TORONTO — Four games into the Toronto FC season and coach Robin Fraser is still waiting for his first win. But he sees light at the end of the tunnel.
"I'm more excited about this team right now than I have been, given the numbers of setbacks we've had," Fraser said when asked to assess Saturday's 2-1 loss to the Chicago Fire in Toronto's home opener.
"When the group, in my opinion, is really focused and diligent in terms of what's being asked, we saw some really good things," he added. "And it's very disappointing to have played as well as we did in spurts and then to not come out with a result."
The latest setbacks included losing Norwegian striker Ola Brynhildsen during the warm-up Saturday and seeing veteran defender Kevin Long limp off in first-half stoppage time.
Toronto (0-3-1) was already missing injured defenders Richie Laryea, Henry Wingo and Sigurd Rosted. Raoul Petretta was listed as questionable on the bench.
Fraser will lose captain Jonathan Osorio and midfielder Deybi Flores to international duty this week with Canada and Honduras, respectively. Both will miss next Saturday's road game at the New York Red Bulls.
Goals by Andrew Gutman and Hugo Cuypers lifted the Chicago (2-1-1) to the comeback win before an announced crowd of 22,738.
Toronto started well and Kerr gave the home side its first lead of the season when he rose majestically to head home a Federico Bernardeschi cross. Kerr was a late addition to the lineup due to Brynhildsen's adductor/groin injury.
Chicago's Jonathan Dean was injured on the play, falling awkwardly, and did not return.
Things went south for Toronto after the goal.
The visitors pulled even in the 30th minute when Bernardeschi — trying to dribble past a third Chicago player — was dispossessed by Jonathan Bamba in his own end and Gutman, with the Toronto defence backing off, beat Sean Johnson with a powerful shot.
After Johnson made a diving save to stop a free kick, Cuypers put Chicago ahead in the 44th minute. The Belgian designated player scored his fourth goal in the last three games, driving though the Toronto penalty box and beating Johnson after the TFC defence was cut open.
Long, injured in an earlier collision, gave way to 18-year-old Canadian youth international Lazar Stefanovic when he came off.
Cuypers beat Kosi Thompson to the ball off a corner in the 71st minute to make it 3-1 with a header, at least temporarily. Johnson protested he had been fouled and referee Allen Chapman agreed after reviewing the play on the pitchside monitor.
Chicago outshot Toronto 11-5 (4-2 in shots on target).
Chicago was coming off a dramatic 3-1 win at FC Dallas after drawing visiting D.C. United 2-2 and losing 4-2 at Columbus. The Dallas game marked the first time in franchise history Chicago scored at least three goals after the 80th minute in a come-from-behind road victory.
Toronto lost 2-0 at FC Cincinnati last time out, following a 4-2 defeat at Orlando City and 2-2 draw at D.C. United.
It all adds up to five goals scored and 10 conceded.
TFC's XG (expected goals) was 0.5 compared to 1.6 for Chicago. TFC's XG in Cincinnati and Orlando was 0.4 for both games.
Prior to the Brynhildsen injury, Fraser made one change to his starting 11 with Alonso Coello, making his 50th MLS appearance, coming in for Flores.
Once again, there was no place for out-of-favour Italian star Lorenzo Insigne in TFC's matchday squad. Insigne's name drew some boos when the entire roster was announced before kickoff. And there were more boos for the U.S. anthem.
The Fire were without injured captain Kellyn Acosta, Chase Gasper, Dylan Borso, David Poreba and Carlos Teran while Chris Mueller, whose wife just had a baby, was also unavailable. Dylan Borso and Romingue Kouame, listed as questionable, did not dress.
TFC is now 14-13-13 all-time against Chicago in regular-season play — and winless in the six meetings (0-4-2) since a May 2022 home win over the Fire.
Toronto is 9-7-3 in its 19 MLS home openers to date.
BMO Field looked a little different, in the midst of renovations ahead of the 2026 World Cup. With new video screens planned for each corner, a temporary video screen was stationed at the north end.
Atop the south stand sat an 11-foot, 800-pound statue of a hawk, named the Guardian. The hawk has been part of the club's story since its inception, with a live hawk initially brought in to scare off seagulls.
Now the hawk, which was enveloped in smoke during the pre-game ceremonies, has become part of a new club slogan "Hunt for Glory."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 15, 2025.
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
