TORONTO — The frustration is mounting for Toronto FC. So are the losses.
The injury-ravaged MLS champions, who led the league with a 20-5-9 record last season, dropped to 3-7-1 Friday after a 1-0 loss to FC Dallas. It's been a nightmarish opening third of the season.
Toronto dominated long stretches of the game but was unable to beat goalkeeper Jesse Gonzalez, even from the penalty spot where star striker Sebastian Giovinco's frustrations continued. An 11th-minute Maxi Urruti goal proved to be all the offence Dallas needed.
TFC outshot Dallas 23-12 (9-3 on target). Giovinco had 12 shots with five on target while Toronto had 70.5 per cent possession, registered 621 passes to Dallas' 272 and had eight corners to the visitors' one.
Toronto could have had four goals in the first half alone had it not been for the stellar play of Gonzalez on his 23rd birthday.
Greg Vanney's team can ill-afford to drop points at home with seven of its next nine games — and 10 of the next 15 — on the road where Toronto is 0-4-0 so far this season.
"Our margin for error is becoming slimmer and slimmer with every game," said captain Michael Bradley, frustration etched on his face. "Obviously there's a lot of games left. We still feel like we have a good team. We have a team that can win on a lot of days.
"But the reality right now is we're letting games slip away from us too consistently. Like I said the margin for error is going with it. So we've got to respond in a big way now in this next stretch."
The next five games are all against East opposition.
Vanney looked like he was chewing glass during his post-game news conference. For him the game came down to "missed chances and giving up a soft goal."
"You've got to execute. You don't execute, you don't win games," he added. "It doesn't matter how you play, it doesn't matter how many passes you put together."
Injuries forced Toronto to field a makeshift backline again, with Bradley dropping back in defence between Chris Mavinga and Gregory van der Wiel.
It made for a shaky back three, with Dallas attackers using their speed and guile to cut through the defence. Mavinga (hamstring tightness) didn't last the first half, giving way to Nick Hagglund in the 45th minute.
It marked Hagglund's first action since a hamstring strain in late March with Vanney saying he didn't think he could risk him for 90 minutes.
Toronto switched to a back four to open the second half. Dallas (5-1-5) battened down the hatches and did what it could to slow down the game, with players going down to deny the home side momentum.
Referee Chris Penso issued nine yellow cards, two to Toronto and seven to Dallas. The visitors got three cautions for time-wasting, two of which came in the seven minutes of second-half stoppage time.
Urruti's goal came against the run of play in the 11th minute, quieting the crowd of 27,549 on a glorious night at BMO Field. It started when Santiago Mosquera beat Bradley to the ball off a throw-in. He drove the ball through the penalty box to Kellyn Acosta whose shot was redirected in by Urruti for his sixth goal.
It marked the sixth time this season Toronto has given up a goal in the first 15 minutes, worst in the league.
The Argentine, who played briefly for Toronto back in 2013, has now scored in four straight games and five of his last six.
Gonzalez, making his league debut this season in place of Jimmy Maurer, made three top-notch saves to deny Giovinco in the first 17 minutes including the penalty.
Gonzalez guessed correctly on the 17th-minute penalty kick, hurling himself to his left to get a hand on the ball after Matt Hedges' trailing leg brought the Italian down.
The Dallas 'keeper made another out-of-this-world save in the 34th minute to stop a Victor Vazquez header. The ball fell to Tosaint Ricketts but he could not control it and it dribbled back to the prone Gonzalez.
Giovinco came close in the 67th minute on a free kick just outside the box, but his low shot under the wall just went wide.
Gonzalez also got a hand to a Jonathan Osorio shot to preserve the win in stoppage time.
Dallas came into the game with just one loss on the season but had won just one of its last four (1-1-2) and had coughed up two late goals in a 2-2 tie with Vancouver last weekend.
"Today we found a way just to hold that result ... I thought the team showed a lot of character and I like that," said Dallas coach Oscar Pareja.
Giovinco returned after sitting out the Orlando win due to a red-card suspension. Ricketts started up front with him but had little joy and was replaced in the 59th minute.
Canadian Liam Fraser, making his first home start, did well deputizing for Bradley as holding midfielder.
The crowded early-season schedule, thanks to the CONCACAF Champions League play, has taken its toll on TFC.
Toronto was missing goalkeeper Alex Bono, away on national team duty, and the injured Jozy Altidore (foot), Drew Moor (quad), Ashtone Morgan (hamstring), Eriq Zavaleta (groin) Nico Hasler (quad) and Justin Morrow (calf). Ager Aketxe and Marky Delgado were also nursing knocks and did not dress.
"Every time we bring someone back, they're out within the next two games," Vanney lamented.
"I'm not sure I've seen anything like it," said Bradley, calling the rash of injuries "a killer."
"But even with all that there's no way we should lose the game tonight," he added.
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