It wasn't the talent or the tactics of visiting Toluca that worried Crew coach Robert Warzycha before his team tied the Mexican team 2-2 tonight, though the Primera Division power, using a mixed lineup of regulars and reserves, was impressive.

Toluca took a 2-0 lead with goals by Sinha and Antonio Rios, but more impressive was the effort of the underdog Crew, which outplayed the deeper and more skilled visitor in both halves and got two second-half goals from Steven Lenhart.

Toluca played a fast and flowing brand of soccer in the opening game of a home-and-home, total-goal CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal.

The Crew attacked with abandon and overcame a 2-0 deficit with a pair of right-footed strikes by Lenhart in the 66th and 84th minutes.

It was Warzycha's concern -- the disparity in fitness between the Mexicans, in midseason form, and the Crew, still more than two weeks away from its MLS opener -- that might have kept the Crew from an unlikely victory.

Despite missing stars Chad Marshall (hamstring), Guillermo Barros Schelotto and Frankie Hejduk (yellow-card suspensions), the Crew pushed forward from the opening whistle and spent most of the early minutes building methodical attacks in the offensive third.

Toluca, fitter and faster, was content to defend and counter.

The tactic paid off in the 19th minute when Raul Nava sent a ball through to Sinha. The Brazilian blew by Eric Brunner and slotted a shot inside the far post before Danny O'Rourke could catch up to the play.

It was a superb sequence, but the second goal might have been more impressive.

Raul Nava won an aerial challenge over Brunner just in front of the Crew's 18-yard line, bouncing the ball tantalizingly toward Rios.

The midfielder did not waste his opportunity, cracking a right-footed blast past Crew keeper William Hesmer, who had no chance at stopping the strike.

The goal gave the Red Devils a 2-0 lead in the 45th minute, although the difference would have been smaller had the Crew connected on one of its eight first-half shots.

Adam Moffat took five of them, sending three of them no more than a foot wide of the far post. Wingers Robbie Rogers and Eddie Gaven also had opportunities for the Crew, but it was Lenhart who finished his chances.

The wild-haired and long-limbed striker galloped into the Toluca penalty area, chested down a pass from Emmanuel Ekpo onto his right foot and into upper netting.
He cut the lead to 2-1, eliciting a roar from a sparse but vocal crowd of 4,402.

Brunner almost tied the score in the 79th but sent a header wide right.

Lenhart did not miss his next opportunity. He received a pass from Emilio Renteria in the box and loosed a right-footed from the same spot as his first goal, though this time he slotted the ball on the ground and inside the far post.

The late goal snapped a three-game home losing streak by the Crew that dated back to a November playoff loss to Real Salt Lake.

It also put the Toluca and the Crew on equal footing heading into the second game, to be played Wednesday in Toluca.

An MLS team has never won a game in Mexico.

smitchell@dispatch.com