THE CANADIAN PRESS
TORONTO — Toronto FC has few points to spare at BMO Field, but given the circumstances, the team was satisfied to draw Real Salt Lake 0-0 at home on Saturday night.
The Reds held the defending MLS Cup champions throughout and got some good fortune late as Real Salt Lake’s Nick Wingert and Will Johnson each hit the post in the final eight minutes.
"We kept a clean sheet, I thank our right post for that," Toronto FC midfielder Dan Gargan said. "I think we got some opportunities to win the game and they got some opportunities, so it was a pretty fair match."
Both teams were playing on short rest and coming off a long international flight following CONCACAF Champions League action. Toronto lost a 1-0 result to Arabe Unido in Panama on Tuesday, while Real dropped a wild 5-4 match to Mexico City’s Cruz Azul on Wednesday.
Toronto FC head coach Predrag "Preki" Radosavljevic was pleased with how the Reds looked playing their third game in eight days.
"I thought we had a really good effort after a long trip and a disappointing game in Panama," Preki said. "It was really important that we came here tonight and showed a good effort, and the effort was there."
Real had six shots on goal to Toronto’s four, though TFC held a 12-10 edge overall in front of a crowd 21,047.
Wingert wove through the Toronto defence and fired a quick shot to the right of Reds goalkeeper Stefan Frei in the 82nd minute but couldn’t beat the woodwork.
Johnson, a Canadian national team member, then hit the same post in the 87th as Real Salt Lake (11-4-7) came close again.
Aside from those two chances, Salt Lake’s best opportunity was a 60th minute cross to midfielder Javier Morales that required a diving save from Frei.
Just minutes later, Real ‘keeper Nick Rimando was called upon to make a jumping save of a 25-yard volley from Toronto’s Nick Garcia.
The draw improves Toronto’s overall home record against Salt Lake to 2-0-2. Real has still yet to score in four games at BMO Field.
Toronto FC (7-8-6) is usually tough on visitors, but just three of TFC’s remaining nine league games are at home. It gives the Reds a tough path to the playoffs given Toronto’s 1-7-1 away record this season.
"We have to pull out some big wins on the road," Toronto FC captain Dwayne De Rosario said. "I hope every guy is ready and focused to do that because it’s a tough task ahead of us."
This was the first of three games between Toronto FC and Real over the next 32 days. The two clubs meet in CONCACAF Champions League group play at Utah’s Rio Tinto Stadium on Sept. 15 and at BMO Field on Sept. 28.
Notes: Toronto FC defender Nana Attakora served a one-game suspension after receiving a red card for a hand ball in last Saturday’s loss to New York. … Rimando’s 10th shutout of the season ties him with Los Angeles ‘keeper Donovan Ricketts for the league lead. … Last Saturday’s 4-1 loss to New York snapped a 17-game home unbeaten streak for Toronto that dated back to last season. … Toronto’s next game is at FC Dallas on Sept. 4.