Toronto FC fell to the visiting Sporting Kansas City 1-3 on Saturday evening, courtesy of second-half goals from Rémi Walter, Jake Davis and Alenis Vargas before Jonathan Osorio pulled one back for the Reds late in stoppage time.
First Half:
Facing Sporting Kansas City for the first time in five MLS seasons, Toronto FC’s defensive resolve was put to the test through the opening 45 minutes of action. Luka Gavran, making his fourth start of the 2024 season, was called into action on multiple occasions and made five crucial saves in the first half to keep the visitors at bay.
Down the other end, the Reds fashioned chances of their own to score the opener in front of the BMO Field faithful. In the 10th minute, Federico Bernardeschi forced goalkeeper Tim Melia into an important save after a neat one-two with Prince Owusu, before Matty Longstaff missed the target with his effort from the rebound. With seven minutes left to play in the opening half, Longstaff, Bernardeschi and Jonathan Osorio linked up with a neat passing sequence, which resulted in the club captain putting the ball in the back of the net only for the celebrations to be cut short by the linesman’s offside flag.
With both sides failing to make the breakthrough, the two sides went into the half-time interval level at zero.
Second Half:
The visitors raced into a two-goal lead within the opening 20 minutes of the second half, when Rémi Walter and Jake Davis scored from long-range efforts in the 57th and 64th minute of play. Sporting added another when Alenis Vargas scored from an individual effort in the 83rd minute to extend the visitors’ lead to three. Late into stoppage time, Jonathan Osorio scored a consolation goal to make it 1-3 on the night when he slotted home from a whipped cross from Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty in the 97th minute. The goal, Osorio’s first as club captain and Marshall-Rutty’s first assist of the 2024 MLS campaign, extended the Reds’ scoring streak at BMO Field in 2024 to three but wasn’t enough, however, to prevent the Reds losing at home for the first time this season.
Up next, the Reds hit the road to face Canadian rival Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Saturday, April 6, with kick-off set for 7:30 p.m. ET (4:30 p.m. PT) at BC Place.
LINEUPS
TORONTO FC – Luka Gavran; Shane O’Neill, Kevin Long, Sigurd Rosted (Kosi Thompson 68’); Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, Alonso Coello (Deybi Flores 59’), Matty Longstaff (Deandre Kerr 68’), Tyrese Spicer; Federico Bernardeschi, Jonathan Osorio (C), Prince Owusu (Ayo Akinola 86’)
Substitutes Not Used: Greg Ranjitsingh, Aimé Mabika, Kobe Franklin, Cassius Mailula, Jordan Perruzza
SPORTING KANSAS CITY – Tim Melia; Jake Davis, Daniel Rosero, Robert Voloder, Tim Leibold; Rémi Walter, Nemanja Radoja, Memo Rodriguez (Felipe Hernández 78’); Erik Thommy (Stephen Afrifa 90+6’), Dániel Sallói (C), William Agada (Alenis Vargas 78’)
Substitutes Not Used: John Pulskamp, Robert Castellanos, Zorhan Bassong, Kayden Pierre, Marinos Tzionis
NOTABLES:
- Shane O’Neill made his 50th appearance for Toronto FC across all competitions, becoming the seventh current TFC player (Jonathan Osorio, Richie Laryea, Ayo Akinola, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, Deandre Kerr and Federico Bernardeschi) to reach the milestone.
- Federico Bernardeschi made his 50th MLS appearance for Toronto FC.
- Jonathan Osorio scored his first goal of the 2024 MLS season and his first as club captain.
- With his goal in the 97th minute, Jonathan Osorio has now scored in each of his twelve seasons with Toronto FC (2013 – 2024), extending an all-time Toronto FC club record.
- Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty recorded his first assist of the 2024 MLS campaign.
- Toronto FC’s 10 points (3-2-1) from the opening six matches marks the club’s joint-third best start in club history (13 points in 2019; 12 points in 2020; 10 points in 2008).
POSTMATCH SOUND
- Link can be found **HERE**
