Toronto FC 's Jackson celebrates after scoring his team's first goal against Chivas USA during first half MLS action in Toronto on Sunday September 21, 2014.Chris Young/The Canadian Press
Brazilian forward Gilberto scored a goal and set up another Sunday afternoon as Toronto FC romped to an easy 3-0 victory over Chivas USA, extending the toothless Goats' losing streak to six games.
Brazil's Jackson and Luke Moore also scored for Toronto (10-11-7), which had its way with the undermanned visitors.
Both teams were reduced to 10 men in the 66th minute for an altercation that saw Jackson slap Chivas midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker. Upset at a Reo-Coker tackle he perceived should have been a foul, Jackson scythed down the Chivas player with a crude challenge to set off the melee. Both men saw red.
Toronto, badly in need of points to reverse its slide out of the Eastern Conference playoff picture, snapped a six-game (0-4-2) winless streak with its first victory since Aug. 9, a 3-2 decision in Columbus.
Toronto's 10th win of the season marked a franchise high set in 2009 when the team finished 10-11-9.
Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment CEO Tim Leiweke was in a good mood during the one-sided game, buying beers for those of legal age in Section 127 at BMO Field after they chanted their wish for a cold one during a pleasant sunny afternoon.
The crowd was announced as yet another sellout of 22,591 but there were plenty of empty seats with the lacklustre opposition and forecast of rain perhaps keeping people home.
The rare Sunday game came three days after MLS commissioner Don Garber acknowledged that Chivas may not play in 2015 while the team's ownership void is filled. The league is currently operating the franchise and its bid to find a buyer won't have been helped by Sunday's performance. The Goats tried but have few weapons in their arsenal.
It did not help that Mexican striker Erick Torres, who had 14 of Chivas' 23 goals coming into the game, was suspended.
Statistically Chivas (6-17-6) hardly has a pulse.
Chivas is now winless in 11 games (0-10-1) and has been shut out in nine of its last 10 outings, during which time it has been outscored 24-2. It has given up three or more goals in each of its last five games during which time it has been outscored 17-2.
The only plus perhaps was that Portland's win over Vancouver on Saturday staved off playoff elimination for Chivas, at least for a week.
Defence was not expected to feature prominently despite the fact it was Canadian Armed Forces Appreciation Day at BMO Field. The two teams had leaked a combined 21 goals in their last four outings (14 for Chivas and seven for Toronto).
The win moved Toronto to 37 points, three out of the playoff picture in seventh spot with a game in hand on the teams above them.
Fourth-place New York (41 points) and fifth-place Columbus (40) both won Saturday while sixth-place Philadelphia (38 points) tied. The top five in each conference make the post-season.
Toronto dominated play early, with more than a few Chivas players going down in a choppy opening half that TFC goalie Joe Bendik could have watched with a cocktail in his hand.
Toronto went ahead in the 23rd minute after Mark Bloom won the ball on the right flank. It eventually went to Gilberto who found Jackson with a nifty backheel on the edge of the box. The Brazilian winger veered left and banged a left-footed shot off a defender past Dan Kennedy.
Jackson and Gilberto, in honour of the day's military theme, celebrated the goal with a salute.
It should have been 2-0 in the 31st but Moore, using the outside of his boot, scooped the ball off the crossbar after a nifty delivery complete with stepovers from winger Daniel Lovitz.
Former TFC midfielder Eric Avila wasted a good chance when he shot high from in-close in the 43rd minute, Chivas' lone threat of the opening half.
Moore made it 2-0 in first-half stoppage time, volleying home a ball headed back into the box from Nick Hagglund off a Michael Bradley corner.
Bradley almost made it 3-0 early in the second half with a free kick that Kennedy palmed over the crossbar. The American international then served as playmaker of the ensuing corner, deftly sending the ball across the face of the net with the side of his boot. The ball somehow evaded every Chivas defender en route to Gilberto, who tapped it in for his seventh goal of the season in the 54th minute.
Bendik had to make a rare save in the 84th minute, punching the ball away.
The win was just Toronto's third in 13 career matches with Chivas, which holds a 9-3-1 edge in the series.