A soccer goal actually brought tears to my eyes last night.

Young Abdus Ibrahim – over from Ethiopia, not yet 17 – took a brilliant turn pass from Amado Guevara, rounded the hottest goalie in MLS, and tapped home a perfect roller for his first goal in the big time.

Not only was it beautiful – Ibrahim's run was a deftly timed thing of beauty – it knotted the score at 1-1 at Chicago, in Toronto FC's most crucial contest of the season so far. This on a night when TFC coach John Carver tinkered spectacularly with his lineup, serving notice he's not content playing status quo with a team that had just one win to show from six road games coming in.

… And then, of course, Chicago scored right at the end to win 2-1, slamming the brakes and screeching the feel-good story I thought I was writing to a sudden, sickening halt. But I saw so much encouraging stuff, I'm going to be Mr. Happy regardless.

Despite a hugely frustrating result, Toronto FC took some big steps forward last night. Break out the notebooks, soccer fans. We're going into some serious detail – good and bad.

Win or lose, this was always going to be a pivotal game. TFC came in tied with Chicago for the fourth and final playoff spot in an ultra-tight East Division where the bottom five of seven teams were separated by just two points.

Carver sent a lot of coffee through a lot of nostrils by opting to open with a 3-5-2 formation. The basic operator was to promote captain Jim Brennan into the five-man midfield, so Laurent Robert could move up into the strikeforce with surging rookie Jarrod Smith. This to patch the twin problems of striker Danny Dichio being concussed, and fellow attacker Jeff Cunningham seemingly needing ten clear chances to score one goal.

I have never liked three men at the back. It leaves you vulnerable in two key areas – the top of your own penalty area, and down the sidelines. No such concerns from the Chicago Fire, however. They liked Toronto's defensive formation just fine.

- Chicago opens the scoring just four minutes in, with the blue-shoed Chris Rolfe slamming home from the top of box, where he had acres too much space and hours too much time.

- Chicago surges in again, forcing famously former-concussed TFC goalie Greg Sutton to get hit in the head diving into a pair of onsurging enemy boots. He was very slow getting up.

- Chicago in again. Sutton has to dive into yet another vacated crater, taking another passing leg to the side of the head. He gets up fine, but this ain't a happy deal for anybody.

Well, good for Carver; he adjusted. TFC shifted to a back four, dropping Marvell Wynne back on 35 minutes. And it's not like Toronto didn't have chances. Maurice Edu was clearly hauled down in the Chicago area for what should have a penalty kick, but referee Jorge Gonzalez carded him for diving instead. It's the young Olympian's fifth card of the season, meaning he's suspended for Saturday's home game against San Jose.

(If I had one wish for MLS, it would be a massive overhaul of its refereeing staff. Everybody deserves better than this.)

Edu also had Toronto's best chance of the half, a deft, light-footed running readjust that set him up to slam a bad-bounce sitter straight into the far Chicago goalpost.

It all looked a bit soggy at the break, but I'm not going to knock Carver for experimenting. Why go with a regular lineup that can't win anywhere but BMO Field when you're on the road in such a crucial game? In a long season, you have to find out who can really do what. I also admire a man who can adjust when things aren't going well. Relative to the league in general, I think Toronto's got a pretty inspired and special coach here.

Carver struck for real at halftime, bringing in surging sparkplug Rohan Ricketts – and giving Ibrahim his TFC regular-season debut. Ibee had run Pachuca of Mexico all over the Toronto lakefront in last weekend's friendly, and he and Ricketts needed less than a minute to set the table for Laurent Robert. The shot got shanked, but notice was served.

Then came the goal. Guevara turns his back to net, runs away from his defender, then spins and passes into open penalty area just as Ibrahim breaks for the identical spot. All-Star starting goalie Jon Busch was a spectator from then on. Incredible skill for a 16-year-old – for anyone! – and what a brilliant pass from Guevara.

Ibrahim almost scored another minutes later, forcing – on the dead run – a great reflex fingertip save from a suddenly very worried-looking goaltender.

It all looked amazing, but behind the ball the TFC defence was crumbling. The stoppage-time winner was about the fourth strong, late surge met with sagging, sloppy resistance.

But don't write this game off, fans. Let us pause for a moment, and reflect.

Look at all the sizzling young talent on this roster – Ibrahim, Adu, Ricketts, Wynne, probably Julius James, quite possibly backup goalie Brian Edwards. This team has a daring, dedicated coach, and GM Mo Johnston is vigorously pumping young talent into a roster that is ripe to bursting with estimated future value.

I'm drained and demoralized that Toronto lost this game. But mark me well – this is going to be remembered as one of the pivotal turning points in the ever-accelerating rise of Toronto FC.

If this team does, in fact, play playoff soccer in the fall, this jangled, wrenching rocket ride of a match may well be remembered as the night the good times really started to roll.

Onward!