TORONTO - Toronto FC's home-field fortress proved it's not impenetrable after all.
Newly acquired Rafael Marquez earned his first goal in a Red Bulls jersey to lead New York to a 4-1 win over Toronto FC on Saturday, Toronto's first loss this season at BMO Field which had come to be known as "the fortress" of late.
Juan Pablo Angel connected on a penalty shot, former Toronto FC midfielder Carl Robinson scored for the visitors, and Toronto coughed up an own goal in a loss that dealt a big blow to a Toronto team looking for is first Major League Soccer playoff appearance.
Toronto entered the game sitting third in the Eastern Conference standings behind second-place New York and hoping to make up some ground on the visitors from the East.
The only positive note on an otherwise dismal afternoon for Toronto FC was the 22,108 fans at BMO Field that witnessed the ugly loss was a stadium record.
Marquez put New York on the scoreboard in the 36th minute. The captain for Mexico at this summer's World Cup and former Barcelona defender took a pass from Tony Tchani at the top of the 18-yard-box, firing a shot past Toronto 'keeper Stefan Frei.
New York's second of the afternoon, in the 41st minute, was an own goal from Toronto's Joseph Nane who toed the ball past Frei in his attempt to clear a free kick from Marquez.
Dwayne De Rosario brought Toronto's fans back to life, scoring a hard-earned goal in the 49th minute. With Red Bulls defender Carlos Mendes draped all over his left shoulder, De Rosario ran onto a pass from O'Brian White, stretching to angle a shot from the right side of the six-yard box past 'keeper Bouna Coundoul.
The Red Bulls' third goal was the result of another Toronto blunder. A hand ball from Nana Attakora in Toronto's box earned the defender a red card and resulted in Angel's penalty shot in the 61st minute.
Robinson made the loss all the more painful, scoring in the 78th minute with a header off a free kick.
The defeat was also a swift kick to a home team's confidence that had been perhaps at an all-time high. Toronto was coming off an inspired 2-1 victory in the opening group stage game of the CONCACAF Champions League on Tuesday, but was missing midfielder Julian de Guzman, who was serving a one-game suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card of the season in Toronto's 1-0 loss to the Red Bulls in New York last week.
Forward Chad Barrett has been nursing a hamstring, but made an appearance in the 64th minute.
The home team certainly wasn't without its scoring chances, one of the best coming in the 14th minute when Nick LaBrocca banged a shot off the post, coming from a rebound off a De Rosario free kick.
The game marked Thierry Henry's first trip to BMO Field, but the crafty French star's performance was largely unremarkable. Booed from his first touch on the ball, the former Barcelona and Arsenal player whose hand ball cost Ireland a spot in the World Cup, had an excellent scoring chance in the 57th minute. But he misfired on his shot from about 10 yards out sending the ball over the net. Henry, still not at full fitness after joining the team midway through the season, was subbed off in the 68th minute.
With the Canadian National Exhibition in full swing, the ferris wheel provided the backdrop, the screeching midway rides drowned out by Toronto's red-clad fans. But getting to the stadium obviously wasn't easy for some as the stands were still half empty when the referee blew his whistle to start the game.
Toronto now departs for Panama to face Deportivo Arabe Unido in CONCACAF Champions League action.
