Toronto FC used strong team defence to frustrate Cruz Azul and staged a historic scoreless draw at Estadio Azul on Tuesday in Champions League action, becoming only the third MLS team in 19 tries to earn a draw in Mexico in CONCACAF tournament play.
The Reds not only earned a valuable away point in Group A play, they also snapped Cruz Azul's six-game winning streak and moved out of the basement of the group, at least temporarily, to prolong their first foray in the tournament's group stage.
Toronto came into the game fresh off a 2-1 comeback win last Saturday at Houston, but their lineup resembled little of that squad.
In a tactical move, interim head coach Nick Dasovic made wholesale changes to his starting 11, resting more than half of the starters to manage the heat, altitude and pollution of Mexico City.
Among those sitting were Dwayne De Rosario, who scored both goals against Houston, along with strikers Chad Barrett and Maicon Santos and starting goalkeeper Stefan Frei.
De Rosario later entered the match in the 28th minute when Martin Saric pulled up lame.
The moves didn’t hurt, as Toronto defended well in numbers keeping scoring threats Javier Orozco, Emanuel Villa and Christian Giménez at bay.
Orozco leads the Champions League with 10 goals in four matches and scored three goals in just 27 minutes against Árabe Unido last Wednesday. Until Tuesday, he had three goals or more in each of his three starts this season in the CCL.
While holding off Cruz Azul, Toronto failed to mount much of a counterattack. Their best chance came early in the 12th minute when O'Brian White took a feed from Julian de Guzman and sent a shot just wide of the far post.
Cruz Azul had numerous chances to take the lead, especially in the second half, but couldn’t take advantage. Their best chances came off two free headers courtesy of a pair of Toronto defensive errors.
In the 49th minute, Orozco headed a cross from Alejandro Vela over the crossbar. Then, four minutes later, Maxi Biancucchi headed Fausto Pinto’s cross wide of the goal.
Even with the second half substitutions of Biancucchi and Villa, Cruz Azul couldn’t solve Toronto’s bend-but-don’t-break defence.
Pinto picked up a second yellow and an ejection in the 81st minute for bumping de Guzman on a challenge, just one of 10 cautions issued.
The result Tuesday was Toronto's second straight match against Cruz Azul in which they frustrated the Mexican club into surrendering points. Last time the two met in August at BMO Field, the Azulinos rested many of their starters and fell 2-1 with an inspired performance by TFC.
Toronto can stay in third place in Group A should Árabe Unido lose or draw when Real Salt Lake visit Panama on Wednesday. Dasovic's crew now look ahead to a critical showdown Saturday at home with San Jose that will have implications for the eighth and final spot in the MLS playoff race.
