Toronto FC's season-long comeback falls short of playoffs

Sunday, Nov. 1 will go down in Toronto FC history as the night the lights went out in Georgia. 

Facing a must-win situation, TFC suffered a 3-1 road loss to Atlanta United FC at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, officially eliminating them from playoff contention and extending their drought to six years.  

Toronto (9-12-12) sits in 12th place in the Eastern Conference going into this weekend’s regular-season finale, four points below the playoff line with no hope of catching up.  

Toronto’s reputation as a comeback specialist this season is well earned, having scored in the 80th minute and beyond in 11 separate games to pick up an extra 18 points (46 per cent of its 39-point total). Those late comebacks kept TFC in the thick of the playoff race over the final stretch of the MLS campaign. 

Resilience is a wonderful character trait for any team, but you can only rely on it for so long. Eventually, the well runs dry. Sunday proved TFC had tapped their reservoir one too many times, with no way back from a 3-0 deficit after 51 minutes. 

“You could see it in many games this season; we wouldn't give up and there's a lot of games that we came back to win. A lot of games that we came back to salvage a point,” captain Jonathan Osorio said. 

“I think at least you can see in this group that we kept fighting till the end. But unfortunately, when you look at the overall picture, we dug ourselves too deep of a hole to get out of at the end of the season.” 

Midway through the first half, Atlanta’s Aleksei Miranchuk nutmegged TFC defender Nicksoen Gomis on a lovely give-and-go with Miguel Almirón, who stabbed his shot through the legs of goalkeeper Luka Gavran to open the scoring.   

Atlanta doubled its advantage late in the half when Giuliano Galoppo played a ball from inside his half that released Almirón down the left wing. The Paraguayan played a cutback pass to Cooper Sanchez, who took full advantage of the TFC defenders' slow reaction to his late run into the box, where he stroked the ball into the bottom right corner.   

Early in the second half, Almirón’s shot from distance struck the far post, and Miranchuk was quickest to the ball, scoring on the rebound from the middle of the box past a helpless Gavran.  

"When you go down [and] give up a goal, that changes the game. And [when] you give up two goals, it completely changes the game. And then to come out in the second half and give them another one up, at that point, you're just throwing the kitchen sink [at them] and trying to get something," Toronto coach Robin Fraser offered. 

“And in that case, you're going to expose yourself. But I do think that maybe the story is giving up relatively soft goals early, and how much that changes the game.” 

Fraser’s use of the word “soft” was an appropriate descriptor, as TFC have conceded 63 goals this year — 19 more than they coughed up in 2025. Toronto’s back line has been easily penetrable all season, recording just four clean sheets through 33 games, and it was their Achilles' heel once again in Atlanta. 

TFC won just three of 14 games before the summer break for the FIFA World Cup and struggled to get out of the bottom half of the Eastern Conference table. After the World Cup, they picked up twice as many wins in 16 matches and climbed to within breathing distance of the playoff line in the East in recent weeks.   

But the gap was too great to overcome. Unfortunately for TFC, resolve alone isn’t enough, even though it helped them to play “well enough to be a playoff team,” according to Fraser.   

"It felt like everything has been a must-win for the last probably 15 games, even more. ... I think we are better than what we showed at times. I just think too many [poor] first halves got us this year," Fraser said.  

Elsewhere in MLS this past weekend 

• What a week it was for the Vancouver Whitecaps, who rolled to a 5-1 home win over the Seattle Sounders on Sunday. Four days earlier, Vancouver hammered San Diego FC 4-1 at home. The Whitecaps clinched first place in the Western Conference, which guarantees home-field advantage in the playoffs on their side of the bracket. Vancouver can make it three wins in a row when it visits CF Montreal this weekend. 

• The end of the season can’t come soon enough for Montreal, who extended their winless run to six games following a 1-1 road draw vs. New York City FC on Saturday. Montreal will finish bottom in the Eastern Conference and can still be overtaken by Sporting Kansas City to finish last overall with a home loss to the Whitecaps on Saturday. 

• Nashville SC inched closer towards setting a new record for the most points in an MLS season with an epic 3-2 home win over the New York Red Bulls on Sunday. Nashville scored three unanswered goals after trailing 2-0, including Sam Surridge’s injury-time winner, to hit 74 points (tying Inter Miami, 2024). Nashville can eclipse Miami’s mark with a win or draw away to FC Cincinnati this weekend. 

• It was another masterclass display from Lionel Messi in Sunday’s 2-1 road win over the New England Revolution. The World Cup winner collected an assist and scored the game-winner as Miami remained in second place in the East, while also clinching a berth in the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup. Messi now has a league-high 26 goals and 16 assists and is a lock to win his third consecutive league MVP award.

• The final three playoff berths in the Western Conference remain up for grabs between six teams going into the final week. The LA Galaxy and Portland Timbers are in pole position to finish seventh and eighth in the West after both posted important home wins over conference rivals. The Colorado Rapids are clinging to the ninth and final playoff spot, just ahead of the Seattle Sounders, Real Salt Lake and Minnesota United FC. 

• FC Cincinnati, the Columbus Crew and Orlando City FC claimed the final three playoff spots in the East, punching their tickets for the post-season in different ways. Cincinnati and Columbus both recorded home wins to secure their playoff berths, while Orlando had to wait until Sunday to see how other results panned out after an embarrassing 4-0 road loss to Charlotte FC the previous day.