The Columbus Crew beat Toronto FC 4-2 on Saturday afternoon at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field in Columbus. Malte Amundsen scored twice for the Crew, Dylan Chambost recorded three assists, and Toronto’s second half comeback from four goals down came up short in a match with direct playoff consequences for both clubs.
Toronto entered the afternoon one point behind Columbus in the race for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot, and a win would have moved the Reds into a postseason position for the first time in months. Instead, the Crew collected three points to reach 38 on the season, Toronto stayed on 36, and the Reds saw a three match unbeaten run come to an end on the road.
Columbus Strikes Twice In Five Minutes
Toronto nearly opened the scoring in the third minute, when Lewis Morgan worked down the left side and found Djordje Mihailovic in front of goal. The Crew answered with the opener in the 16th minute. Mohamed Farsi ran onto a clipped through ball from Santiago Rodriguez and laid a first touch cross into the middle, where Gonzalo Tapia guided home his third goal of the season and his second in as many matches.
Five minutes later, the lead doubled. Chambost delivered an inswinging ball into the area and Amundsen headed it home for a 2-0 lead the Crew carried into half time. Toronto head coach Robin Fraser argued after the match that the second goal should not have stood, saying defender Zane Monlouis was pushed in the back with two hands as Amundsen positioned himself to meet the cross.
I cannot fathom how a two-handed push in the back, resulting in a goal, can go unpunished. It just does not make sense to me.
That was Fraser on the second goal, speaking to reporters after the match. The Reds still pushed for a response before the interval, with a Morgan volley and a Theo Corbeanu header both narrowly missing the target, but the first half damage was done.
Amundsen And Lennon Push The Lead To Four
Columbus came out of the break the way Toronto needed to. In the 48th minute, Amundsen cushioned home another Chambost delivery following a short corner to make it 3-0. The brace was the first of Amundsen’s career, and both goals were his first two of the 2026 season, each one created by a Chambost set piece.
Brooks Lennon entered in the 57th minute and scored two minutes later, sweeping home a Chambost layoff to complete the midfielder’s three assist afternoon and record his first goal for the club. At 4-0 with half an hour to play, the match looked finished, and the Crew’s form line said the scoreline was no accident. Columbus has now won five of its last six league matches and, according to club notes, is unbeaten in seven of its last eight matches across all competitions since mid September, going 6-1-1 in that stretch according to club notes.
Toronto had made two changes from last Saturday’s 2-0 road win over the New York Red Bulls, with Richie Laryea and Benjamin Kuscevic returning from yellow card suspension. None of it blunted a Columbus side that attacked in waves and finished its chances before Toronto settled.
Salloi And Sargent Lead The Late Rally
The comeback started from the bench. Daniel Salloi replaced Morgan in the 63rd minute and scored in the 69th, meeting a Corbeanu cross from a Mihailovic pass with a powerful back post header. It was Salloi’s team leading ninth goal of the season and his 19th goal contribution, and it marked the second straight week he has scored as a substitute.
One minute later, Columbus midfielder Sekou Bangoura was shown a second yellow card for a foul on Corbeanu and the Crew were down to ten men. Toronto appeared to score again from the ensuing free kick, as Matheus Pereira bundled home the rebound from a Patrick Schulte save, but the effort was ruled out for a handball by the defender.
Josh Sargent finished the job the disallowed goal could not. Set up by Jonathan Osorio and substitute Emilio Aristizabal in the 81st minute, Sargent fired a powerful shot from outside the box beyond Schulte to make it 4-2. The goal was his tenth goal contribution of the season, with eight goals and two assists, and it ended a long personal drought. Schulte finished with five saves for Columbus, while Luka Gavran made two saves for Toronto.
The Race Tightens Before Wednesday
The late results elsewhere made the afternoon sting more. The New York Red Bulls beat Inter Miami 2-0 later on Saturday to hold the ninth and final playoff spot. Columbus sits tenth, one point behind New York, and Toronto sits eleventh on 36 points, three points behind the Red Bulls with the season nearly done.
The history is just as heavy. Toronto is winless in its last eight road matches against Columbus, with the last win in that fixture coming in 2017, and the Reds have not won back to back road matches in league play since 2024. Corbeanu pointed to the chances Toronto created on Saturday, and said the first half kind of cost the team on the day.
There is no time to sit with it. Toronto returns home to host D.C. United at BMO Field on Wednesday, October 28, in its final regular season home match, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. ET. Fraser made the message simple after the final whistle.
This game’s over. We need to concentrate on Wednesday. We’ll talk about what went wrong here, but we need to concentrate on Wednesday and not allow this feeling to carry over.
Toronto FC plays Wednesday against D.C. United at BMO Field, in a match the Reds effectively have to win to keep their playoff hopes alive.
