Toronto FC opens 2026 season with road loss in Texas

• Toronto FC 2 (Mihailovic 15’; Etienne Jr 67’), FC Dallas 3 (Musa 9’, 74’; Farrington 38’)   
• TFC winless in 7 season openers dating back to 2019  
• Reds have never won in 12 all-time games in Dallas         

FRISCO, TEXAS – A new MLS campaign, but the same old Toronto FC.   

TFC looked uneven and suffered through defensive lapses in a disappointing 3-2 loss to FC Dallas on Saturday in their 2026 regular season opener at Toyota Stadium.   

Djordje Mihailovic and Derrick Etienne Jr scored for Toronto who is now winless in its last seven season openers (three losses and four draws) – its previous victory came in 2019 when it earned a 3-1 road decision over the Philadelphia Union. The Reds sport an all-time record of five wins, 10 losses and five draws in MLS curtain raisers.  

Toronto effectively fashioned itself into a side that was difficult to break down during the second half of last season under first-year coach Robin Fraser. But we saw scant evidence of that on Saturday with both of Dallas’ first-half goals coming off comedic defensive errors.   

The Reds were dealing with a rash of injury absences and the transfer for Josh Sargent hasn’t yet been completed, so this wasn’t Fraser’s strongest line-up and the starting 11 is going to look a lot different in the near future. Still, there’s no getting around the fact that this was a poor start to the campaign by Toronto.

“I thought we started off tentatively ... I felt like we weren't as solid defensively as we needed to be early on. We're a bit too porous. But as the game wore on, we got better, and obviously, at the end, they're defending a lead, so we're going to have a lot of possession. But for me, the disappointing part is giving up three goals. We've defended extremely well. I don't think there were three great goals, but it's a result of taking pressure," Fraser told reporters after the match.

Captain Jonathan Osorio concurred with his coach's assessment.

"I think there's a little bit of mixed feelings because there's a lot of positives that take out of the game, but unfortunately, a little bit of sloppy collective defending today cost us the game. And that's something that I think we've prided ourselves starting from the end of last year and going into pre-season," Osorio said.

Fraser's first starting 11 of the season featured goalkeeper Luka Gavran playing behind a back four of Richie Laryea, Kosi Thompson, Walker Zimmerman (his TFC debut) and Kobe Franklin. Osorio formed a double midfield pivot with Alonso Coello behind José Cifuentes, Malik Henry and Mihailovic. Etienne Jr led the line up top.  

Newcomers Dániel Sallói, Raheem Edwards and Emilio Aristizábal (all acquired by Toronto this week) were subbed on in the second half. Defender Henry Wingo came off the bench in the 78th minute to make his first appearance since May 28, 2025. He missed most of last season with a quadriceps injury.    

TFC’s injury list was extensive as they were missing winger Theo Corbeanu (knee), fullback Matheus Pereira (groin), defenders Nicksoen Gomis (Achilles) and Zane Monlouis (adductor), forward Deandre Kerr (adductor) and goalkeeper Adisa De Rosario (hand).  

A Coello miscue in the centre of the park early in the game allowed Dallas to break up the field quickly, the sequence ending with Logan Farrington's shot being deflected and just skimming over the crossbar.    

The hosts took the lead shortly after when Coello and Franklin collided with each other while trying to make a clearance inside their penalty area. The ball was eventually teed up for Petar Musa whose attempt from 12 yards out through traffic took a deflection off Osorio and beat Gavran who was only able to get a fingertip on it. TFC have now gone eight consecutive matches without a clean sheet.    

Toronto kept its head up and levelled the score following some patient buildup play. Osorio caught the Dallas defence napping and delivered a perfect through ball for Mihailovic who took two quick touches before beating goalkeeper Michael Collodi with a low shot from inside the box. Mihailovic now has nine goal contributions in 11 appearances for the Reds. Etienne also collected an assist on the play.

Etienne Jr had a chance to give TFC the lead later in the half after latching on to a through ball from Cifuentes, but Collodi made a solid save to deny the Haitian international.    

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It proved to be a costly miss as Dallas immediately went the other way and retook the lead. Zimmerman and Thompson couldn't make a play on Farrington when he went up to win a high ball just outside of the 18-yard area. Farrington then worked his way into the box and expertly sidestepped both TFC defenders before slipping a shot past a helpless Gavran into the bottom right corner. Kaick Ferreira’s bicycle kick from deep inside the penalty area grazed the post just before halftime, allowing Toronto to go into the break down by just a goal.   

Dallas came out strong to start the second half, but it was TFC who notched the game’s next goal, Etienne Jr chipping Collodi at the near post after he made an initial save on Sallói's dangerous shot from distance. 

Any chance of Toronto taking a share of the point on offer evaporated when it couldn’t clear its lines and Musa beat Gavran just inside the near post with a header off a cross from Farrington.   

Fraser believed Coello suffered a foul in the buildup to Dallas' opening goal that he felt should have overturned it. He also thought Zimmerman was hauled down twice inside the Dallas' 18-yard box deep into injury time off corner kicks that should have resulted in at least one penalty decision for Toronto.

Not wanting to risk getting fined by MLS, Fraser chose his words carefully when asked by TFC Republic about the referee's decisions that went against his team.

"I thought a couple of the goals were worth questioning. ... But at the end of the day, we still have to look at ourselves and what we did to put ourselves in this situation," Fraser said.

NOTES: Dallas leads the all-time regular season series against Toronto with 12 wins and six draws in 20 games… TFC and Dallas previously met in Texas on Feb. 26, 2022, when they played to a 1-1 draw in the season opener for both teams.... Overall, Toronto is winless in 12 all-time road games vs. Dallas (with nine losses)... Toronto FC returns to action when it visits the Vancouver Whitecaps on Feb. 28 (9:30 p.m. ET/Apple TV). Note: I will be at BC Place in Vancouver to cover next Saturday's game, so be sure to visit TFC Republic in order to check out our special on-site coverage.   

(Top photo by Jerome Miron/Imagn Images)

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