Toronto FC kept their hopes of stepping into the post-season alive after beating Real Salt Lake 1-0 at BMO Field on Saturday afternoon.
Jim Brennan's goal part 47 minutes in was enough for the win, and the team managed to hold off Salt Lake for the rest of the match.
There was a close call in the 72nd minute when FC keeper Brian Edwards had to block out Robbie Findley, and another when Salt Lake's Fabian Espindola shot just wide of the FC net.
Before the game, both sides were fighting for a final playoff birth, and Toronto still has a chance.
But perhaps more nerve-wracking for the squad -- and FC fanatics -- is that a playoff birth is now out of their control with one week left in the season.
Here's how the numbers breakdown: to keep their post-season hopes alive, Toronto (10-10-9) needs the New England Revolution (10-10-8) to lose against the Chicago Fire (10-7-11) tonight.
Toronto didn't help their cause last week when they coughed up a late lead and allowed San Jose to score, resulting in a 1-1 draw with one of the league's worst teams.
Toronto had been on the verge of victory thanks to a goal by FC defender Nana Attakora, but that lead was blown when the San Jose Earthquakes' Cornell Glen netted a goal in injury time during the game's 93rd minute.
Sadly, last week's performance pretty much sums up the team's hot-and-cold season. In fact, Toronto is at the bottom of the league in terms of allowing late goals.
More specifically, last week's flub was the 15th such goal that Toronto FC has allowed in the final 15 minutes of a game -- that's a late goal in more than half of the team's 28 games so far this season. Half of those late goals have had a big impact on the team's points and have resulted in either a loss or a draw.
