Misery piles up for Toronto FC in second straight loss to Philadelphia

TORONTO - Conor Casey and Andrew Wenger scored first-half goals as the Philadelphia Union extended Toronto FC's misery with a 2-0 win in MLS play Saturday afternoon.

Once again, Toronto paid the price for early slack defending before a disappointing BMO Field crowd -- announced as a sellout of 22,591 but showing plenty of empty seats -- that booed them off the field for the second home game in a row.

Toronto couldn't score either, despite coming hard at the visitors in the second half when it hit the woodwork three times. Its goalless streak now stands at 280 minutes.

That is fatal when your defence keeps digging a hole for itself.

Toronto (9-11-6) has lost three straight, is winless in five (0-4-1)) and has just three victories in its last 15 outings (3-7-5). Toronto has dropped 31 of 45 points over that period.

TFC has not won at home since July 12 (0-2-2) and now has a 5-6-2 record at home.

And, with eight games remaining, it is sliding down the standings like they were a greased pole. Toronto, with 33 points, started the day fourth in the Eastern Conference. It finished the game in fifth and could end up in seventh if Columbus and New York post wins.

The well-drilled Union (9-9-9) are headed in the other direction.

The victory, Philadelphia's second in three days over Toronto with Casey scoring in both games, means the Union have won three of four and lost just one of its last nine (5-1-3). Philadelphia is 6-2-3 in MLS play since Jim Curtin was hired as interim manager.

The game was the first at home for new Toronto manager Greg Vanney, who replaced Ryan Nelsen last Sunday. In terms of results, it has been a case of meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

Toronto was without injured defenders Steve Caldwell and Justin Morrow and Canadian midfielder Jonathan Osorio. Bradley Orr played at centre back despite a painful toe injury.

But Canadian coach Benito Floro did the team a solid by releasing midfielders Dwayne De Rosario and Kyle Bekker from the national team game for Saturday's game. The 36-year-old De Rosario got the start -- his first since April 12. He had seen some 50 minutes of league action since then prior to Saturday.

DeRo, showing bursts of energy, got a standing ovation in some quarters when he came off in the 69th minute. Bekker started on the bench, coming in just before halftime for an injured Collen Warner.

There was more worrying news before the game from England, where the Daily Mail joined the list reporting that star striker Jermain Defoe was unhappy in MLS and wanted to get out of his Toronto contract in advance of the January transfer window.

Defoe, however, offered some cause for hope for Toronto fans by tweeting: "Big game for boys tonight good luck can't wait to be back out there scoring."

General manager Tim Bezbatchenko declined comment on the story before kickoff with a club spokesman saying he wanted to focus on the game.

Vanney and his players had hoped for a fast start to get the fans into the match.

Instead it was a late-arriving crowd and Philadelphia went ahead in the eighth minute after a series of botched Toronto clearances allowed Sheanon Williams to deliver a perfect cross to Casey. The burly striker, who played two games for Toronto in its inaugural 2007 season, made no mistake with the header for his eighth of the season.

Joe Bendik made a fine save off Sebastien Le Toux in the 33rd minute, palming the ball over the bar with one hand.

Minutes later, centre back Doneil Henry put Bendik at risk with a short back pass. Bendik made the initial save and then Henry headed away the shot off the ensuring rebound.

Philadelphia went ahead 2-0 in the 44th minute off a corner and yet another failed clearance. Mark Bloom's header went to Williams, who headed it back it to Wenger at the other end of the goal. Wenger, free of any Toronto pressure, headed it in for his fifth goal.

Bloom had Toronto's best chance to date in the 54th minute when his long-range shot bounced off the post. Nick Hagglund's bicycle kick went just wide minutes later. Michael Bradley forced a save off a diving Zac MacMath in the 66th minute. A Jackson header hit the crossbar in the 77th minute and Bekker slammed a ball off the crossbar in the 90th minute after his free kick came back to him.

The Philadelphia defence bent but didn't break.

Abandoned by his defence, Bendik had to make a late save off a Maurice Edu shot as yet another opponent was allowed to run at the Toronto penalty box.

NOTE: Philadelphia was without goalkeeper Rais Mbolhi (Algeria), defender Carlos Valdes (Colombia) and midfielder Michael Lahoud (Sierre Leone), who were with their national teams. But French midfielder Vincent Nogueira returned from injury.