"In the first half it wasn't very good. We made a lot of mistakes… the second half was better, not much better but better," head coach Marco Schallibaum said. "There were some chances to score and maybe get a 1-1 but we were not good enough to win this game today."

Now, if there’s one thing to say in the referee’s defence, is that Osorio’s act of turning may have given the illusion that his arm was indeed playing the ball. In my opinion, if Osorio doesn’t turn to minimize the impact, if he takes the shot straight on, the call isn’t made.

"We knew they’d come with numbers because it was a must-win for them," said TFC coach Ryan Nelsen, who kept the locker room closed nearly a half hour afterwards before coming out to meet with reporters. "We knew there was going to be a lot of space for us to play in. It turned out as we hoped. We had a two-on-one and three-on-one, but couldn’t capitalize."

Technically, the Reds didn't even beat THE United side who have struggled to just 15 points in 30 games. Of the 11 men who have played the most minutes for DC this season, only two were in Saturday's Starting XI, as the Red-and-Blacks were clearly saving their regulars for Tuesday's U.S. Open Cup final against Real Salt Lake.

On the August update, two players cut by Toronto FC this season — Matt Stinson and Terry Dunfield — were on the list of unattached players still being paid out by MLS. But, on the September update, Stinson is off the list, but Dunfield and his US$120,000 salary is still on.

The question is, did Osorio have time to pull out of his challenge? It’s one of those situations that’s actually muddied by the use of instant replay. By slowing it down in replay, it looks as if Osorio has more time to pull out of the challenge than he actually did — and the play looks more malicious in nature when it slows down.

It's a risky move for Leiweke to begin his stewardship of TFC with a rookie general manager, yet he sees Bezbatchenko's hiring as a forward-thinking move.

The result now leaves TFC with 23 points with five games left to play. With Houston’s win over Philadelphia Saturday night, the Reds are officially (as in, mathematically) eliminated from playoff contention. If somehow lightning struck five times in a row, and the Reds won their last five, they’d get to 38 points. The Philadelphia Union, which held fifth place at the time of this article, have 39 points.

Starter Joe Bendik, back-up Stefan Frei and teenager Quillan Roberts are now joined on the roster by Chris Konopka. On Friday morning, the Reds announced that they had acquired the keeper from the Philadelphia Union in exchange for a third-round draft pick in 2014.

BMO Field was constructed when David Miller was Toronto's mayor. He was mayor when the city and Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment came to an agreement to replace the FieldTurf surface with natural grass. He was an unabashedly pro-soccer mayor.