Pozuelo scores twice as Toronto FC defeats Chicago to snap six-game winless streak


TORONTO – Two late goals from Alejandro Pozuelo gave Toronto FC a 3-2 win over the Chicago Fire in MLS play on Saturday, snapping TFC’s six-game winless streak.

TORONTO – Two late goals from Alejandro Pozuelo gave Toronto FC a 3-2 win over the Chicago Fire in MLS play on Saturday, snapping TFC’s six-game winless streak.

Pozuelo had missed the last three games with a lower-body injury, but returned with a bang in an entertaining end-to-end contest in front of 25,906 at BMO Field.

The winning goal came in the 78th minute when Chicago’s defense was jammed and Jayden Nelson assisted Pozuelo, who tipped a ball off the crossbar and into the goal from the edge of the box for his fourth goal of the season.

Deandre Kerr scored early for Toronto and Carlos Teran responded for Chicago seven minutes into the second half. Kacper Przybylko’s goal in the 66th minute gave Chicago a 2-1 lead before referee Guido Gonzales Jr. gave Toronto a lifeline, pointing to the penalty spot after video review.

Chicago defender Miguel Navarro had brought down Pozuelo on the edge of the box and the review showed Pozuelo had a foot in the box. Pozuelo scored the penalty kick in the 71st minute.

Toronto (4-7-3) had lost 0-5-1 in its previous six league games, although it did manage a 2-1 win on the road against the HFX Wanderers in the quarterfinals of the Canadian Championship on Tuesday. Their last league win came on April 16, a 2-1 victory over the visiting Philadelphia Union.

Chicago (2-7-5) has gone 10 games without a win (0-7-3), marking its third double-digit winless streak in a single season (the previous two came in 2011, with 11 straight from April through June and 10 straight from June through August).

TFC is unbeaten in 14 matches (11-0-3) against the Fire since September 2015. It is the longest unbeaten streak against a single opponent in Toronto’s MLS history, matching the league’s regular-season record (a mark reached four times).

Chicago started brightly with Swiss star Xherdan Shaqiri pulling the strings in attack.

And things looked bleak for Toronto in the 12th minute when midfielder Jonathan Osorio was substituted, slowly making his way to the bench on the outside of the pitch. But upon reaching the south goal, there was something to celebrate, as Kerr fired between the legs of a defender and past 18-year-old goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina to make it 1-0 in the 13th minute.

Luca Petrasso and Jesus Jimenez set up the play, with Jimenez drawing the attention of the defense before feeding the ball to the 19-year-old Kerr for his second goal of the season.

Toronto has not let MLS opponents go scoreless in 22 consecutive games, a club record. The last time they went scoreless was a scoreless draw at Colorado on September 25, 2021.

The initial word on Osorio was “lower body discomfort.” The 29-year-old midfielder, who was making his first start since April 30 due to a lower-body injury, is scheduled to join Canada in Vancouver next week for CONCACAF Nations League matches against Curacao and Honduras.

Lukas MacNaughton came on in place of Shane O’Neill to open the second half.

Chicago equalized in the second half. Shaqiri sent a cross into the box and Teran, two yards out, beat Carlos Salcedo, two yards out, to head home,

A Chicago goal in the 55th minute was disallowed after a video review for offside. Jairo Torres, a young designated player from Mexico making his MLS debut, had finished off a rebound after Quentin Westberg saved a deflected shot.

The visitors kept up the pressure as the second half wore on. And Chicago took the lead after Shaqiri sent in a cross that Gaston Gimenez headed for Przybylko to fire home.

Westberg made his MLS debut in goal for Toronto this season, ending Alex Bono’s streak of 13 league appearances at 2022. Westberg, who started Tuesday’s Canadian Championship match at Halifax, displayed his precise distribution throughout Saturday’s match.

Coach Bob Bradley had hinted that he would keep Westberg in goal, saying in the build-up to the match that he had always planned to give the other goalkeeper a chance at some point. He made five changes to the Halifax lineup, with designated players Pozuelo and Salcedo returning to the starting eleven.

Toronto wore custom “Primeblue” uniforms made from recycled materials as part of a league initiative to raise awareness of plastic waste on land and in the water.

Shaqiri showed his quality early on Saturday with a pass between the legs of Toronto defender Kosi Thompson. And midway through the first half, he opened up the Toronto defense with a pass to Federico Navarro, whose shot went wide.

The Swiss star led all players with 49 touches in a first half in which Chicago outshot Toronto 6-2, but failed to get any of those shots on target.

Shaqiri played for FC Basel, Bayern Munich, Inter Milan, Stoke City, Liverpool and Lyon before joining Chicago in February. At $8.153 million, the 30-year-old is the highest paid player in MLS this season, at least until Italian star Lorenzo Insigne joins Toronto in July.

Chicago came into the match with the league’s worst offense, ranking 28th with just 0.85 goals per game. The Fire had scored only 11 league goals, just four more than Toronto’s Jimenez.

Toronto had the 27th worst defense at 1.92 goals per game.

Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, Chris Mavinga and Noble Okello remain out for Toronto with lower-body injuries. Kadin Chung, listed as doubtful, was on the bench.

Chicago was without Chris Brady, Spencer Richey and Mauricio Pineda. Defender Wyatt Omsberg was ruled out at the last minute after entering health and safety protocols.

The teams now head into the international break. However, TFC has one game remaining, with the rescheduled 2020 Canadian Championship final against Forge FC on June 4 in Hamilton.

Follow @NeilMDavidson on Twitter.

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on May 28, 2022.

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press




Reference-www.richmond-news.com

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