Toronto FC was unable to capitalize on 55-minute man advantage and dropped a 1-0 decision to the Chicago Fire Saturday evening at Charleston, S.C.‘s Blackbaud Stadium in the opening game of the 2011 Carolina Challenge Cup. A sixth-minute strike from Chicago’s Marco Pappa proved to be the difference, which resulted from a TFC defensive breakdown. Gaston Puerari initially sent a long ball across the face of the goal to Davis Paul, who one-touched back to an open Pappa for the tap-in from four yards out.

Before you sow the crops, you must clear the land. In their first MLS draft, TFC’s brain trust of Aron Winter and Paul Mariner arrived with chainsaws in their hands. The trades of the previous regimes had left the Reds with nothing better than a 26th-overall draft pick; they knew that by then, there would be no obvious gems — …