Philadelphia Union rally with two late goals to defeat Toronto FC 2-1

Globe and Mail

a day ago

Add another painful chapter to Toronto FC's challenging season.
Toronto (3-9-4) held the Eastern Conference-leading Philadelphia Union (10-3-3) scoreless for 85 minutes Wednesday and looked headed for just its second home win of the season after Norwegian forward Ola Brynhildsen roofed a shot in the 75th minute.
But Philadelphia goals in the 86th and 92nd minutes made for a miserable ending and a 2-1 loss for TFC.
'I'm incredibly disappointed,' said Toronto coach Robin Fraser. 'The work that they did for 85 minutes was unbelievable. They fought. And this is a very, very difficult [Philadelphia] team to deal with. You have to be up for the physical battle. And for 85 minutes we were very good.'
'The performance they put on today, they were too good to let that slip away,' he added.
And that is exactly what happened.
After Nathan Harriel rose high to head home a Kai Wagner corner in the 86th minute, Wagner broke TFC fans' hearts with a 92nd-minute shot that deflected in off Toronto midfielder Matty Longstaff.
Brynhildsen, who had been taking a beating from Philadelphia all evening, had outpaced two defenders to get to a long ball from Deybi Flores for his second goal of the season.
'Obviously it doesn't feel [good]. We worked so hard,' said Brynhildsen, whose mother and stepfather were in the stands. 'I think we really played well. Everyone was on. We were fighting. We beat Philadelphia at their own game, physical and running. And then we don't reward ourselves with winning the game. It's a tough one.'
It was a scrappy stop-and-start game with a lot of whistles from referee Guido Gonzales Jr. The visitors spent much of the first half in Toronto's end, on a cool, damp evening with plenty of empty seats at BMO Field.
Attendance was announced at 14,490, only slightly higher than the season low of 14,019 for the 1-0 loss to FC Cincinnati on May 14.
The Union outshot Toronto 13-10 (6-4 in shots on target).
Philadelphia arrived atop the East, 13 places and 17 points ahead of Toronto – and trailing the Vancouver Whitecaps by one point in the Supporters' Shield standings. The Union are now unbeaten in eight matches (6-0-2) in league play and 10 in all competitions (8-0-2), dating back to a 1-0 defeat April 12 at New York City FC.
After starting the campaign at 0-4-4, Toronto has gone 3-5-0 and came into the game eight points out of a playoff spot. Since posting its first victory of the season April 19 in Salt Lake, the club has lost, lost, won, lost, won, lost and lost in league play.
The game was Toronto's 300th regular-season home game in club history with TFC 123-98-79, good for 448 points. Saturday's home game against Nashville was Toronto's 600th regular-season outing.
With Toronto playing its sixth game in 25 days, coach Robin Fraser made seven changes to the starting lineup that lost 2-1 last weekend. Only goalkeeper Sean Johnson, winger Theo Corbeanu, Flores and Brynhildsen retained their places.
Captain Jonathan Osorio, who came off the bench Saturday in his return from a shoulder injury, started for the first time since April 30. Defenders Henry Wingo, Raoul Petretta and Zane Monlouis also were back in the starting lineup.
Toronto was still missing injured defenders Nicksoen Gomis and Kobe Franklin, along with forward Deandre Kerr. Star winger Federico Bernardeschi and defender Kosi Thompson were both suspended for yellow card accumulation.
Recovered from a knee injury, Andre Blake was back in goal for Philadelphia. The 34-year-old Jamaican international, a three-time MLS Goalkeeper of the Year, had missed the last six games.
TFC was unbeaten in its last three meetings with Philadelphia (2-0-1) and had a 14-11-8 edge (including 10-3-4 at BMO Field) in career regular-season meetings. The Union last won in Toronto in May 2019.
Toronto hosts Charlotte FC on Saturday while Philadelphia plays at FC Dallas.