Toronto FC comes up short in Mexico, but run to this stage is promising

Through 45 minutes of Wednesday's CONCACAF Champions League second-leg semifinal clash in Mexico, it looked like Toronto FC might have found a way to keep their improbable run alive. They came into the back end of this tie in a tough position thanks to only managing a 1-1 draw in the first leg at home, but battled Santos Laguna to a 2-2 tie through the first half thanks to a brace from Joao Plata and were ahead on away goals. It wasn't to be, though, as the Mexican side notched three goals in the last 45 minutes to win 6-2 and advance 7-3 on aggregate. The loss leaves Toronto FC with significant questions for this year's MLS and Canadian championship campaigns, but getting to this point is still an impressive feat, and one that's good for Canadian soccer as a whole.

Santos Laguna was heavily favoured heading into Wednesday's game, so this outcome isn't particularly surprising, but the way it came about is both encouraging and discouraging for Toronto. In the first half, they displayed much of the strong play that had taken them to this point in the CONCACAF Champions League, battling hard in an extremely hostile environment and notching two crucial away goals. The second-half performance was more like what we've seen from the TFC team that has lost all three of its games in MLS action this year, though, featuring several terrible defensive breakdowns, two conceded penalties and four goals against. Julian de Guzman and Miguel Aceval had particularly rough halves, committing a foul in the box and an obvious handball respectively that led to two penalties and put Santos Laguna up 4-2. This team will have to be more disciplined and sturdy at the back if they want to do better in MLS this year.

The run to the semifinals still speaks well for both Toronto FC and Canadian soccer, though. It's one step beyond where the (then second-tier) Montreal Impact made it in 2009, and it's also further than any other MLS side made it this year. While some of that may reflect the low priority some American clubs have placed on the CONCACAF Champions League, Toronto beat some very good teams to get here, including the reigning MLS champion Los Angeles Galaxy. They may have gone down to a favoured Mexican side (much as the Canadian Olympic team did less than a week earlier), but they can still be proud of making it this far. That's good news for Canadian soccer too; it proves that the Canadian champion has the ability to go deep in the CONCACAF Champions League, and that should add some extra hype around this year's Canadian championship. Toronto's run has helped to increase awareness of the competition, and they've also boosted optimism for their own season. We'll see if they're able to live up to that.