Toronto FC headed into their key clash against Columbus with high hopes of keeping their play-off quest alive, but instead left Ohio chastened after a 4-2 defeat to their Eastern Conference rivals.

Toronto manager Robin Fraser fielded his strongest available line-up, with one notable exception. Curiously, Dániel Sallói wasn't in the starting XI in Toronto's must-win match and started on the bench. This decision would come back to haunt the Reds after Sallói proved his worth again after his second-half introduction.

how we're shaping up this afternoon 📝 pic.twitter.com/heQ4OLZY1E

— Toronto FC (@TorontoFC) October 24, 2026

Laurent Courtois, Columbus Crew manager, also put forth a strong line-up, but given their mid-week Cup game he did show some rotation, changing up his attack and bringing reliable goalkeeper Patrick Schulte back into his XI. The surprise omission was that summer designated player signing Brais Méndez was not even in the squad for Columbus.

Tonight’s XI 📋 pic.twitter.com/ApW6QpTzbR

— The Crew (@ColumbusCrew) October 24, 2026

The visiting Reds started with a bright, industrious opening quarter-hour, dictating play and testing the Columbus goalkeeper early. Đorđe Mihailović's third-minute shot from distance was expertly parried away by Schulte.

locking in early 🔒 pic.twitter.com/501Gst8M2K

— Toronto FC (@TorontoFC) October 24, 2026

Then, off what might have been an innocuous turnover and against the run of play, Columbus scored first in the 16th minute. The opener came from a quick counter, with a sublime pass from former CPL player Mo Farsi across the face of goal for Gonzalo Tapia to tap into an open net. Once again, the Reds found themselves behind early and needed to play catch-up.

Gonzalo gives us the lead 🔥

The teamwork between Tapia, Farsi, and Rodríguez is top notch 🤝 pic.twitter.com/BRpnJXNXOF

— The Crew (@ColumbusCrew) October 24, 2026

The goal seemed to awaken the hosts, who now carried more of the play, as shown by a key save from Luka Gavran in the 19th minute. But on the ensuing corner, the Crew capitalized off a Malte Amundsen header. Replays showed a push from Amundsen to be the reason he was wide open for his uncontested header. A brief VAR review ensued, but referee Chris Penso was not called to the monitor, and the goal surprisingly stood. More on this later.

Amundsen getting after it 😮‍💨 Malte Amundsen gives us our second ✌️ pic.twitter.com/ewUKUjXDO8

— The Crew (@ColumbusCrew) October 24, 2026

The Crew were now up 2-0, and TFC's play-off hopes had taken a massive hit. Any suggestion of the Crew being tired or feeling sorry for themselves after their mid-week US Open Cup defeat was well and truly dashed. Toronto's early passage of good play in the opening 15 minutes was laid to rest by the two quick Columbus goals.

The 2-0 scoreline in favour of the hosts would carry into half-time. Columbus's dominance in the latter 30 minutes of the half was quite telling: their xG was 1.83 to Toronto's 0.49. Furthermore, the Crew generated three quality scoring chances whereas Toronto had none. Toronto once again found themselves hoping to be the comeback kings of the second half.

Neither manager made any changes at the interval. For Toronto, that meant club top scorer and provider Dániel Sallói remained on the bench. Fraser had placed his expectations for a rebound on his starters, despite the fact they had been badly outplayed as the first half wore on.

No sooner had the second half begun than the Crew thrust a dagger into the Reds' play-off aspirations with another goal from a corner in the 48th minute. It was a short corner finished once again by Amundsen, who received a deft pass behind the TFC back line and across the face of goal from Dylan Chambost. Amundsen had his brace, and the afternoon now looked to be a nightmare for the visitors.

Why not do it again 🤷

Dylan Chambost and Malte Amundsen with another one-two punch 👊 pic.twitter.com/OXtYkzgaEg

— The Crew (@ColumbusCrew) October 24, 2026

If there was any doubt about the Crew's victory that afternoon, Brooks Lennon's 60th-minute goal dispelled it. With the Reds throwing numbers forward, the back line was torn open in a fast counter finished off by the Crew second-half substitute. The game was getting away from Toronto and turning into a rout.

With the Crew comfortably up 4-0, TFC's shoulders were collectively and visibly slumped. Fraser's introduction of Sallói for Lewis Morgan in the 62nd minute was warranted, but perhaps four goals too late.

Not ten minutes into his appearance, the Toronto winger made his statement. Sallói scored in the 69th minute with a close-range header from a Corbeanu cross. The goal created by the dynamic winger tandem gave Toronto a needed boost, but also served to underscore whether the decision not to start the team's leading scorer and assist provider had been correct.

Another look at Salloi's goal 🔂 pic.twitter.com/fq2QcTIYLq

— Toronto FC (@TorontoFC) October 24, 2026

A minute later, Toronto were handed another lifeline. Sékou Bangoura picked up his second yellow card after another cautionable foul, this time on Corbeanu on the edge of the box, and the Crew were down to ten men. Suddenly, it was looking as though the Reds might just conjure some second-half magic after all.

Moments later Toronto thought they had their second of the afternoon, but the goal was adjudged to have gone into the net off Matheus Pereira's arm and was quickly disallowed after referee Penso consulted his assistant.

Toronto would not be denied their second goal, however, when Josh Sargent scored in the 81st minute to pull within two goals of ten-man Columbus. It was a well-worked goal from a pass by substitute striker Emilio Aristizábal to Sargent, whose well-struck finish from the edge of the 18-yard box found the corner of the net. But that was as close as Toronto would get, as the goal proved to be a case of too little, too late.

Sargent from just outside the box 💥 pic.twitter.com/yO5HrbLE43

— Toronto FC (@TorontoFC) October 24, 2026

Toronto continued to press forward desperately seeking another goal, but ten-man Columbus hunkered down, and whatever balls did get through to the goalkeeper were dealt with by Patrick Schulte.

The match finished 4-2, with Columbus leaping past the Reds in the standings by two points. With Red Bull New York also defeating Inter Miami, Toronto had fallen three points off the final play-in spot. While mathematically still alive, Toronto's play-off ambitions had clearly taken a severe blow, and will require nothing short of a miracle to come to fruition with just three games left in the season.

Almost lost in the aftermath of Toronto's disappointing performance is that the 2026 Trillium Cup will go to Columbus with this result — their fifth consecutive.

In his post-match press conference, Fraser commented on the decision to bring Dániel Sallói on off the bench rather than starting him: "Yeah, it's easy to judge when you're not at training every day, and you don't see the things that we're working on or what we're trying to accomplish. So, the decision really was about the continuity of the last game."

Fraser was also quick to comment on Columbus's second goal, and his words hinted at his still being aggrieved by the call: "I just watched a replay of their second goal. I've been in this game a long time. I've never seen a two-handed push in the back go unpunished, especially when it results in a goal. So I have no idea what's going on, but I don't even know how that's debatable."

Theo Corbeanu was direct in his post-match comments, stating it was a "disappointing result for us in a game which was very important, which we needed to win." He added: "Today was obviously an extremely important game and we didn't get the job done."

Toronto have precious little time to dwell on tonight's defeat as they have a midweek home match against DC United to prepare for. Wednesday's match will be Toronto's final game at BMO Field in 2026.