TORONTO – Chad Barrett scored twice to lead a second half offensive breakout that propelled Toronto FC to a 4-1 win Saturday over the Chicago Fire which keeps TFC's perfect home record intact.
The hard-luck yet hard-working Barrett exploded for two goals just two minutes apart to turn a one-goal Toronto lead into a 4-1 rout over his former team at a cold,windy and wet BMO Field. Barrett was acquired in a trade on July 30, 2008 for the rights to American international striker Brian McBride, who started for Chicago.
Toronto captain Dwayne De Rosario had two assists, while O’Brian White, who came on as second half substitute, also had a strong game scoring Toronto’s second goal and setting up Barrett’s first.
With the win, The Reds improve to 3-4-0 and jump ahead of Chicago into third place in the Eastern Conference pending the outcome of other games later Saturday. The Fire (2-3-2) saw their undefeated streak snapped at three games.
A strong southward wind toward Lake Ontario played havoc for both teams from the opening whistle reversing the direction of air-borne balls and sending others way beyond reach.
It wasn’t long before it affected the scoresheet when Toronto midfielder Nick LaBrocca put Toronto ahead in the 24th minute on a strange goal.
Toronto DP Julian de Guzman fed a pass to LaBrocca on the left touchline. LaBrocca then sent what was supposed to be a cross toward the goal, but the wind grabbed hold of the ball and sailed it by helpless goalkeeper Andrew Dykstra for LaBrocca’s first in a Toronto uniform.
"I might even give the goal to the wind," LaBrocca said in a halftime interview. "But they all count the same."
White then stretched Toronto’s lead to two just a minute into the second half when he took a centering pass from Barrett then fed it off to De Rosario on the right side. He then headed towards the goal and shanked the give-and-go shot, but got enough of it to get it over the goal line.
Chicago cut the score to 2-1 just five minutes later when midfielder Logan Pause’s screamer from 35 yards out found the top right corner by diving TFC 'keeper Stefan Frei.
But then the Chad Barrett show began with his first of the game in the 66th minute when he took a pass from White and drove the ball by Dykstra.
Two minutes later he victimized Dykstra again on a similar goal, converting a long pass from De Rosario.
Though De Rosario saw his streak of consecutive MLS games with a goal end at five, he was on this day the playmaker having a role in Toronto’s final three goals.
While Toronto seemed to excel going against the wind in the second half, Chicago got nothing going with the wind at its back as McBride, Collins John and Patrick Nyarko were virtually non-existent.
Toronto will embark on a three-game road trip that will take it to Montreal, Los Angeles and Vancouver for two Nutrilite Canadian Championship games and one MLS match. Meanwhile, Chicago continues its two-game road trip next week at Kansas City before returning to Toyota Park for six straight home games including three MLS games, the Sister Cities Cup and a match against A.C. Milan.
Scoring Summary:
TOR -- Nick LaBrocca 1 (Julian de Guzman 1) 24
TOR -- O'Brian White 2 (Dwayne De Rosario 2) 47
CHI -- Logan Pause 1 (Krzysztof Krol 1) 50
TOR -- Chad Barrett 1 (O'Brian White 1) 66
TOR -- Chad Barrett 2 (Dwayne De Rosario 3) 69
Chicago Fire -- Andrew Dykstra, Tim Ward, Wilman Conde, C.J. Brown, Krzysztof Krol, Baggio Husidic, Peter Lowry (Collins John 36), Patrick Nyarko, Logan
Pause, Marco Pappa (Corben Bone 51), Brian McBride (Stefan Dimitrov 81).
Toronto FC -- Stefan Frei, Dan Gargan, Adrian Cann, Nana Attakora, Maksim Usanov, Nick LaBrocca, Julian de Guzman, Amadou Sanyang (Martin Saric 69), Jacob Peterson (O'Brian White 46), Chad Barrett, Dwayne De Rosario (Raivis Hscanovics 74).
Misconduct Summary:
TOR -- Julian de Guzman (caution; Reckless Tackle) 40
TOR -- Adrian Cann (caution; Reckless Tackle) 74
Referee: Terry Vaughn
Referee's Assistants: Joe Fletcher; Greg Barkey
4th Official: Geoff Gamble
Attendance: 20,060
