But it all came undone as poor defending gave Houston the opportunity to steal a point at home on a hot, humid night in its brand new BBVA Compass Stadium.

With Paul Mariner taking the reins from Aron Winter, beginning the next chapter of Toronto FC's history, the end result was still a familiar one for the Reds. Poor play at the start of the match and bad luck on the offensive end played a big part of a 2-0 road loss to Sporting Kansas City.

The streak is over. Toronto FC finally got on the board for the 2012 MLS campaign, winning a 1-0 result over the Philadelphia Union on Saturday at BMO Field that ended the Reds' record stretch of nine consecutive losses to begin the season.

Eckersley is a classic example of the type of athlete who is popular in Toronto. A journeyman kinda guy who works exceptionally hard. He fits the archetype of a Dan Gargan, John McDonald, Matt Bonner, James Reimer — working-class guys who blow up in a Toronto market that eats superstars alive but worships the depth-chart players.

"I think if we score two goals we should win the game, so it's our fault to give up three goals," Johnson said. "These mistakes are killing us and it's killing Toronto and our fans. It's hard to keep letting down our fans every week and it's really starting to get to me."

Toronto FC has very little margin for error. For a team that's struggling to both consistently defend and, increasingly, struggling to score goals, one mistake is all it takes to waste a strong performance. Such was the case on Saturday, when TFC largely outplayed the Columbus Crew but came up on the wrong end of a 1-0 result at BMO Field.

As the final whistle blew, an altercation between Reds defender Ashtone Morgan and Santos striker Darwin Quintero led to a full-on scrum between the two teams. Both benches cleared and, while no further blows were thrown, both sides left knowing that the final score would be settled next Wednesday.

“Very good team I think,” said Assistant Coach Bob de Klerk who ran Tuesday’s practice. “If you watch our game against Pumas in Mexico (last year), we had a difficult time over there, very difficult match. And they’re in the league in Mexico and higher than Pumas. That says enough.”

After a poor display in its first outing at the Walt Disney World Soccer Classic, Toronto FC coach Aron Winter adjusted not only the personnel, but the formation.

Toronto FC finally got its preseason schedule underway, and the Reds got a rather one-sided — and expected — win over the University of South Florida.