Toronto FC (7W-7L-2T, 23 points) earned a valuable road point after a goalless draw against Philadelphia Union (4W-4L-7T, 19 points) at Subaru Park on Wednesday evening.
First Half:
Toronto FC made five changes from the weekend’s starting eleven against FC Cincinnati with Kevin Long, Federico Bernardeschi, Alonso Coello, Derrick Etienne Jr. and Deandre Kerr coming in for Tyrese Spicer, Deybi Flores, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, Lorenzo Insigne and Prince Owusu.
The two sides played out an entertaining goalless first half in Chester, Pennsylvania, despite the visitors fashioning multiple goalscoring opportunities to take the lead. In the 27th minute, a swift TFC attack involving Federico Bernardeschi, Jonathan Osorio and Alonso Coello, culminated with the Italian setting up Derrick Etienne Jr., whose shot from close-range forced goalkeeper Oliver Semmle into a low diving save.
Fifteen minutes later, the hosts were spared the blushes following a giveaway in their own half, when Bernardeschi’s side-footed effort from Osorio’s square pass in the box skimmed the crossbar and blazed over, keeping the two sides level going into the half-time break.
Second Half:
Philadelphia Union came out of the troops on the front foot, attempting six shots within the opening 12 minutes of the second half. The Union’s best chance came when captain Alejandro Bedoya’s back-post header from Kai Wagner’s cross forced Toronto’s Sean Johnson into an important reflex save in the 51st minute.
Looking to make their attacking passages of play count, the Reds carved out a dangerous opportunity in the 82nd minute when substitute Jahkeele Marshall’s clever overlapping run was picked out by Bernardeschi, before the Canadian’s shot on target drew Semmle into his third and final save of the night.
With both sides unable to break the Wednesday night deadlock, the two Eastern Conference sides settled for a point apiece, marking the Reds’ first road point in Philadelphia since March 2019. Notably, Sean Johnson recorded his tenth clean sheet for Toronto FC and became the fourth MLS goalkeeper to record 100 regular season clean sheets in league history.
Toronto FC continue their American Northeast road trip with a visit to D.C. United on Saturday, June 1. Kick-off from Audi Field in Washington, D.C. is set for 7:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast globally on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
LINEUPS
PHILADELPHIA UNION – Oliver Semmle; Nathan Harriel, Jakob Glesnes, Jack Elliott, Kai Wagner; Leon Flach, Alejandro Bedoya (C) (Chris Donovan 78’), Jack McGlynn (José Andrés MartÃnez 78’), Dániel Gazdag; Quinn Sullivan, Mikael Uhre (Tai Baribo 78’)
Substitutes Not Used: Andrew Rick, Olivier Mbaizo, Damion Lowe, Jeremy Rafanello, Jesús Bueno, Markus Anderson
TORONTO FC – Sean Johnson; Sigurd Rosted, Kevin Long, Nicksoen Gomis; Federico Bernardeschi (Tyrese Spicer 86’), Matty Longstaff, Alonso Coello (Kosi Thompson 85’), Jonathan Osorio (C) Raoul Petretta; Derrick Etienne Jr. (Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty 79’), Deandre Kerr (Deybi Flores 67’)
Substitutes Not Used: Luka Gavran, Aimé Mabika, Kobe Franklin, Cassius Mailula, Charlie Sharp
NOTABLES:
- Toronto FC kept their sixth Major League Soccer clean sheet and their eighth across all competitions of the 2024 campaign.
- With tonight’s shutout, Sean Johnson becomes the fourth MLS goalkeeper to record 100 regular season clean sheets, joining Nick Rimando (154), Kevin Hartman (112) and Stefan Frei (108).
- Sean Johnson also recorded his tenth clean sheet for Toronto FC, moving into fifth on the club’s all-time clean sheet list alongside Miloš Kocić.
- The Reds recorded a road point against Philadelphia Union for the first time since a 3-1 win at Talen Energy Stadium on March 2, 2019.
