WASHINGTON — Substitute Jonathan Osorio scored in the 89th minute to lift Toronto FC to a 2-2 draw with DC United on Saturday in Major League Soccer, snapping TFC’s five-game losing streak.
Bill Hamid stopped substitute Jordan Perruzza’s hard shot, but couldn’t hang on and a falling Osorio got the rebound.
Osorio, who had missed the previous three games with a leg injury, came off the bench in the 62nd minute. He was lucky to stay on the field after a poorly timed challenge on Steven Birnbaum, only escaping with a yellow card.
DC seemed headed for victory after Ecuador forward Michael Estrada scored one goal and assisted another until Osorio stepped up with his 51st career goal for TFC.
Ayo Akinola, making his first club start since last July following knee surgery, also scored for Toronto in what turned out to be an entertaining end-to-end game on a hot day at Audi Field.
The start was delayed 2 1/2 hours to 6:30 pm 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 start time. The temperature had dropped slightly to 31 C, feeling like 32, when the game actually started.
Missing are 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.
DC came out of the starting blocks quicker and took the lead in the seventh minute on a goal by Edison Flores. Toronto turned the ball over in midfield and, five passes later, Estrada found the Peruvian designated player between a pair of Toronto defenders for a simple touch between the legs of goalkeeper Alex Bono for his first of the season.
He scored the fifth goal Toronto has conceded in the first 15 minutes of a game this season, worst in the league.
Toronto began to work its way back into the match and Akinola celebrated his comeback with a hard right-footed shot past Hamid in the 36th minute.
DC’s Jose Alfaro fumbled the ball trying to dribble past the defense and Michael Bradley passed it to Jesus Jimenez, who found Akinola just to his right for Toronto’s first goal in four games, snapping a 331-minute scoreless drought. .
DC went ahead in the 56th minute when a long-range pass found Fountas heading for goal. He chested the ball down and pushed it past a running Bono. The ball went past the goalkeeper for Estrada to score his fourth of the season.
The local team continued to rise after the winning goal with Bono busy,
Toronto (3-7-3) came in after losing to New York City FC, FC Cincinnati (twice), Vancouver and Orlando City after going unbeaten in four games (3-0-1). Their last win was on April 16, a 2-1 decision over the visiting Philadelphia Union.
DC (4-6-2) was coming off a 2-0 midweek loss to NYCFC, winless in three (0-2-1) in all competitions and had lost six of its last nine games (2- 6-1), including a 2-1 loss at BMO Field on March 19.
Toronto hasn’t won on the road since July 24, 2021, when it defeated the Chicago Fire 2-1 at Soldier Field. They have gone 0-10-5 on the road, taking five of a possible 45 league points along the way. TFC is 0-5-2 on the road this season.
Toronto is now 21 league games without a shutout, with the last clean sheet coming on Sept. 25 in a 0-0 draw at Colorado.
The home team wasted no time in increasing the pressure, threatening early with a header from Birnbaum that went high from a corner after four minutes. Flores’ shot went wide two minutes later.
Greek striker Taxi Fountas nearly found a Flores diving for the far post in the 20th minute.
Jimenez had a chance for Toronto in the 27th minute, but his shot went straight to goalie Bill Hamid.
A poor clearance by Bono in first-half stoppage time nearly led to a second DC goal, but Fountas’ quick shot went straight to the Toronto goalie. Estrada then hit the goal post on a play called offside. A swooping Julian Gressel had a big chance for DC in the 51st, but couldn’t contain his reflex shot with an empty goal in front of him. Three minutes later, Ralph Priso forced a save from Hamid at the other end.
Fountas then hit a high shot in the 60th.
Toronto coach Bob Bradley made a change to his starting lineup with Akinola, who saw action for 45 minutes off the bench against Orlando, making his first start since undergoing knee surgery last August after injuring himself while he was on duty with Canada in the Gold Cup.
Akinola, whose last start for the club was on July 7, replaced Perruzza in the starting lineup.
Mehdi Essoussi, a 21-year-old Toronto FC II midfielder who signed a short-term loan deal earlier that day, was also among the substitutes.
DC was missing Adrien Perez, Moses Nyeman, Chris Odoi-Atsem, Andy Najar, Gaoussou Samake and Russell Canouse.
Toronto heads east to play HFX Wanderers in the Canadian championship quarterfinals on Tuesday before returning home to host Chicago next Saturday.
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This report from The Canadian Press was first published on May 21, 2022
the canadian press
Reference-ca.sports.yahoo.com