Toronto FC staying on course despite troubled defensive waters

Unbeaten in six after losing its first two matches of the MLS season, Toronto FC is trending in the right direction and showing some signs that it could end its five-year playoff drought. 

TFC (3-2-3) showed plenty of grit and resilience in Saturday’s 3-3 draw against Austin FC at BMO Field, a game that saw the hosts twice come back from a goal down in the second half to take a share of the points on offer. 

“This is a really good group of guys, and they just keep fighting. They always, always keep fighting. The range of emotions again — down a goal, have a lead, give up the lead, down a goal again, and then fight back — certainly speaks volumes of the character, and even toward the end, we probably could have gotten another one,” coach Robin Fraser told reporters after the game. 

Toronto’s latest comeback effort means it has gained seven points from losing positions this season, another indication that this club is slowly getting its house in order. 

At the same time, there are serious causes for concern for TFC. 

Toronto was tied for the sixth-best defensive record in MLS in 2025 during Fraser’s first campaign at the helm, an amazing turnaround for a side that ranked near the bottom of the league in goals conceded in 2024. 

TFC proved to be a tough team to break down last year, but this year, not so much. The Reds have just one clean sheet through their first eight matches and have coughed up three goals in a single game on three separate occasions. They’re averaging 1.75 goals against per match in 2026, a significant increase from last season when they averaged just 1.29. 

Saturday’s stalemate against Austin wasn’t pretty from a defensive perspective for Toronto. Missing starting centre backs Walker Zimmerman and Benjamin Kuscevic due to injuries, the Reds struggled to maintain a stout defensive posture throughout the match, and the visitors took full advantage by scoring three goals that at best could be described as preventable and at worst as soft. 

Austin opened the scoring in the 29th minute off a throw-in (of all things!) that went through the legs of TFC midfielder José Cifuentes inside the penalty area. The ball landed at the feet of Jonathan Bell, who quickly pivoted and unleashed a shot from 10 yards out while surrounded by several Toronto players that took a deflection and whizzed past goalkeeper Luke Gavran.     

Down 2-1 in the 78th minute, Austin launched a counterattack down the middle that easily ripped through TFC’s defence and ended with Facundo Torres netting the equalizer by sweeping Robert Taylor’s ball across the box from eight yards out. Toronto was caught napping again minutes later when a cross into the box deflected off defender Zane Monlouis, allowing Austin’s Christian Ramirez to pounce and fire it home as the visitors took the lead.  

Luckily for the Reds, they were able to rescue a point thanks to Kobe Franklin’s tying goal in the 88th minute — it was also his first MLS goal in 69 league games since making his TFC debut in 2022. 

But that shouldn’t disguise the fact that Toronto has been defensively inconsistent this season, which won’t sit well with Fraser, a former two-time MLS defender of the year during his playing career.  

“I hope the fans enjoy all the goals; I certainly don’t. I thought we started off really well … and defensively, we’re making [it] very difficult for them. And then I thought maybe our intensity level just dropped a bit, which allowed them back into the game,” Fraser explained. 

“[In the] second half, I thought our mentality was much better again. Obviously, [we] created the goal in a number of chances. But you have to be able to stop teams as well. So, disappointing in the fact that we gave up three goals.” 

It’s still early on in the campaign — we’re not even a quarter of the way through the season — and under normal circumstances, Toronto would have plenty of time to make adjustments and improvements. 

But it’s not so straightforward for a team that has a new central defensive pairing in Zimmerman and Kuscevic, who have never previously played together, and are also dealing with other defensive injuries. A groin issue kept fellow newcomer Matheus Pereira out of Saturday’s contest, while Henry Wingo and Nicksoen Gomis are still working their way back to full fitness following lengthy injury layovers. 

There’s going to be a learning curve involved for TFC as it tries to set things right on the defensive end, especially with a back line featuring several new faces. 

“Obviously, there are going to be ebbs and flows and we have to be comfortable in the moments [in games] that we can’t get to the things that we normally can. And in those moments, we have to stay together and just make sure that teams don’t get between us and behind us. This is all part of the maturation process of this team, meaning we have some very mature players, but as a team, we’re relatively new,” Fraser said. 

Elsewhere in MLS this past weekend:  

• The Vancouver Whitecaps continue to be the class of MLS this season, a convincing 3-0 home over Sporting Kansas City on Friday cementing their spot atop the overall league table with a 7-1-0 record. Emmanuel Sabbi had a goal and an assist, while Bruno Caicedo scored his first goal in league play for a Whitecaps side that is off to its best start to an MLS season in club history. 

• CF Montreal (2-6-0) snapped a four-game losing streak and climbed out of last place in the MLS standings thanks to a convincing 4-1 home win over the New York Red Bulls on Saturday. The win was a welcome relief for Montreal, which was playing its first match under interim coach Philippe Eullaffroy following the firing of Marco Donadel the week prior. 

• It’s always a big occasion when Lionel Messi comes to town, a fact not lost on the Colorado Rapids, who moved Saturday’s home game from Dick’s Sporting Goods Park to Empower Field at Mile High, home of the NFL’s Denver Broncos. Messi put on a show by scoring two goals in a 3-2 win before 75,824 fans, the second biggest crowd in MLS history. Only a July 4, 2023, match between the LA Galaxy and LAFC drew more spectators — 82,110.