Deportivo Motagua's Georgie Welcome (left) is muscled off the ball by Toronto FC's Nana Attakora during second half CONCACAF Champions League soccer action in Toronto on Tuesday July 27, 2010.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Toronto FC played some of its most inspired soccer of the season Tuesday night, and was rewarded with the first CONCACAF Champions League win in club history.
Chad Barrett scored and Toronto built on early momentum to earn a 1-0 win over Honduran visitors Club Deportivo Motagua in the first leg of a Champions League qualifier.
Captain Dwayne De Rosario was again a maestro in the midfield, earning an assist on the decisive goal while creating several chances of his own against Motagua at BMO Field. Toronto should have converted on more than one of its shots, but its play was enough to send the 18,891 paying customers into the streets entertained and satisfied.
"It was fun," De Rosario said. "We saw a lot of the ball in the midfield, guys were moving, guys were on the ball, and I think that was a big key to our success."
Toronto earned an invitation to the tournament with its successful defence of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship in May. The CONCACAF Champions League - comprised of North American, Central American and Caribbean teams - takes part in three stages, and sends its champion to compete in the FIFA Club World Cup.
Another win in the second leg next week would guarantee the Canadian side passage into the group stage.
"It's a great result, it's a positive thing to take a win out of here," Barrett said. "In Honduras, it's going to be tough. They're going to be just as good, if not better, on their own field."
Toronto is set to fly to Honduras from Kansas City following its league game against the Wizards on July 31. It will face Motagua in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa on Aug. 2, a little more than a year after president Manuel Zelaya was ousted in a coup.
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada has published a list of stark warnings for would-be travellers to Honduras on its website. The Canadian government has not issued an official travel warning, but it does advise tourists to "exercise a high degree of caution in Honduras due to an increase in violent crime as well as recent political unrest."
De Rosario said the stadium can be an intimidating place to play.
"It's an intense atmosphere," he said. "It will be a good experience for a lot of the guys. It's a very difficult environment to play in."
Toronto was bounced from the preliminary round of the tournament last year after failing to score a goal in two games against the Puerto Rico Islanders. The Canadian side fell 1-0 at home to cement its elimination.
It became clear very early on Tuesday that the team would not settle for another shutout in the competition. Toronto coach Predrag (Preki) Radosavljevic selected a squad filled with regulars, and he appeared to send them onto the field with orders to attack.
After a flourish of early movement, forward O'Brian White was nearly the first to crack the score sheet in the 19th minute, but was thwarted with a last-second deflection from Motagua defender Ivan Guerrero.
The visitors had four World Cup veterans in their starting lineup - a group headlined by former Toronto midfielder Amado Guevara - but were sluggish. They were still on their heels after White's attempt when De Rosario sliced them open for the opening goal.
Toronto's captain hit Barrett on the run, sending the forward in all alone on goal in the 20th minute. The 25-year-old stroked the ball into the net for a 1-0 lead.
De Rosario sent forward Jacob Peterson on another run three minutes later, only to have the five-year MLS veteran send a lob harmlessly over the net. Canadian midfielder Julian de Guzman was stopped on a weak left-footed shot 10 minutes before halftime, moments before Barrett was caught from behind on a breakaway.
"We kept pushing forward," Preki said. "We were trying to get a second goal because we knew how important it was to get a second goal."
Forward Maicon Santos turned his marker inside out just minutes after making his debut in the second half for Toronto, but joined the growing list of near-misses when the play fizzled. De Rosario and de Guzman each had open lanes to goal before the game was an hour old, but the former was low, and the latter sent his shot too high.
De Rosario had another glorious chance in the 73rd minute, after running for what seemed like five kilometres to chase down a pass. The 32-year-old, who will join the MLS all-star team in Houston for its game against Manchester United on Wednesday, blasted a shot on net from just inside the box, forcing a difficult save.
Motagua pushed back near the end, narrowly missing a redirection in the final five minutes.
"The game now is history," Motagua coach Ramon Maradiaga said through a translator. "We hope that, in Tegucigalpa, we can turn the game around."
In Carson, Calif., Nicolas Addlery scored two goals to lead the Puerto Rico Islanders to a 4-1 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy in the preliminary round of the CONCACAF Champions' League on Tuesday night.