Match Recap: Toronto Holds Minnesota United To Scoreless Draw

Toronto FC had a home crowd at their backs for matchday 8, with the Reds hosting Minnesota United FC in what was their third home match this season.

Both sides entered eager for a win, with TFC still in search for their first victory this 2025 campaign, and the visiting side looking to make it three wins in a row. The match would end with both sides taking a point away.

The first half carried a lot of action with both sides looking to take to the scoresheet, yet both sides would ultimately not succeed, Minnesota keeper Dayne St. Clair would be tested a couple of times within the sticks by the likes of Federico Bernardeschi and Etienne Jr. but would ultimately keep the doors closed for the first 45 minutes.

A nice little bit there ✨ pic.twitter.com/llbJAPbRbV

— Toronto FC (@TorontoFC) April 12, 2025

On the other end of the pitch TFC keeper Sean Johnson would continue to hold up his performance form last weekends Inter Miami game keeping the game leveled heading into the second half.

Coach Robin Fraser would make two changes to the lineup and that is due to the rising number of injuries, so into the starting eleven was Derrick Etienne Jr. and Kevin Long for Ola Brynhildsen and Nicksoen Gomis.

Come the second half the back and forth action in front of the posts on either sides of the field would continue with both sides looking to break the deadlock.

Robin Fraser would make three subs in looks of breaking the deadlock, bringing in Tyrese Spicer and it would be two home debuts for Charlie Sharp and Maxime Dominguez.

The effort for Toronto was most certainly present as they held the visiting side a mere one shot on target throughout the full 90 minutes of play.

“Really happy with the commitment, the engagement,” Fraser told reporters on the pretty evenly contested draw. “They’re a very tough team to play against and I think everybody needs to be really engaged. So really happy with the engagement and dealing with what they threw at us, which is almost the exact opposite of what we dealt with last week in Miami.”

“I mean, you’re at home, you obviously always want three points at home, but again, I feel like there are a lot of positives to take from it.”

Both keepers put up a shift between the sticks, with Minnesota keeper Dayne St. Clair making a total of five saves. The most notable one comes in the last minute of added time as Jonathan Osorio sent a low-struck ball destined for the bottom left corner, but the Pickering, Ontario native keeper and Canadian national teammate would deny the late winner for the Reds.

Deybi Flores earned the honours for player of the match for a stellar shift put in the midfield for the full ninety. Flores helped the team in transition on attack and intercepted a number of plays on the defensive side of things.

“He just finds opportunities to snuff out plays and he’s very good in the air and I think that you saw him using his best attributes today, reading where things are going to be dangerous, being physical, breaking up plays, winning headers, things like that. And I thought that his play was very effective for us today,” said Fraser on Flores’ performance.

The man of the match, when asked about the recent team performances and what he thinks is the missing element, had this to say:

“Well, we just have to score, pretty much, is what we are needing is the last final third. We have created a lot of chances and opportunities in the last previous matches. So yeah, we just need to be sharp and get it there, hopefully next match, we not only have chances, but we also score the goals so that we can get that win”.

Toronto FC’s next game is back on the road and will see them headed to Sandy, Utah where they are set to take on Western Conference’s Real Salt Lake on April 19.

Header Image Photo Credit: Toronto FC