Toronto lose despite Hall’s saves
Toronto goalkeeper Freddy Hall pulled off a string of fine in saves but still ended up on the losing side against Santos Laguana in the Concacaf Champions League on Tuesday.The MLS outfit more than matched the Mexicans for most of the tie, clawing themselves back from a goal down before crumbling in spectacular fashion at the death at BMO Field.After Toronto’s Quincy Amerikwa’s equaliser in the 68th minute cancelled out Carlos Quintero’s opener coming, the Reds looked like the most likely the find the winner.Instead, it was the Laguana who finished the stronger scoring twice in the final minutes to leave Toronto with a proverbial mountain to climb to qualify from the group.In the 89th minute, lazy defending — first from Torsten Frings and then from an over-committed Jeremy Hall — provided Luduena the opening he needed on the left side of the penalty area.The Argentine forward strolled into the box after collecting a pass from Oribe Peralta and unleashing a left-footed effort that beat Hall.While difficult, the would-be 2-1 result would have at least kept the Reds in the competition. Two minutes later, the hosts found themselves two goals behind.Candido Ramirez strolled into the area and stroked the ball past a helpless Hall, who made a handful of key saves leading up to the collapse.“There’s no way that was a 3-1 game,” Mariner said of the two goals the Reds conceded after the 89th minute. “If you do keep making the same error then that’s a massive problem.“It’s annoying and frustrating. At 2-1 it’s not a done deal. Even though in probably 99 percent of peoples’ minds it was, at 2-1 you can still get something. They were panicking and smashing (the ball) out.”After beating Aguila this month, Toronto trail Santos Laguna by three points after two of four group games. Toronto face Aguila on September 15 before playing Laguna in Torreon on October 24.
