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

TORONTO — Djordje Mihailovic scored twice as Toronto FC closed out its Major League Soccer season on a winning note Saturday, defeating Orlando City SC 4-2.

Captain Jonathan Osorio and Deandre Kerr also scored for Toronto (6-14-14), whose previous season-high output was three goals. TFC came into the game 29th in the league on offence, having scored 33 goals in its 33 previous games.

The victory, Toronto’s first since July 16, snapped an 11-game winless run (0-3-8). And it 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.

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

Orlando outshot Toronto 31-12 (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 shots.

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

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 Columbus win, dropped Orlando into the wild-card game.

Toronto coach Robin 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.

Orlando was coming off a 2-1 loss to visiting Vancouver last Saturday thanks to a 97th-minute goal by Thomas Mueller and had won just one of its last six league outings (1-2-3).

Offence has been the problem for Toronto in recent weeks, having conceded just 10 goals in its previous nine games (0-1-8). But Toronto only scored eight goals over those nine games.

TFC came into the season finale tied for eighth in the league on defence, conceding an average of 1.27 goals a game, and 29th on offence, averaging one goal per outing.

While unbeaten at home (1-0-5) since May 31, TFC went into the game with a miserable 2-7-7 record at home, having not 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. TFC came into the game with a124-99-88 record all-time in regular-season play.

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.

Orlando was without a pair of starters in the injured defender Robin Jansson and midfielder Wilder Cartagena while midfielder César Araújo, questionable with a lower back issue, started on the bench.

Orlando came into the game with an 8-1-1 record against Toronto under coach Oscar Pareja and hadn’t lost at BMO Field since May 2018.

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

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press