Toronto FC saw their season effectively end on Sunday night in Georgia. Atlanta United beat Toronto 3-1 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium on November 1, a result that officially eliminated the Reds from MLS Cup Playoff contention for the sixth straight season.
Miguel Almiron opened the scoring in the 22nd minute and Cooper Sanchez doubled the lead before halftime. Aleksey Miranchuk made it 3-0 shortly after the break, and although substitute Lewis Morgan pulled one back in the 79th minute, Toronto never looked like finding the kind of late comeback that had kept their season alive through the fall.
The Goals That Ended It
Toronto arrived in Atlanta knowing that anything short of a win would likely finish their playoff push, and head coach Robin Fraser named an unchanged starting eleven from the side that beat D.C. United 2-1 in midweek. The plan held for 22 minutes. Almiron, Atlanta’s most dangerous player all night, put the hosts ahead, and the goal changed the temperature of the match. Toronto had to chase, Atlanta could sit in, and the space behind the Reds kept growing.
Sanchez added the second in the 40th minute, his first goal in Major League Soccer, finishing a one touch move inside the box. At 2-0 down at halftime, Toronto’s margin for error was gone. When Miranchuk scored early in the second half, with Almiron involved again as both Atlanta playmakers finished the night with a goal and an assist each, the result was beyond doubt. Morgan’s volley from inside the box in the 79th minute was Toronto’s only goal from three shots on target, a stat line that summed up the evening.
Luka Gavran made five saves for Toronto, while Lucas Hoyos needed only two for Atlanta. The hosts, who finished the night at 9-18-6 with 33 points, ended a six game winless run at home and swept the season series, having also won 2-1 in Toronto on April 25.
A Season Built On Late Comebacks
The cruel part of Sunday is that Toronto had spent two months refusing to die. The Reds earned a reputation as comeback specialists this season, scoring goals in the 80th minute and beyond in 11 separate games to turn losses into draws and draws into wins. They had taken points in four of their previous five matches before the trip to Atlanta, and they had lost only once in their last six outings, going 3-2-1 across that stretch.
That resilience kept Toronto in the playoff conversation far longer than their first half of the season suggested it would. An injury marred opening stretch dug the hole, and the club spent the rest of the year climbing toward a line that kept moving away. Comebacks can rescue points, but they cannot rescue a season forever. Conceding twice before halftime in a must win game on the road finally asked too much of the formula, and this time there was no late surge to answer with.
Six Years Without The Playoffs
The elimination extends a drought that now defines the club’s recent history. Toronto, who finish the weekend at 9-12-12 with 39 points, have not reached the MLS Cup Playoffs since 2020, six straight seasons on the outside looking in. For a club that played in three MLS Cup finals between 2016 and 2019, the wait has become the story.
Mercedes-Benz Stadium has been a particularly unhappy stop on that journey. Toronto are now 0-5-5 at the ground since October 2017, still without a win there in ten visits. Sunday’s defeat also means the final week of the regular season carries no stakes for the Reds beyond pride, professional standards, and auditions for next year, which is exactly the position the club has been trying to escape.
What Comes Next
Toronto close their 2026 regular season on MLS Decision Day, Saturday, November 7, away to the Philadelphia Union at Subaru Park, with kickoff set for 4:00 p.m. ET. Atlanta travel to face the New York Red Bulls the same day, also eliminated and playing out the schedule.
For Toronto, the questions now move off the pitch. A sixth straight season without playoff soccer demands a clear accounting of the injury hit first half, the thin return in front of goal on nights like Sunday, and the defensive lapses that turned must win games into uphill climbs. The late season fight showed there is a base to build on. Sunday in Atlanta showed, again, how far that base still has to go.
