Toronto FC is the happier team after last night, but the Eastern Conference Finals result is far from decided as the team from way up north and Columbus Crew SC played out 90 scoreless minutes to set up a difficult, but not impossible, second-leg in Canada next week.
Columbus came into the game knowing Toronto stars Jozy Altidore and Sebastian Giovinco were suspended, leaving the visitors slightly weaker than usual, but Crew SC were unable to take advantage as Toronto showed little interest in scoring and were seemingly more concerned about keeping a clean sheet as they mostly sat back and allowed Crew SC to keep the ball but restricted them to a couple of half-chances that the home team were unable to capitalize on.
Leg two takes place next Wednesday evening at BMO Field.
All photos by Matt Ellis.
