Where do I start. Despite us not getting the result we wanted, we had the most exciting game of our season thus far on Wednesday night. Some world class goals by our own and some late drama from Toronto ended the game at a 3:3 draw at BMO Field.
First Half Review
Union mostly held possession for the first 20 minutes of the game with Westfield taking 2 free kicks that came dangerously close to going into the net. We saw 2 Toronto players get a yellow card in this duration. Toronto were the favorites going into this match and they started proving why during the 2nd half of the first half. Harriel had a save on the goal line on the 26' minute. Vassilev went down at the same time for about 5 minutes but he returned to the pitch shortly. On the 43' minute, Toronto's Josh Sargent had a clear shot on target in the box but Sery Larsen's tackle deflected the shot just in time to go wide. In the dying minutes of the first half's stoppage time, Lukic found Iloski making a run past 3 defenders. Iloski easily shot it into the bottom left corner to put Union 1-0 into half time. Toronto immediately had 2 chances on goal after but nothing came as the whistle was blown.
Second Half Review
Union opened the 2nd half blazing as Jacques applied pressure and had a deflected pass go into the net on the 52' minute. Despite being 2-0 down, Toronto didn't't budge as they responded 4 minutes later through Josh Sargent. Toronto equalized on the 64' minute with some dodgy passing/defense from the Union providing leeway. The game stayed level until the 89' minute when Harriel scored from a corner. The game looked all but won but 5 minutes of stoppage time was added. On the 94' minute, Union conceded a free kick in their own half and it seemed certain that this was the last shot on goal of the game. Toronto brought up their own goalkeeper who was able to jump above the rest to claim the cross as he headed it into goal to level against Union. Union players protested and were furious as they claimed the full time whistle should've been blown earlier but Gavran's goal stood.
Takeaways
Union came in as the underdogs and put up a great fight. A draw here makes them unbeaten for 3 games straight. Their defense showed great strength for majority of the night but Toronto kept finding pockets of space. The midfield did more work near the goal than our strikers did. Game after game, it becomes more apparent that the strikers are the problem. Damiani only had 1 shot and Iloski did his job of scoring the opening goal. We need strikers who can create impact and Damiani simply isn't capable of it.