Toronto FC concedes yet another late goal in 2-1 loss to New York Red Bulls

TORONTO – Another late goal, and more disappointment for Toronto FC.

Tim Cahill scored twice, including a header in the 89th minute that gave the New York Red Bulls a 2-1 victory over Toronto on Saturday, ending TFC’s unbeaten streak at home.

Jonathan Osorio scored the lone goal for Toronto (1-3-4).

Cahill scored his first in the 39th minute in a goal set up by the crafty Henry. The former French star had a beautiful dummy on a pass from Roy Miller, letting the ball roll onto an open Cahill, who slotted it from the centre of the box past Toronto ‘keeper Joe Bendik.

Cahill’s header and heartbreaker of a second goal came off a cross from Henry, and sent the 20,009 fans at BMO Field home disappointed once again.

Toronto was coming off four consecutive Major League Soccer draws — and in three of those games gave up the lead in injury time.

Osorio’s goal came in the 83rd minute and had fans briefly hoping for a single point at least. Ryan Richter played the ball back to Osorio, who paused to tee up a high shot that sailed over New York ‘keeper Luis Robles and glanced off the crossbar and in the net.

It was a sloppy performance for Toronto for a good chunk of 90 minutes and came three days after a 2-0 victory over the Montreal Impact three days earlier in a Canadian championship series. TFC also looked strong a week ago in a 1-1 draw with the Houston Dynamo.

Irish defender and captain Darren O’Dea was one of the bright spots on theafternoon for Toronto, winning most 50-50 balls that came his way.

The same couldn’t be said for the rest of Toronto’s back line, which was missing Richard Eckersley, Logan Emory and Darel Russell to injury. Service out of the back routinely missed its mark, and defending on the goal was poor.

Toronto couldn’t create anything in the midfield, but help is hopefully on its way. The team formally introduced young Argentine Matias Laba before kickoff. The 21-year-old, who played three seasons for Argentinos Juniors, is expected to make his debut for Toronto on Wednesday against the Impact in Montreal in the second Canadian championship game.

The club paid one of the top transfer fees in Major League Soccer — reported to be between $1.3 and $1.5 million — for the Young Designated Player, but club president and GM Kevin Payne said the midfielder is up to the expectations that come with his hefty price tag.

“I think Matias is a very confident young man and a very confident player and I don’t think it will affect him at all that he had a larger than normal transfer fee associated with him,” said Payne.

“Pressure on us I suppose, but we’re pretty confident that we made a good choice here.”

Toronto had a couple of scoring chances, the first coming off a long shot from Robert Earnshaw that sailed high of the net. Reggie Lambe launched a long shot over the bar in the 59th.

Earnshaw had an excellent chance in the 70th, but fired a shot from close in right to Red Bulls ‘keeper Luis Robles.

New York (4-4-2) was coming off a 4-1 victory over New England.