E. RUTHERFORD, N.J. -- Up a man for 44 minutes and trailing the New York Red Bulls by a goal, Toronto FC had a golden opportunity to steal a second consecutive road result on Sunday evening at Giants Stadium. But despite the numerical advantage, the Canadians couldn't find the break they needed.
Mike Magee's fluky first-half strike stood up to hand TFC their eighth away defeat this season. Juan Pablo Angel sealed the visitors' fate with a tap-in tally deep into stoppage time.
"All in all, we got what we deserved out of the game, and that was nothing," said a frustrated John Carver afterward.
Toronto earned its second win away from BMO Field last weekend, when it beat the Colorado Rapids 1-0 on recently acquired Chad Barrett's highlight-reel free kick. Carver called that win his team's biggest this season. But luck was not TFC's side Sunday, as evidenced by the opening goal.
"I think the ball was going to Angel, and it deflected and went to Magee," said TFC defender Marco Velez, who was victimized by what he said was a bad bounce. "I think Magee got caught off guard too. It happened pretty fast. We were just unlucky."
Carver saw it differently.
"It came through a lack of communication from us. We're in the 18-yard box, we lose possession, and the ball is just hooked away. We're asleep on the halfway line and next thing you know, it's in the back of the net," he said.
Still, TFC had ample time to get back in the game, especially after Red Bulls defender Gabriel Cichero was sent off for elbowing TFC substitute Danny Dichio one minute after the intermission.
"Second half, we got off to a good start," said midfielder Carl Robinson. "We huffed and puffed and couldn't get the breakthrough we wanted."
As upset as he was that his team couldn't finish the job, Carver praised the defensive fortitude of the Red Bulls, who managed to stay organized despite playing almost half of the match shorthanded.
"I have to give them some compliments. Usually the side that has the advantage goes on to win the game. To be fair to them, they stuck to their guns and worked ever so hard and that made it difficult to break them down," he said. "We should have had enough to break them down and we didn't. So a little bit of credit goes to their coach and to their team."
Ironically, the red card also forced Carver's hand when it came to his using his bench. Dichio had just entered the match, but since the striker only recently returned to action following a concussion-prompted layoff, neither the coach nor his player were willing to risk leaving him in the game after taking another blow to the head.
"He was a little bit dizzy. Because of the length of time he's been out, I wasn't going to take any chances," Carver said. "Obviously I didn't want to take him off but I had to. I think it backfired on me a little bit."
Having made two changes at halftime (Dichio replaced Laurent Robert and new signing Johann Smith came on for Abdus Ibrahim), Carver had to use his final change on forward Jarrod Smith after it was determined Dichio would not continue.
But perhaps the biggest absence for TFC was playmaker Amado Guevara, who was serving the final game of a two-match ban for striking an FC Dallas player on August 3.
"He is a key player for us," Robinson said of Guevara. "He is a link between the midfield and attack. We missed him today, especially down with the 10 men. We needed the little bit of guile that he brings."
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