TORONTO — Armando Cooper sat disconsolately at his locker after Toronto FC's 1-1 tie with the Colorado Rapids on Saturday night, hand on his head as he stared down at his phone.
Veteran defender Drew Moor gave him a pat as he went by. Acting coach Robin Fraser did the same. Cooper didn't respond either time.
The Panamanian midfielder was no doubt reliving the 76th-minute giveaway that led to a Dominique Badji goal and the Rapids' first point on the road this season as Colorado snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat.
Cooper, who had come on three minutes earlier when Jay Chapman hobbled off, attempted a pass that bounced off a Colorado player to Alan Gordon. One pass later, Badji held off defender Chris Mavinga and beat goalkeeper Clint Irwin low to the corner with a left-footed shot.
Cooper, who has had an up-and-down season in 2017, may have been the last TFC player to touch the ball on the goal but his teammates had their chances to put the game away after Chapman gave Toronto a 1-0 lead just five minutes into the game with his first ever MLS score.
Fraser acknowledged that turnovers are momentum-killers. But he refused to point the finger.
"Everybody has giveaways, everybody has bad moments," said Fraser. "Everybody has things that lead to goals. It's not like that moment defines them."
"It was just not us at our best," he said of the Toronto showing.
Fraser ran the sideline in the absence of Greg Vanney, who was serving a one-game ban after being ejected midweek in New York.
With third-place New York City FC defeating second-place Chicago 2-1 earlier in the day, Toronto (11-3-7) missed an opportunity to pad its lead to four points atop the Eastern Conference. TFC, which now leads the Fire by two points, hosts NYCFC next Sunday.
On the plus side, Toronto remains unbeaten at BMO Field this season (7-0-3). Colorado (6-11-2) improved to 0-7-1 on the road this season thanks to just its third away goal of 2017.
"We knew it was going to be a difficult place to play," said Colorado coach Pablo Mastroeni, whose team had not played since July 4. "I just thought that the response in the second half was fantastic, after a bit of a sluggish first half and getting our feet in there with a couple weeks of not playing. ... Overall I'm really happy with the performance and satisfied with the point."
The offensively-challenged Rapids had done little to threaten Toronto prior to Badji's goal before a loud crowd of 28,060.
Toronto outshot Colorado 15-9 but, like the Rapids, only managed to put four on target.
"There were a couple of chances we didn't take advantage of but I don't think we created enough chances," said Toronto defender Eriq Zavaleta. "And then we fell asleep with a turnover."
Fans booed loudly as one Colorado player after another went down injured after the tying goal, leading to five minutes of tense injury time.
TFC was bolstered by the return of striker Sebastian Giovinco and defender Nick Hagglund.
Giovinco had been questionable, after a lower back bruise that forced an early exit in Wednesday's 2-2 tie with NYCFC. Hagglund had been out since May 13 when he tore the medial collateral ligament in his left knee in a collision with goalkeeper Alex Bono.
Bono was given the night off, with Irwin — a former Colorado player — making his fifth league start of the season.
Chapman opened the scoring in the fifth minute to cap off a goalmouth scramble triggered by a Giovinco ball into the box from the byline after a fine pass from Victor Vazquez. Goalkeeper Zac MacMath clawed away a Tsubasa Endoh shot but could not stop the Chapman header that followed.
The game bounced between scrappy and ill-tempered, with six-foot-seven Colorado centre back Axel Sjoberg and five-foot-four Giovinco at odds early on.
TFC was without captain Michael Bradley, Jozy Altidore and Justin Morrow, all with the U.S. team at the Gold Cup. Fullback Steven Beitashour is recovering from pancreas surgery.
Toronto lost acting captain Benoit Cheyrou in the 38th minute with a potential calf injury after a clash of legs in a tackle.
TFC fullback Ashtone Morgan came on in the 69th minute for his 100th regular-season appearance.
Colorado was also without two designated players in goalkeeper Tim Howard (Gold Cup) and Albanian international forward Shkelzen Gashi (calf). Defenders Bobby Burling (foot) and Mekeil Williams (suspended) were also unavailable.
A group of Toronto supporters in the south stand wore white "No Argos at BMO" T-shirts. They had been told prior to the game that their "No Argos at BMO Field" sign was no longer welcome.
The club said it made the request out of respect to broadcaster TSN, which airs both MLS and CFL games.
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Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
