TORONTO - Jermain Defoe's 63rd-minute penalty kick lifted Toronto FC into a 1-1 tie with the Vancouver Whitecaps in MLS play Wednesday night.
For the English striker, it was his third goal in two games and 11th in 13 league outings. Not enough to make the MLS Fan XI announced before the game but worth a point on the night for his club.
Vancouver (6-4-8) went ahead on a Darren Mattocks goal in the 50th minute after former Toronto FC midfielder Matias Laba pounced on a loose touch by Toronto striker Luke Moore near the halfway line. Laba drove forward and two passes later, Canadian Russell Teibert raked a cross across the box that eluded three Toronto defenders before Mattocks tapped it in for his third goal of the season.
It was the kind of defensive lapse that Toronto paid for with goals twice before reeling off four goals to beat Houston 4-2 last time out.
Toronto (7-5-4) struck back after Brazilian winger Jackson went down in the box following contact with Nigel Reo-Coker. The English midfielder and Vancouver bench were incensed at referee Allen Chapman's call.
Jackson had been a thorn in Vancouver's side all game, artfully attacking down the left flank. But he also went down more than once and one could argue, as the Whitecaps no doubt did, that he initiated contact by running into Reo-Coker after the Brazilian tried to elude another defender.
