Red Bulls run wild to spoil TFC home opener

Toronto FC's home opener went south quickly Saturday with the New York Red Bulls running wild in the first half en route to a 4-1 win.

Lewis Morgan needed just 23 minutes to record a hat-trick with New York captain Aaron Long accounting for the other goal as the Red Bulls did all their scoring in the first 45 minutes. Polish forward Patryk Klimala contributed three assists.

Toronto (0-1-1) started well, threatening on offence, but was cut open in transition and found itself trailing 2-0 after 24 minutes thanks to Morgan's finishing and some slack defending. Jesus Jimenez pulled one back for Toronto but the Red Bulls (2-0-0) were ruthless in punishing the TFC defence, adding two more before the break.

The visitors' threat on the counter-attack was demonstrated by the fact that they scored on four of their five shots on target in the first half while having just 32.8 per cent of the ball.

"A really tough day," Toronto coach Bob Bradley said after his home debut. "We can't speak about positives because at the end of it all, it's just not good enough in the balance.

"You look hard at it and work through it and be ready for next week."

The score could have been more lopsided had Toronto goalkeeper Alex Bono not made several big saves in the second half. Another Morgan goal, in the 87th minute, was ruled offside.

The announced crowd of 23,121 was the largest for a TFC home game since the 2020 home opener, when 26,171 saw Toronto edge New York City FC 1-0 on March 7. The sporting world ground to a halt the next week due to the pandemic.

Adding to the Toronto pain was some smack from the Red Bulls' official Twitter account in the wake of recording back-to-back road wins the first two games of the season for the first time in