By Canadian Press

Osorio scores late goal to lift Toronto FC into a 2-2 tie at D.C. United

May 21, 2022 | 8:15 PM

WASHINGTON — Substitute Jonathan Osorio scored in the 89th minute to lift Toronto FC into a 2-2 draw with D.C. United in Major League Soccer play Saturday, snapping TFC’s five-game losing streak.

Bill Hamid stopped substitute Jordan Perruzza’s hard shot but could not hang on and a falling Osorio poked the rebound in.

Osorio, who had missed the three previous games with a leg injury, came in off the bench in the 62nd minute. He was lucky to stay on the field after a poorly timed challenge on Steven Birnbaum, escaping only with a yellow.

D.C. seemed headed to victory after Ecuador forward Michael Estrada scored one goal and set up another until Osorio stepped up with his 51st career goal for TFC.

Ayo Akinola, making his first club start since last July after knee surgery, also scored for Toronto in what turned into an entertaining, end-to-end game on a steamy day at Audi Field.

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Kickoff was pushed back 2 1/2 hours to 6:30 p.m. local time, with the area facing weekend heat expected to exceed mid-July levels. 

It was 33 degrees Celsius, feeling like 35, at the original kickoff time. The temperature had dropped slightly to 31 C, feeling like 32, when the game actually started.

Missing the injured Alejandro Pozuelo, Chris Mavinga, Kadin Chung, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, Noble Okello. and Jacob Shaffelburg, Toronto’s starting 11 featured seven Canadians including four 19-year-olds.

D.C. was quicker out of the starting blocks and went ahead in the seventh minute on an Edison Flores goal. Toronto lost the ball in midfield and, five passes later, Estrada found the Peruvian designated player between a pair of Toronto defenders for a simple tap-in through goalkeeper Alex Bono’s legs for his first of the season.

It marked the fifth goal Toronto has conceded in the first 15 minutes of a game this season, worst in the league.

Toronto began to claw its way back into the match and Akinola celebrated his return by roofing a hard right-footed shot past Hamid in the 36th minute.

D.C.’s Jose Alfaro lost the ball trying to dribble out of defence and Michael Bradley slipped it to Jesus Jimenez, who found Akinola alone to his right for Toronto’s first goal in four games, snapping a 331-minute goalless drought.

D.C. went ahead in the 56th minute when a long-range pass found Fountas steaming toward goal. He chested the ball down and poked it past an onrushing Bono. The ball squibbed past the ‘keeper for Estrada to tap in for his fourth of the campaign.

The home side continued to surge after the go-ahead goal with Bono kept busy,

Toronto (3-7-3) arrived having lost to New York City FC, FC Cincinnati (twice), Vancouver and Orlando City after going unbeaten for four games (3-0-1). Its last win was April 16, a 2-1 decision over the visiting Philadelphia Union.

D.C. (4-6-2) was coming off a 2-0 mid-week loss to NYCFC, was winless in three (0-2-1) in all competitions and had lost six of its last nine matches (2-6-1) including a 2-1 defeat at BMO Field on March 19. 

Toronto has not won on the road since July 24, 2021, when it downed the Chicago Fire 2-1 at Soldier Field. It has gone 0-10-5 since away from home, taking five of a possible 45 league points on the road. TFC is 0-5-2 away from home this season. 

Toronto has now gone 21 league games without a shutout, with the last clean sheet coming Sept. 25 in a 0-0 draw at Colorado. 

The home side wasted little time turning up the pressure and threatened early with a Birnbaum header going high off a fourth-minute corner. A Flores shot was deflected wide two minutes later.

Greek forward Taxi Fountas almost found a lunging Flores at the far post in the 20th minute.

Jimenez had a chance for Toronto in the 27th minute but his shot went right at goalkeeper Bill Hamid.

A poor Bono clearance in first-half stoppage time almost led to a second D.C. goal but Fountas’ quick shot went straight at the Toronto ‘keeper. Estrada then hit the goalpost on a play flagged offside. An onrushing Julian Gressel had a great chance for D.C. in the 51st but could not keep his reflex shot down with an empty net in front of him. Three minutes later, Ralph Priso forced a save off Hamid at the other end.

Fountas then hooked a shot high in the 60th.

Toronto coach Bob Bradley made one change to his starting lineup with Akinola, who saw 45 minutes action off the bench against Orlando, making his first start since undergoing knee surgery last August after being injured on duty with Canada at the Gold Cup. 

Akinola, whose last club start was July 7, replaced Perruzza in the starting lineup.

Mehdi Essoussi, a 21-year-old Toronto FC II midfielder who signed a short-term loan agreement earlier in the day, was also among the substitutes.

D.C. was missing Adrien Perez, Moses Nyeman, Chris Odoi-Atsem, Andy Najar, Gaoussou Samake and Russell Canouse.

Toronto heads east to play HFX Wanderers in Canadian Championship quarterfinal play on Tuesday before returning home to host Chicago next Saturday.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 21, 2022

The Canadian Press