Harrison Afful’s scores first MLS goal

Ghana defender Harrison Afful last night scored his first goal in America's Major League (MLS) Soccer putting-up a Man of the Match performance for Columbus Crew in their 1-1 draw with Toronto FC.

After more than two weeks away from home, Afful’s Crew returned to the MAPFRE Stadium for the match.

Afful’s first career MLS goal sealed a point for the Black & Gold, and extended the club’s regular-season unbeaten streak at home to eight matches.

Following a 23-minute weather delay and Cedrick Mabwati coming on for Ethan Finlay during the break, Crew did not wait to take the lead. 

In the 54th minute, a Duka corner was partially cleared outside of the Toronto penalty area toward Afful. The defender wound up, and struck a first-time shot that flew into the bottom right corner of the goal to give Crew SC the 1-0 advantage.

However, just 10 minutes later, Toronto equalized. Forward Jordan Hamilton received a through-ball from Jay Chapman, and powered home a shot from close range.

The 29-year-old in a post-match interview said he was delighted to have scored his first MLS career and Columbus Crew goal.

"It feels great, but I’m not happy with the result. For me, I always want to win. So, even though I scored, I think the result is more important than scoring. So we just have to step up our game and focus on Saturday," the Ghana international said.