Former Toronto FC winger Jacob Peterson stunned BMO Field with a perfect shot in traffic to give short-handed Sporting Kansas City a 2-1 victory this evening. The win moved Sporting Kansas City level with the Seattle Sounders FC for the Supporters' Shield with 38 points, however Seattle holds the first tie-breaker which is total wins.
Toronto FC began the game on the attack with Dominic Oduro setting up Jackson who patiently placed the ball around keeper Andy Gruenbaum to give the home team an early lead. It was the third goal of the season for the Brazilian who matched his season total from 2013 with FC Dallas.
Jackson and Nick Hagglund would miss on glorious opportunities to put the match out of reach when they each hit the post. The biggest play of the first half though was when Toronto Designated Player Gilberto was denied a scoring chance on a foul by Aurelien Collin which the referee Ted Unkel did not call drawing the ire of Manager Ryan Nelson and much of the 22,591 in attendance.
Moments like this make many wonder where Major League Soccer gets their officials. Though referees are criticized in ALL leagues, MLS seems to lack any consistency in its officials, and needs to address this issue if the league is to reach a higher level.
After the match TFC and US Men’s National Team midfielder Michael Bradley told the media, "The people at the MLS offices in New York, when they talk about wanting to improve the league, the first thing that needs to be improved is the refereeing, bottom line".
In the second half, Graham Zusi's pin-point finish from outside the box evened the score. Zusi has truly been showing even more tactical ability since returning from the FIFA World Cup and many in SKC are relieved that he signed a DP-contract to keep him from growing interest in Europe.
Oduro continued creating great chances for his teammates who did everything but score. After Matt Besler received his second yellow, Toronto FC kept pressing until SKC counter attacked leading to Peterson’s great finish.
Peterson’s goal was a great homecoming as he never felt appreciated in Toronto. However, he still showed his ex-supporters respect by not over celebrating what would be the winner.
Toronto FC striker Jermain Defoe missed the match as he was serving a one match suspension for yellow-card accumulation. His presence was undoubtedly missed considering Toronto only connected four shots on target out of a total of 17 shots.
Toronto FC travels to Washington to take on DC United on Wednesday to kick off a four-match road trip which will see them away from BMO Field until August 23rd. Sporting Kansas City, on the other hand, will see their loyal supporters quite frequently in the next month as they play four of their next five games at Sporting Park.