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Toronto FC: Top 10 matches in club history

By Trevor Popoff

TORONTO, ON - DECEMBER 09: Alex Bono #25 of Toronto FC lifts the Championship Trophy after winning the 2017 MLS Cup Final against the Seattle Sounders at BMO Field on December 9, 2017 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
TORONTO, ON - DECEMBER 09: Alex Bono #25 of Toronto FC lifts the Championship Trophy after winning the 2017 MLS Cup Final against the Seattle Sounders at BMO Field on December 9, 2017 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images) /
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Toronto FC
ZAPOPAN, MEXICO – APRIL 25: Players of Toronto Fc react after being defeated the second leg match of the final between Chivas and Toronto FC as part of CONCACAF Champions League 2018 at Akron Stadium on April 25, 2018 in Zapopan, Mexico. (Photo by Refugio Ruiz/Getty Images) /

3. Chivas Guadalajara 2-1 Toronto FC, April 25, 2018

People aren’t too big on moral victories these days, however, if there ever was a situation in which you could impose the title of moral victory upon, it might be the second leg of Toronto FC’s CONCACAF Champions League final against Chivas Guadalajara.

After dropping the first leg 2-1 at BMO Field the week prior, expectations weren’t high going down to Guadalajara. Toronto’s collective hopes took another shot when Orbelin Pineda scored in the 19th minute to give Chivas the lead at home. TFC had come so far, but it just seemed like the wounded ego of Liga MX was finally fighting back. When Jozy Altidore scored in the 25th minute, it seemed a nice consolation, and that any moment now, Chivas would step on the throats of the visitors from Canada. Then, a peculiar thing happened. Sebastian Giovinco scored to square the affair, both on aggregate and away goals. The fight was back on.

However, we all know how this story ends. A cagy second half and extra time led to penalties. Oswaldo Alanis and Giovinco traded makes in the first round, then the penalty woes that have haunted the Reds reared their ugly head again. Jonathan Osorio, who was in peak form all tournament long, hit a rocket off the crossbar that bounced straight back at him as he buried his face in his jersey. In the fourth round of pens, with Chivas having scored all four and TFC still only wearing the one blemish, Michael Bradley stepped up with an opportunity to push the shootout at least one round further. After stamping down the penalty spot a few times, he skied his penalty into the Mexican night, giving Chivas the win and the title of 2018 CCL champions.

TFC’s decision to go for the CCL title did irreparable damage to the club’s hopes of repeating as champions, let alone making the playoffs. However, in doing so, they wrote, acted and directed in a soap opera so enthralling, so utterly entertaining, that it would fit right in on HBO. Unfortunately, they came up on the wrong side of a crossbar.

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