COLUMBUS—Alex Bono knows how to play it cool, both on and off the field.
Shortly after denying an 84th-minute shot from Columbus Crew defender Harrison Afful here on Tuesday night—a show-stopping save from close range that helped ensure Toronto FC left Ohio with a draw instead of a loss — the 23-year-old Reds’ ’keeper made little of what could have been a game-changing moment in the first leg of the Eastern Conference final.
“He was able to take a touch,” Bono said of Afful, who found himself with the ball just outside the six-yard box after defender Drew Moor couldn’t clear a late attack from the Crew.