Toronto’s bright start was nullified when Arsenal’s Bowen Bradley Phillips was on hand to tap in a rebound in the eighth minute. Matthias Olivares tied it in the 12th minute with a beautiful, inch-perfect strike from 25 yards out to make it 1-1.
Both teams had golden chances before the close of the first half. Arsenal goalkeeper Jack Tomlin made a point-blank save on Toronto FC defender Stefan Kapor. His TFC counterpart, Suarez Chen, made an impressive double save before Arsenal center back Patrick Stachow headed a shot off the crossbar. Olivares nearly put Toronto up front in stoppage time, but couldn’t direct a Jahziye Crooks Foster shot on frame.
In the second half, the English side seized the initiative. Suarez Chen was relatively untested, even as Arsenal FC controlled more territory. Then Toronto took the lead in the 56th minute. Hunter Wright intercepted a pass at the back and drove at the backline. He slipped Kervon Kerr into the box behind the defense, and he dinked it past goalkeeper Johanan Lo Tutala.
Toronto nearly held on for the dramatic win, only for Arsenal to equalize in second-half stoppage time. A quality ball from Mikael Yetna in the 66th minute dropped to the feet of Stachow, who tied the game late.
Despite the setback, TFC took three unsavable penalties, while the combination of one Suarez Chen save and two Arsenal misses secured progress.
Here’s a look at some of the other action from the quarterfinals of the Championship Bracket.
First appeared on www.mlssoccer.com