By Ryan Johnston, Sportsnet.ca
TORONTO – As the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) sat silent downtown, its acronym cousin TFC made all the noise in a win 2-0 over Kansas City at BMO Field on Saturday.
The result leaves the team with its first three match winning streak in club history and vaults the sophomore club (3-2-0) into a third place tie with Columbus (3-1-0) in the Eastern Conference.
But the story of the afternoon was a player with only three games of TFC history under his belt.
Amado Guevara, the South American flair TFC shelled out for in the off-season (he’s actually from Central America), nearly launched himself into the supporters’ section stratosphere when his overhead kick bounced just wide in the 35th minute.
But Guevara would have his moment in the 56th minute when a fortuitous deflection of a Wizards’ defender fell to the Honduran inside the six-yard box, where he made no mistake in registering his first goal of the season.
The goal celebration which followed may also allow Guevara to shed his malcontent reputation as the entire squad celebrated in a huddle near the team bench.
The impact of Guevara signing with TFC was not lost on the opposition. Goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, who saw his share of Guevara on the day, was quick to praise the addition.
“Amado’s a huge addition to Toronto FC,” Hartman said after the game.
The Wizards only got one chance to make its trip north worth while in the 66th minute when a Lopez led counter-attack saw an open shot fall to Ivan Trujillo, who failed to sneak it under Canadian international Greg Sutton.
Carver would refer to the Sutton save as "match-winning" afterwards.
"I thought he (Lopez) was actually going to take that shot," Sutton said of the play. "But he slid it across and the only thing I could do was get across as fast as possible and get ready for a shot, fortunately for me I don’t think he hit it as well as he wanted."
New TFC folk hero Guevara would seal the three-points in the 77th minute when a foul on the edge of the Wizards’ box allowed Guevara to show off his dead ball skills by curling a shot into the top right corner of Kevin Hartman’s net.
Through a translator, Guevara explained the lead-up to his free kick.
"Laurent (Robert) looked at him and said you have a better shot, he took it and thankfully it went into the right place."
As for the South American flair Kansas City shelled out for over the winter months, Claudio Lopez was frustrated by a TFC midfield that brought their hard hats to Saturday’s match. The Argentine was commonly seen flapping his arms in disgust at the lack of service he received on the day.
"You look at Lopez and he is a world class player, so that tells you something about our defence and our midfield players," Carver explained. "We defended and kept him quiet, but on the flip side of that we had a special player today in Guevara, and he showed his class."
Guevara’s work rate on the day was matched only by Carl Robinson, who week in and week out is faced with the responsibility of defending the best players the opposition has to offer.
"Lopez is their designated player, and he has been a top, top player for many years," Robinson said of his duties. "As a player you want to pit your wits against the best players and today it was Claudio Lopez, who is a very clever player, but today we kept him quiet."
Next up for Toronto FC is the third of five straight home games and a Thursday night primetime meeting with New York (1-1-1) on May 1.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Amado Guevara
NOTES: Kudos to the TFC staff for trumping the transit strike and arranging Double Decker buses to pick up fans at local watering holes … Andrea Lombardo’s usual spot on the substitute bench was occupied by new signing Olivier Tebily. Carver said post-game that despite his pedigree, Tebily still has to earn his spot … Lombardo did play in the reserve match … Besides the sell out crowd (20,045), an undetermined number of aphids showed up at BMO to take in the match. Remember your bug spray next time.
TFC lineup: GK: Greg Sutton; D: Marvell Wynne, Tyrone Marshall, Marco Velez, Jim Brennan; M: Rohan Ricketts(79), Maurice Edu, Carl Robinson, Laurent Robert (82); F: Danny Dichio (65), Amado Guevara
Substitutes: Brian Edwards, Julius James, Kevin Harmse, Todd Dunivant (79), Olivier Tebily, Jarrod Smith (82), Jeff Cunningham (65)