Photo Credit: Ken Tishenkel/ISNSoccer.com
Toronto FC stole a point late from Columbus at MAPFRE Stadium as Jozy Altidore capitalized on a point-blank header in the 90th minute.
Columbus went with a 4-2-3-1 formation while Toronto went with a 4-4-2 formation playing Patrick Mullins alongside Jozy Altidore up top for Mullins’ return to Columbus.
Toronto FC were frustrated for much of the first half as 61% possession did not lead to any reward until a long-distance strike from Jonathan Osorio.
Columbus, on the other hand, were also frustrated in the first half as Youness Mokhtar and Pedro Santos both had chances at the top of the box that got away. Mokhtar showed promise when involved in play as he found space multiple times at the edge of the 18 to either cross the ball or shoot.
But Toronto did not have time to get overconfident as they had dropped 11 points throughout the season in a winning position.
It did not take long for Columbus to come back as Santos stuck the ball in the net in 48th minute off an assist from Will Trapp.
Crew SC kept their unbeaten streak to six matches. David Accam came on and immediately had an impact as he scored three minutes after coming on in the 80th. His goal came off an amazing long run from midfield as he utilized his blistering pace.
The celebrations were short-lived as Altidore equalized just seven minutes later.
“That is the cruelty of football,” said Caleb Porter when asked if the result felt unfair. “We live, eat, breath, sleep this sport and it’s your job attached to it… It’s heartbreaking. But, ya know, we’ve all had matches like this where we had no business tying the game.”
Porter saw shades of last weekend’s fixture against FC Cincinnati which also ended 2-2 with the Crew feeling hard done by. “We doubled them in shots and I thought we should have had four or five goals.”
Again, Toronto dropped two points after being in a winning position but did manage to come from behind after conceding twice to Crew SC.
“Gyasi is the guy that has to be on it for us,” said Porter asked about a big miss Zardes had in the 70th minute. “I have confidence in him. I have faith in him. That’s why I left him in the game.”
Columbus remains in ninth in the Eastern Conference as they will take on third-place New York City FC on Wednesday at 7:00 pm at Yankee Stadium.
