Toronto extend winless run to eight games

Toronto FC continued their recent poor run of form in the Major League Soccer, as they endured a painful 3-0 defeat at the hands of Dallas FC at the Toyota Stadium on Saturday.

The last time Toronto won a league game was back on the 4th of May against Orlando City away from home in a 2-0 win. Since then, they have lost as many as five games and have managed to pick up a single point from three outings.

And the poor run of form continued on the road against Dallas, who had won only one of their last eight outings in the league. But they have improved this month after a winless streak of seven games from last month.

Toronto stopper Quentin Westberg had to make as many as six saves in the first half to make sure that the game didn’t get away from them. But Dominique Badji did make it 1-0 to Dallas in the 41st minute, rendering Westberg’s efforts useless.

Jesus Ferreira’s shot was initially saved by Westberg but Badji was at the keeper’s left-hand post to find the back of the net from close range and hand the home side the lead.

Ten minutes later- in the 51st minute, Dallas scored their second to double their advantage. Bressen found himself in a good position in the box off a corner from Michael Barrios and headed the ball into the right top-corner of the net.

Toronto were handed a killer blow seven minutes later. Badji got his second of the game as Dallas broke on the counter when the Canadian side were looking to pull one back.

On the three-on-two break, Ferreira picked out Badji who was charging down the left. After taking about a couple of touches towards the goal, the 26-year-old put the ball past a sprawling Westberg from around 12-yards out.

The game saw Toronto star Alejandro Pozuelo came on in the second half but he failed to provide his side with enough for them to pull one goal back or bring some threat out to the pitch.

The two goals were Badji’s third and fourth strikes of the season. He has appeared 12 times this season and has also racked up a tally of two assists. He also scored once in the US Open Cup- in the 4-0 win over Oklahoma Energy two weeks ago.

The two goals also tied Badji up with Ferreira, who has also found the back of the net as many as four times for Dallas this season and is the club’s highest goalscorer currently.

Toronto were certainly dealt a blow by the absences of Jozy Altidore, Michael Bradley and Jonathan Osorio, who all are currently on international duty in the ongoing Gold Cup.

The result saw Toronto stay at the seventh spot in the Eastern conference of the MLS, as Chicago were held to a 1-1 draw by Real Salt Lake at the ‘Windy City’. Toronto’s next game sees them host Atlanta United in what promises to be a tough game for Greg Vanney’s men.