Lorenzo Insigne scored his 4th of the season and Federico Bernardeschi added his 5th as Toronto FC defeated Charlotte FC 2-0 at the Bank of America Stadium.
After an uneventful first half, Insigne opened the scoring from a corner kick. Bernardeschi played a deep corner to the second post, where Insigne retreated to volley the ball down into the ground and back up into the top corner.
Toronto Head Coach Bob Bradley commented on the set piece after the match.
You know, when Fede can hit that kind of ball and you’ve got hard runners and that causes them to try to deal with the runners, then the possibility that you’ve got somebody waiting at the back, especially Lorenzo in those moments because if it comes through, his ability to finish in different ways
Insigne returned the favour to Bernardeschi, who doubled Toronto’s lead in the 66th minute. Insigne switched the play to the right winger who controlled the ball with his chest and ran at Christian Fuchs before curling the ball around an out-stretched Kristijan Kahlina.
Insigne and Bernardeschi have combined for nine goals and five assists in their seven appearances. Including left back Domenico Criscito, Toronto’s trio of Italians have been involved in 13 of the Reds’ last 15 goals.
Having collected 14 points in their last seven matches, Toronto continue to push for a playoff place in the Eastern Conference. With the win, Toronto pulled with three points of Orlando FC, Inter Miami and Columbus Crew, were are all tied for 5th in the east on 36 points.
Orlando and Columbus have two games in hand, while Miami has one game in hand. Toronto return home on Wednesday to take on the LA Galaxy.
