TORONTO — For the Red Bulls, beating Toronto FC was like death and taxes — a guaranteed win. That was until Saturday night.
Jermain Defoe and Luke Moore scored and Toronto FC snapped its three-game losing streak — and 10-game losing streak to the Red Bulls — with a 2-0 win Saturday.
The Red Bulls (3-4-5) were coming off a 5-4 loss to the previously winless Chicago Fire, which snapped its four-game undefeated streak.
Toronto (4-4-0) had lost four out of its past five games after opening the MLS season with two consecutive wins.
And the Red Bulls looked sloppy, turning the ball over in the early going.
“Obviously, the first half we weren’t good enough,” Red Bulls coach Mike Petke said. “The pitch was a bit bobbly but that was no excuse for how bad on the ball we were. We had too many giveaways, too many loose passes and too many instances where we gave them the ball back too easily.”
On a day where Arsenal won the FA Cup at Wembley, former Gunners star Thierry Henry — while showing flashes of his brilliance — was relegated to a supporting role.
Both Defoe and Henry made their names scoring goals for north London clubs in the English Premier League.
Defoe had 153 goals for Tottenham while the 36-year-old Henry had 228 for Arsenal. The Red Bulls attack also featured English forward Bradley Wright-Phillips, who came into the game leading MLS with nine goals this season.
As for the 31-year-old Defoe, who has 19 goals and 55 caps (appearances on the national team) for his country, he was relegated to England’s seven-man World Cup taxi squad on Monday. Defoe, who still could be called up in the event of an injury, said he was baffled by his omission from the 23-man main England squad.
“Every day I wake up, it’s still frustrating and it’s still baffling [as] to why I wasn’t selected,” he said Saturday. “But you’ve got to move on.”
The Red Bulls struggled early as a poor pass from fullback Kosuke Kimura led to Toronto’s first goal when Bradley Orr beat Dax McCarty to the ball in midfield and drove forward. He spotted Defoe and slotted a perfect pass, with the striker hammering a right-footed shot into the top of the net in the 12th minute.
It was Defoe’s fourth goal in five MLS games.
Defoe didn’t even see his goal go in. He hit it and went flying as a defender clattered into him.
“It was funny because I was on the floor,” he said. “I looked at the crowd and everyone was celebrating it so I thought ‘OK, it went in.’ ”
“That’s exactly how I thought he would react,” Toronto manager Ryan Nelsen said. “A brilliant goal, wasn’t it?
“That’s Jermain Defoe. And that’s why England will miss him dearly, I think, come World Cup time.”
Henry also had praise.
“Jermain Defoe has been doing this since he was 14 years old and as long as he plays he will do that,” said the French forward.
Both teams have lost stars to the World Cup: fullback Roy Miller (Costa Rica) and midfielder Tim Cahill (Australia) for the Red Bulls and midfielder Michael Bradley (U.S.) for Toronto. Goalie Julio Cesar, who had been slated to play for Toronto on Saturday before joining Brazil, was out with the flu.