Nashville SC holds on to edge Toronto FC 2-1 in entertaining MLS contest
TORONTO - It was a night of milestones for Toronto FC on Saturday.
The Major League Soccer franchise marked its 600th regular-season game. Goalkeeper Sean Johnson moved into the league's top five in regular-season minutes played. And captain Jonathan Osorio, returning from injury, scored his 50th career regular-season goal.
Sadly for TFC fans, it all happened in a 2-1 loss to Nashville SC.
English forward Sam Surridge scored twice in the second half and Nashville staved off a late TFC comeback, including Osorio's 91st-minute strike, to extend its unbeaten run to eight games in all competitions (6-0-2).
Two goals, one from each side, in the dying minutes made for a frenzied finale before an announced crowd of 19,504 at BMO Field.
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'What I said to the players is the sort of intensity we saw at the end, we need to see that throughout the whole game,' said disappointed Toronto coach Robin Fraser. 'I just didn't think we were quite sharp enough to begin.'
Fraser liked the effort from his team. But once again lapses cost Toronto, which slipped to 3-8-4 on the season and has collected five out of a possible 24 points at home this season.
The first half, entertaining while short on scoring chances, saw both teams probe the opposition defence with Nashville having the only shot on target.
The contest came alive in the second half.
Toronto's first shot on target, in the 53rd minute, was a doozy. Lorenzo Insigne floated a cross into the Nashville penalty box that Norwegian striker Ola Brynhildsen, contorting his body like a gymnast, turned into spectacular bicycle kick. Nashville goalkeeper Joe Willis made the save, however.
Nashville (8-4-3) went one better in the 57th minute with Andy Najar sending a long ball to Hany Mukhtar behind the Toronto defence. The former MLS MVP deftly redirected the ball across the goal for Surridge to knock home his seventh of the season.
Mukhtar could have had two goals himself in the second half but was denied by the 35-year-old Johnson, whose 37,326 regular-season minutes played total trails only Stefan Frei, Dax McCarty, Kyle Beckerman and leader Nick Rimando (46,336).
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Toronto did not fold, with Brynhildsen and Insigne both coming close around the 70-minute mark. And the home side kept coming. Substitute Tyrese Spicer came close with a blast in the 83rd minute.
It looked like Surridge had ended the drama in the 89th minute with an insurance goal as Toronto's defence was cut open. But Osorio, returning from injury, scored one minute into stoppage time with a rocket of a shot from outside the penalty box to make things interesting.
'It kind of sucks. I wish it could have been a game-winning goal or at least a game-tying goal to get a result,' said Osorio, who has 67 goals in all competitions for TFC.
Osorio, who also has 53 career regular-season assists, joins the likes of FC Dallas' Luciano, Acosta, the Los Angeles Galaxy's Diego Fagundez and Seattle's Albert Rusnak in the league's select 50-goal, 50-assist club.
The 32-year-old Osorio came off the bench in the 63rd minute to cheers, his first appearance since suffering a partially dislocated shoulder early on in the Telus Canadian Championship penalty shootout loss to Montreal on April 30. Saturday marked his franchise-leading 381st game in all competitions for Toronto.
Nashville outshot Toronto 15-10 (6-4 in shots on target).
Nashville entered weekend play in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, nine places and 11 points ahead of Toronto.
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Coming off a record 6-1 victory at CF Montreal, Toronto had won two of its previous three games (2-0-1). And after an 0-4-4 start to the season, Toronto had gone 3-3-0 in league play before Saturday.
Toronto has compiled a 180-265-155 regular-season record since entering MLS in 2007. Eighty-five of those wins came between 2015 and 2020, when Toronto made the playoffs five out of the six seasons — its only post-season appearances to date.
Toronto reached the MLS Cup final in 2016, '17 and '19, hoisting the trophy in 2017 when it also won the Canadian Championship and Supporters' Shield (for the best regular-season record).
TFC's regular-season record is 33-83-35 since last making the playoffs in 2020.
Fraser made just one change to his starting lineup with Theo Corbeanu coming in for Tyrese Spicer.
Toronto was without injured defenders Richie Laryea, Nicksoen Gomis, Raoul Petretta and Kobe Franklin, midfielder Markus Cimermancic and forward Deandre Kerr.
The injuries prompted a second career MLS start for 18-year-old Lazar Stefanović, a centre back pressed into action at left fullback where he acquitted himself well against Canadian international Jacob Shaffelburg.
It was Canadian Armed Forces Appreciation Night at BMO Field with close to 300 Canadian Armed Forces members in attendance.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 24, 2025.
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