a team like that. It made it tough for ourselves."
Adding to TFC's pain was an offside ruling that negated a Lorenzo Insigne goal in the 90th minute. Toronto coach Bob Bradley headed to referee Ted Unkel after the final whistle, not happy with the call.
"By the way the game is supposed to be handled, it's too tight for the AR (assistant referee) to put his flag up. So he's got to leave his flag down and then they'll look at it (with video review) and go from there. … It's so close I don't know how he can put his flag up," he said.
New England (10-3-6) improved to 7-0-3 at Gillette Stadium, setting a franchise record for the longest home undefeated streak to open a season. The Revs have outscored visiting opponents 23-9 in Major League Soccer action this year. The Revs have also won three straight and are unbeaten in six games (3-0-3).
Toronto (3-7-10) fell to 0-6-4 on the road in league play this season and has won just four of 44 matches (4-29-11) away from home since the start of the 2021 campaign.
A mid-week 3-0 loss in Cincinnati ended a four-game unbeaten run for Toronto (1-0-3). Bradley's team is now winless in five league games (0-2-3) and has won just two of its last 17 games in all competitions (2-7-8).
More worrying, it is now seven points out of a playoff berth.
Saturday's match completed a trio of games for Toronto against the league's top teams. TFC tied visiting Nashville, which went into weekend play second overall in the league, 1-1 on June 10.
Despite the win, before an announced crowd of 24,596, New England coach Bruce Arena wasn't happy either.
"It's a fine line winning and losing in our league," he said. "I warned our guys all week that this is going to be a real difficult game. … We knew Toronto was going to give a good effort. They're a well-coached team. They have some very good players and they made it difficult on us. And we just weren't good."
Both teams went into the game with depleted rosters, with Toronto only managing a seven-player bench.
"It's never easy to play here," said Bradley. "It's especially difficult when we have an away mid-week game and they don't play. From a scheduling standpoint, that's just not right."
Third-string Toronto goalkeeper Greg Ranjitsingh started for the second game in a row, with starter Sean Johnson and backup Tomas Romero away with the U.S. and El Salvador sides, respectively.
Toronto went ahead on Kerr's well-placed header. Insigne found Cristian Gutierrez in the Revs penalty box and the fullback, making his first start for Toronto, sent a perfect cross to Kerr to finish for his third of the season.
Wood pulled New England even after Matt Hedges' attempt at a clearing header went straight to the U.S. international. Wood, using Gutierrez as a screen, beat Ranjitsingh on the short side with the Revs' first shot on target for his seventh goal of the season.
New England appeared to have gone ahead in the 41st minute on Gustavo Bou's audacious backheel, redirecting Brandon Bye's low cross past Ranjitsingh, but the offside flag went up.
Both sides withdrew star players at halftime with Bou and Toronto's Federico Bernardeschi not taking the field for the second half. Bradley said the Italian was having back issues,
Vrioni, who replaced Bou, put New England ahead in the 52nd minute. Wood controlled a long ball and sent over a cross that eluded two defenders en route to Vrioni, who shifted to his right to made room for a low-angled shot that beat Ranjitsingh.
It was the fourth goal of the season for the former Juventus man, one of New England's designated players.
The Revs could have extended the lead three minutes later after Insigne lost the ball at midfield. As the Italian stood rooted to the spot, seemingly unhappy at the pass from a teammate, Carles Gil charged down the field. He found Woods, whose shot was stopped by Ranjitsingh.
That play aside, Insigne seemed energized on the evening. The Italian star has been involved in Toronto last five goals (two goals, three assists).
New England goalkeeper Jordje Petrovic, back from international duty with Serbia, made a marvellous one-handed save to deny Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty in the 72nd minute, after a fine feed by Insigne.
Bradley sent on Sigurd Rosted, Shane O'Neill and Themi Antonoglou to open the second half, rejigging his defence. Bradley said Hedges' hamstring had tightened up and Gutierrez had a calf issue.
Toronto fullback Richie Laryea and midfielder Jonathan Osorio are away with Canada. TFC was also without defender Kobe Franklin and Raoul Petretta and midfielders Michael Bradley, Alonso Coello and Victor Vazquez and forwards Adama Diomande and Hugo Mbongue, unavailable through injury or illness.
Hedges returned to the starting lineup after a two-game absence but only lasted a half.
NEXT UP
Toronto hosts Real Salt Lake next Saturday.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 24, 2023.
The Canadian Press
