Mihailovic scores twice as Toronto FC closes out MLS season with 4-2 win over Orlando

TORONTO – Toronto FC exits the Major League Soccer season with a smile on its face and some hope for the future after a 4-2 win over Orlando City on Saturday.

There’s still plenty to rectify after finishing 12th in the Eastern Conference in a 6-14-14 season that featured just three wins at home. But Saturday’s performance was a welcome tonic, ending a strange 11-game winless run that featured a league-record eight draws.

Djordje Mihailovic scored twice and captain Jonathan Osorio and Deandre Kerr added singles for Toronto, which previously had only scored three goals twice in the season (including a 6-1 blowout of CF Montreal). TFC came into the game 29th in the league on offence, having scored 33 goals in its 33 previous games.

Orlando had a 31-12 edge in shots (10-6 in shots on target) but could not take advantage with Toronto defenders putting their bodies on the line again and again to block 12 shots.

“It’s been such a challenging season in so many different ways, to end the season this way, to see them get the reward of their hard work, I’m elated,” said first-year Toronto coach Robin Fraser.

“It’s something to look forward to going into next season,” added Osorio.

The victory, Toronto’s first since July 16, made for a positive ending to a roller-coaster season with pretty goals at one end and goalkeeper Sean Johnson making big saves at the other. TFC came into the season finale tied for eighth in the league on defence, conceding an average of 1.27 goals a game.

Still it’s a fifth straight year watching the playoffs from the sidelines. TFC finished 11-19-4 last season under John Herdman.

Saturday’s finale drew an announced crowd of 21,013 to BMO Field on Fan Appreciation Night where it was a cloudy 18 Celsius at kickoff.

Toronto had been idle since a 2-0 loss at Los Angeles FC on Oct. 8 that snapped a stretch of league-record eight straight draws. 

Toronto had plenty of the ball in the early going and went ahead in the seventh minute with a well-constructed team goal that featured a surging run by Richie Laryea. The nine-pass sequence ended with Jose Cifuentes teeing up Osorio for a left-footed shot from the edge of the penalty box found the top corner, eluding a diving Pedro Gallese.

It was Osorio’s fourth goal of the season and his 69th for TFC in all competitions

Orlando began to find its game and appealed unsuccessfully for a penalty in the 23rd minute when Duncan McGuire went down in a tangle with Sigurd Rosted. Referee Fotis Bazakos waved play on and the video assistant referee agreed with him.

Johnson made a spectacular one-handed save to deny Argentine star Martin Ojeda in the 27th minute. Soon after, the veteran Toronto ‘keeper parried a long-range rocket from Ivan Angulo.

Mihailovic made it 2-0 in the 34th minute with an elegant free kick that bent over the wall and beat Gallese. And an unmarked Mihailovic scored his 13th of the season three minutes into the second half with his shot bouncing in off Gallese’s leg.

David Brekalo pulled one back for Orlando in the 54th minute, eluding Kerr to sweep home a Marco Pašalić feed.

A paid of highlight-reel saves by Johnson preserved the TFC lead and Kerr, unmarked with the Orlando defence in disarray, made it 4-0 in the 61st with his fourth of the season.

McGuire cut the deficit to 4-2 in the 92nd minute, making for a nervy final seven minutes of stoppage time. 

Johnson recorded a season-high eight saves, became the fifth goalkeeper in MLS regular-season history to record 1,300 saves, joining Nick Rimando (1,701), Kevin Hartman (1,474), Stefan Frei (1,342) and Joe Cannon (1,331).

There was much more at stake Saturday for Orlando.

Orlando (14-9-11) arrived in seventh spot in the Eastern Conference with a playoff berth already secured. But sitting three points below fourth-place Charlotte FC and two points above ninth-place Columbus, the team needed points to avoid dropping into a play-in spot.

The loss, combined with a 3-1 Columbus win over New York Red Bulls, dropped Orlando into the wild-card game.

Fraser experienced several seasons in one, inheriting a team failing to produce with marquee Italians Lorenzo Insigne and Federico Bernardeschi. Toronto conceded 12 goals in an 0-4-1 start to the campaign and went winless in its first eight games (0-4-4).

Toronto parted ways with the Italians in July 1, buying out their contracts. A month later, it acquired a new cornerstone in Mihailovic in a trade with the Colorado Rapids.

With Theo Corbeanu, Maxime Dominguez and Cifuentes here on loan and 14 other players on expiring contracts, albeit with team options, GM Jason Hernandez has plenty of decisions to make.

While unbeaten at home (1-0-5) since May 31, TFC had won at BMO Field since June 28 (3-0 over Portland). It marks Toronto’s worst home record since 2012, when it went 3-9-5 at BMO Field. 

Fraser made four changes to his starting lineup with Osorio, Laryea and Derrick Etienne Jr. returning from international duty and Kerr replacing Jules-Anthony Vilsaint up top.

Toronto was missing the suspended Alonso Coello and injured Dominguez, Nicksoen Gomis, Henry Wingo and Zane Monlouis.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 18, 2025.