6/25/2009

Toronto FC 2-0 New York Red Bulls

The New York Red Bulls haven't won a regular-season game on the road in well over a year. On Wednesday night in Toronto that streak showed no signs of nearing an end.

Dwayne De Rosario and Pablo Vitti scored to give Toronto FC a 2-0 victory over the Red Bulls, extending New York's road winless streak to 21 regular-season games.

New York (2-11-4) dropped to 0-7-2 in its last nine games overall with its second defeat to Toronto (6-5-4) in 11 days. The Red Bulls haven't won away from home since a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy on May 10, 2008.

"The stats tell you that we have not won on the road. But in the playoffs we beat Real Salt Lake away from home and probably most importantly Houston away from home. So I disagree," said Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio. "I tell my players we are capable of winning away from home and hopefully we will change it soon."

Toronto opened the scoring in the 28th minute after a moment of indecision by Danny Cepero allowed forward Pablo Vitti to outjump the Red Bulls goalkeeper and head home his first MLS goal.

"I was slow to react. With Toronto shooting a lot from long range I was a little hesitant and didn't except it so I was caught off guard," Cepero said of the goal. "On a better day I would come and collect it or at least try to punch it out."

The goal from Vitti seemed to ignite the home side, which went on to test Cepero with several long-range strikes.

"There wasn't much in the game up until the goal and then I think we dominated the game without really stretching ourselves," Toronto coach Chris Cummins said. "It was a very good professional performance."

Toronto doubled the lead in the 59th minute when a Chad Barrett cross found Dwayne De Rosario behind the Red Bulls' back four to easily chip Cepero. The goal was De Rosario's team-leading fifth of the season.

"We got beat (twice) by the ball over the top, the second to De Rosario of all people, who we pointed out was a dangerous, attacking player," Cepero said. "It's frustrating."

New York played the entire second half without captain Juan Pablo Angel, who was replaced by Dane Richards at the restart.

"(Angel) is carrying an injury so unfortunately we could not keep him in the game," Osorio said.

The Red Bulls play two more road games before returning home July 16 to face Los Angeles in what is expected to be David Beckham's return to MLS.

"That is the 64,000 dollar question," Cepero said of how to fix the team's inability to win away from home. "It is not a talent thing. We have the players here who are very capable of winning. It comes down to the intangibles: the fire, the passion and the belief that we can win."

New York played without defender Mike Petke, who served the first of a two-game suspension for comments made toward an official. Defender Kevin Goldthwaite was also suspended for New York due to yellow-card accumulation.

Toronto wore pink jerseys in support of the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

Prior to the match, Toronto traded midfielder Kevin Harmse to Chivas USA for allocation money.