TORONTO – Speaking with the media on Wednesday afternoon, head coach Greg Vanney revealed that an independent panel has made a decision as to Jozy Altidore's eligibility for the first leg of the Eastern Conference Championship in Columbus.

After being sent off in the second leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinal versus the New York Red Bulls, Toronto FC submitted an appeal of Jozy Altidore's red card with video footage of the incident. However, the panel could not find enough evidence to overrule fourth referee Silviu Petrescu's original ruling.

"Jozy's suspension has been upheld," Vanney said. "The referees had given him a red card, so the burden of proof was on us to prove that it wasn’t. We weren’t able to do that with video we provided because there were still some gaps in the video." 

The MLS Disciplinary Committee will be looking into the incident further later in the week.