Toronto FC (4) - Orlando City SC (2) Postgame Summary
MLS Toronto FC

Toronto FC (4) - Orlando City SC (2) Postgame Summary

Published on October 18, 2025 under Major League Soccer (MLS)
Toronto FC News Release


SCORING SUMMARY

TOR - Jonathan Osorio 7' (José Cifuentes)

TOR - Djordje Mihailovic 34'

TOR - Djordje Mihailovic 48' (Theo Corbeanu)

ORL - David Brekalo 54' (Marco Pašalić)

TOR - Deandre Kerr 61' (Derrick Etienne Jr., Djordje Mihailovic)

ORL - Duncan McGuire 90+2' (Alex Freeman)

MISCONDUCT SUMMARY ‚

ORL - Adrián Marín 32' (caution)

TOR - Derrick Etienne Jr. 46' (caution) ‚

TOR - Theo Corbeanu 49' (caution)

TOR - Richie Laryea 56' (caution)

TOR - Malik Henry 90' (caution)

ORL - Duncan McGuire 90+5' (caution)

RECORDS (W-L-T)

Toronto FC 6-14-14 32 points

Orlando City SC 14-9-11 53 points

LINEUPS

TORONTO FC - Sean Johnson; Kobe Franklin (Raoul Petretta 62'), Sigurd Rosted (Lazar Stefanovic 85', Kosi Thompson, Richie Laryea; José Cifuentes, Jonathan Osorio (C), Theo Corbeanu (Markus Cimermancic 84'), Djordje Mihailovic, Derrick Etienne Jr. (Malik Henry 70'); Deandre Kerr (Jules-Anthony Vilsaint 62')

Substitutes Not Used: Adisa De Rosario, Luka Gavran, Nathaniel Edwards

ORLANDO CITY SC - Pedro Gallese (C) ; Alex Freeman, Rodrigo Schlegel, David Brekalo, Adrián Marín (Tyrese Spicer 46'); Marco Pašalić (Luis Muriel 63'), Kyle Smith (Dagur Thorhallsson 78'), Eduard Atuesta (Colin Guske 87'), Iván Angulo (César Araújo 62'); Duncan McGuire, Martín Ojeda

Substitutes Not Used: Javier Otero, Thomas Williams, Nicolás Rodríguez, Zakaria Taifi

MEDIA NOTES

Djordje Mihailovic scored his first brace for Toronto FC, which included his first direct free-kick goal for the Reds.

Djordje Mihailovic recorded three goal contributions (2 goals, 1 assist) in a single match for the first time in his TFC career.

With his assist on Deandre Kerr's 61 st minute goal, Mihailovic has now recorded a joint-team-leading eight goal contributions (4 goals, 4 assists) since joining the club.

With his 20 th career goal for Toronto FC, Deandre Kerr moves into eighth on the club's all-time goalscorers list.

José Cifuentes registered his first assist for the Reds.

With his first of eight saves against Orlando City SC this evening, Sean Johnson became the fifth goalkeeper in Major League Soccer 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).

Sean Johnson recorded a season-high eight saves for Toronto FC.

MEDIA ASSETS

Media assets including match photos and post-match press conference from Head Coach Robin Fraser and midfielder Djordje Mihailovic are available HERE.

ROBIN FRASER - HEAD COACH, TORONTO FC

Q: Your team finally got its reward, and I'm sure you must've enjoyed the way they got it. They put their bodies on the line.

They did what they've been doing for really the whole second half of the year differences. They rewarded themselves by being more clinical in the final third. And I'm so happy for them because this is the reward that they have been, that has been so elusive for them because they've played well. They've been in every single game for months and months now. When we lost against LAFC last week, it was the first time we'd lost since I think July 26 or something along those lines. So, it was a long stretch of playing really well, but not feeling the reward of it because you play really well and you come out and you get a draw, you get one point, you don't really move up the standings. It's hard. It's hard to keep that drive going. And they've done an incredible job. I really think so. I mean, we've been eliminated now for, I don't know, four or five weeks and they still show up and play hard every single day. And to be honest, that's the thing that I've really enjoyed about this team is that they're so accountable to each other. They don't seem to want to let each other down and to take great pride in working for each other. So, to end the season this way, 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 and elated.

Q: How important was this? Not only just this win, but this performance for each other? Considering everything that's happened at this point.

I almost don't like to think of it that way because what if it didn't go this way? You know what I mean? But you're right, it's a really important win and performance for us at home. The fans here, they've experienced really dark days until 2015, and they've experienced unbelievable highs up to 2019, 2020, and they've suffered for a number of years. So, for us to end the season the way we did, which I thought was really three months of pretty good performances, two, three months, I'm not sure of pretty good performances. But to cap it off at home with a win like this, a really convincing performance, some of the buildup play was fantastic. The goals were really good, and in the end, Orlando's a very, very good team. So, we had to dig and fight and hang on and at the end. And so, you see so many different aspects of the team from good play with the ball, good execution, the final third to having to dig in and fight and hold onto the lead. I think the team showed a lot of its character tonight in all these different facets of the game. And for them to get a win at home in front of the crowd, in front of the home crowd, an emphatic win. If you look at the scoreboard, I'm so happy for them.

Q: Were there any special words from you before this one?

I knew we had this fan appreciation thing afterwards and we just talked. I said, this is weird for me to talk about before the game, but I just wanted to thank them for their commitment and their effort throughout the year and their work and diligence to get to where we are now. And I'm not talking about in the standings, I'm talking about where we are as a team. To have one loss in the last 10 games of the season I think is a really, really big statement in terms of where we are headed. I think so. And it's a great last memory for our fans to have when they leave tonight and increases the expectations for when we come back together next year, which is exactly the way it should be. The expectations should be higher. Where we finished this year is certainly not where we intend to finish again after this. And we've built so much of our culture this year about hard work and accountability and respect for each other. And it's shown in the last couple of months. And so, to finish this way, the expectations should be higher next year. Our expectations are higher next year, but it all starts with a foundation that we've built this year.

Q: How would you rate Djordje [Mihailovic] performance today?

Two goals and an assist pretty damn good. We've seen, I think that's three goals in the last three games of the season or something along those lines. Chicago, a number of assists. And you see, the thing I really enjoy about it is I think Djordje's been fantastic. He's come in, he's not put himself above anyone else. He's not that type of person. He wants to work hard. He sees himself as another guy on the team. He knows he has some abilities, some special abilities, but I don't think he's wanting to come in here and act like he's the man. And I really respect that because rather than act that way, he goes on the field and shows why he is who he is, why we've paid for him, what we have, and still is such a great teammate. But in these critical moments, you see how good he can be. And I think for the first DP [Designated Player] in this new era, new eras we've moved on from the previous DP's that we've had as the first DP in this area, in this era, I think the way he's himself with the team, absolutely fantastic and what he's done on the field and slowly starting to push others. And really, we've seen over the last couple of weeks him starting to really express himself. He's been the perfect pickup for us. And certainly, as we continue to add pieces and build pieces, I think we'll just see more and more out of Djordje.

Q: We've talked about the Sean [Johnson] and the improvement in the defense in recent months, but tonight I think there were 12 blocked shots of the 31 that Orlando took. What did you think of the effort of the back line?

Fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. And as I alluded to earlier, this is what I love about this team and what I have grown to love about this team is that they're so committed to doing whatever it takes. And I think at times throughout the season, the second half of the season, our timing and certain things haven't worked out in the attack, but even the attackers have been completely committed to the defending. And you look what the defending group has done and what Sean and Luka [Gavran] have done, it's a great group to be a part of. I really enjoy this group because they play with such commitment. And that was on full display tonight, that one series in the first half that must've been, I don't know, like eight shots with five blocks and two saves, and it was insane. But that's for me, I hope that this is a culture that we have built, that it's a never say die, do anything, throw your body on the line, and this needs to carry over into next year.

Q: Do you hope you can have a really great year next year and obviously it's a special year for the city with the World Cup coming here as well?

Yeah, it would be really fantastic. And we feel like we knew this year was going to be a challenge. We knew there were a lot of things going on with the team, and probably the most important thing was to get certain things in place, get the culture in the right place, get the feeling on the team that they have real accountability to each other. I feel like we have done a good job of creating that culture. We come in next year and if we kick on from here and if we're better in the first game next year than we were tonight, then we're on the way of where we want to be. And I think it's really important with the World Cup coming here. I mean, soccer is just going to be in the spotlight, in the spotlight like it's never been before. In Toronto, in Canada, in Toronto, obviously the World Cup was in the US three decades ago, but for Canada and for Toronto, this is a really cool and exciting thing. And we hope that by the time the World Cup comes around next year, this place is used to being full and used to cheering and used to being excited based on our performances leading into that.

Q: You mentioned about just the team being more clinical tonight. Was there anything else that was the difference compared to this game to previous where it just wasn't falling for you guys?

I would say that's the biggest thing. I mean, we've talked about, and listen, I'm not taking credit for what they did tonight in front of the goal. This was about the guys being really dialed in, really, really dialed in. I mean, think about how the game started, Richie [Laryea] put them on the back foot right away. And as we started to drive forward, we looked different. Tonight, we looked more confident. Whereas I feel like in the past we've defended, well, we've had some moments in transition. We haven't been quite as clinical or had the drive. Not to say the drive, that's maybe not fair, but the determination to get something out of it is something that we've talked about needing to see more. And I thought tonight, almost every time we broke, we looked like we were going to be very dangerous. And I would say that sporadically over the last three months, we've seen that, but not consistently. And I felt a different feeling tonight. It's almost like every time we broke through the first line, or we broke out of the midfield heading into the back line, it felt like it was going to be very dangerous. And it really comes down to, again, being clinical, being precise, but more than anything else, being determined. And I look at some of the goals that we scored tonight, and it was pretty much a combination of all of that.

Q: What was the fabric of the team like that you inherited from a distance? It seemed like not everybody was pulling in the right same direction, so to speak.

I talk about PTSD and when you have had many years of sporadic success or not as much success, especially coming off the heels of '15 through '19, '20 here, I think the off seems even more precipitous if you're coming from a really high point. And I feel like there's been a number of years here where the team hasn't, they've endured quite a bit of, it's been tumultuous, shall I say, for a number of years. And when we came in, our feeling was we can't control results. You can control how the team approaches things. You can control to some extent or at least try to create a certain mentality within the team. And if you do more things right than wrong, then you get more points than you don't. And I felt like the biggest thing for me this year was to really try to get the team to be on the same page and to have the same goals. And it's selflessness. For me, it's selflessness. And not to say it was selfish before, but I do think that if you don't have success, then you kind of turn inward and then you're worried about yourself and that sort of thing. And that's one of the things I really wanted to make sure this team felt like the most important thing is what we do as a group and how we move forward as a team. And I'm sure anybody watching is going, why are you talking about being proud? You're not in the playoffs, blah, blah, blah. I'm really, really proud because this group came together and trusted each other and were accountable to each other. And the last two or three months of the season, we've just seen progress every day. And not till a day like today would Joe Publix see, oh, there is progress, but we've seen progress every day. And this to have a win like this, I think is really important because it validates everything that they've done to this point. It validates why we train as hard as we do, why we demand as much of them as we do, and when they execute, they get these sorts of results. So, I think it was really important for validation.

Q: You're talking about what's next for the club and everything else, and can you tell me where the club is going next? 14 of the players on the roster are ending their contracts on the 31st of December. Obviously 11 of them can renew the contract, but what do you want the culture of the club to be, especially with the players?

We want the culture of the club to continue. We want what we've built this year to continue. This is the business. Some people will go, some new players will come in, and it doesn't take away from anything that anyone has done this year. I'm really, really proud to be with this group and every single player in there has given everything we've asked. And as a coach you can't ask for more than that. But as a club, certainly the desire is to continue to kick on and get better and better. And the way that occurs is we certainly try to find more and more players that we think can get us in that direction. But one of the big things is their character has to be right, because I would say the character of this group is unbelievable and anything else, if you sit still, then you're falling behind. So, we have to continue to look to make improvements and it's very, very, very difficult to part ways with any of these guys, but as a club, we have to continue to try to get better and try to move forward. Like I said, I think if you stand still, then if you're stagnant, then you're going the wrong direction. Unfortunately, it's part of the business and we thank everyone here for everything they did this year and as a club. I think there will be, we will continue to be trying to pursue more and more in order to get better and better.

DJORDJE MIHAILOVIC - MIDFIELDER, TORONTO FC

Q: Given the run of one draw after another, how good did that feel today?

Yeah, good. I think there's a lot of beauty in drawing eight in a row. It kind of shows what the feeling I had when I first joined the type of team. Yes, the attack needed work. I'm glad it showed tonight. Not all the goals come, but over the course of the 10 games that I've been here, it's shown that we're a very difficult team to play against.

Q: Robin was saying how proud he was of the group in the locker room and how much he's enjoyed being with them. Was that your take on your colleagues too?

Yeah, yeah. I think you didn't need to motivate this group that much tonight to do what we did. It comes naturally every day in training that I've been here. It's a battle every day. It's a mental and physical grind and that's only good for building a winning team. Like I was saying about drawing eight in a row, you don't win a championship without defending well, and over the course of the time so far that I've been here, we allow one goal in Philly against the Supporters' Shield winners. So that's a big positive. We allow one goal against Miami with the best player in the world. That's a positive. So in 10 games here, there's so many positives for us to look forward to next year.

Q: What was the difference tonight in terms of getting over the hump and rewarding yourself with three points as opposed to the previous nine games?

Tonight you saw a lot of enjoyment and freedom and maybe that's because there's not another game. It's one last game for a very long time and at home in front of our fans and maybe there's a bit of nerves let off there, which could be good. But yeah, you see a lot of potential and a lot of so many talented players on this team. We'll see what the roster looks like next year, I'm not sure, but you see that there's so much talent in here that has goals in them. DK [Deandre Kerr], happy for him to get a goal. It's important for him to take that into next season.

Q: Was there much of an argument between you and Oso [Jonathan Osorio] to take the free kick?

No. No.

Q: How much do you think tonight's performance was something that's going to carry into next year?

Look, the five years in a row without playoffs is, it's not good. It's going to take a long time of consistent performances like tonight to get the fans behind us again like they were 10 years ago. It's going to take time and it's not going to be perfect next year. I'm not going to sit here and say every game's going to be a four two win or four, three win, but the mentality that was shown and tonight we rewarded ourselves and the only thing you can ask for from a team is to have each other's backs and work for the full game. And that's what we're doing right now. And I think it's such a good baseline for next year. And you get a few more pieces in the attack and who knows what's going to happen. And what did that moment feel like at the end of the game with the farms and celebrating altogether? That was good. That was good. I wish there was less added time. I was bit tired, but it was good. It's something that the fans were not going to see each other for three months. I was thinking, you don't want to leave three months and the last game is a loss. And it's important that we end on a win just to give the fans a good feeling and hopefully they're hopeful for the start of next season.

Q: Is there great praise from the team as well? Can you tell me what it felt like for you?

Yeah, it was good. I got to see what's wrong with [Pedro] Gallese because those aren't good finishes, but I'll take it. Yeah, the free kick I was discussing with Oso [Jonathan Osorio], maybe something a little trick play. But yeah, put the ball in frame. You never know what's going to happen.

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