2020 Toronto FC season

The 2020 Toronto FC season was the 14th season in the history of Toronto FC. The club entered the season as defending MLS Eastern Conference champions. They were scheduled to compete for the first time in the Leagues Cup, however it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. They participated in the MLS is Back Tournament, which was the beginning of the resumed season following the postponement of regular season matches due to the pandemic.

On September 11, 2020, Connecticut governor Ned Lamont announced that Toronto FC would finish their season's home matches at Pratt & Whitney Stadium due to travel restrictions outside the United States due to the pandemic.

On October 11, Toronto FC became the first MLS team to clinch a playoff berth following a 1–0 win over FC Cincinnati.

Squad As of October 14, 2020.

No. Player Nationality Position(s) Date of birth (age) Signed in Previous club Goalkeepers 16 Quentin Westberg GK 2019 Auxerre 25 Alex Bono GK 2015 Syracuse Orange 90 Kevin Silva GK 2020 Toronto FC II Defenders 2 Justin Morrow LB / LWB / CB 2014 San Jose Earthquakes 3 Eriq Zavaleta CB 2015 Seattle Sounders FC 5 Julian Dunn CB 2018 Toronto FC II 6 Tony Gallacher (loan) LB 2020 Liverpool 12 Rocco Romeo (out on loan) CB 2020 Toronto FC II 22 Richie Laryea RB 2019 Orlando City SC 23 Chris Mavinga CB / LB 2017 Rubin Kazan 26 Laurent Ciman CB 2018 Dijon 44 Omar Gonzalez CB 2019 Pachuca 96 Auro Jr. RB / RWB 2018 São Paulo Midfielders 4 Michael Bradley CM 2014 Roma 8 Marky Delgado CM 2015 Chivas USA 10 Alejandro Pozuelo AM 2019 Genk 14 Noble Okello (out on loan) MF 2019 Toronto FC II 18 Nick DeLeon RB / RM 2018 D.C. United 21 Jonathan Osorio AM / CM 2013 SC Toronto 27 Liam Fraser DM 2018 Toronto FC II 31 Tsubasa Endoh MF 2019 Toronto FC II 97 Ralph Priso MF 2020 Toronto FC II Forwards 7 Pablo Piatti LW/RW 2020 Espanyol 9 Erickson Gallardo RW 2019 Zamora 13 Patrick Mullins FW 2019 Columbus Crew 15 Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty FW 2020 Toronto FC II 17 Jozy Altidore CF 2015 Sunderland 19 Griffin Dorsey FW 2019 Indiana Hoosiers 20 Ayo Akinola ST 2018 Toronto FC II 24 Jacob Shaffelburg FW 2019 Toronto FC II 80 Jayden Nelson FW 2020 Toronto FC II 99 Ifunanyachi Achara FW 2020 Georgetown Hoyas

Roster slots Toronto had eight International roster slots and three Designated Player slots available for use in the 2020 season.

+International slots Slot Player Nationality1Ifunanyachi Achara2Auro Jr.3Tsubasa Endoh4Tony Gallacher5Erickson Gallardo6Chris Mavinga7Pablo Piatti8Alejandro Pozuelo

+Designated Player slots Slot Player1 Jozy Altidore2 Alejandro Pozuelo3 Pablo Piatti

Transfers Note: All figures in United States dollars.

In No.Pos.PlayerFromFee/notesDateSource12Homegrown signing15Homegrown signing80Homegrown signing7Designated player99Signed draft pick90Signed first team deal97Homegrown signing

Loaned in No.Pos.PlayerLoaned fromFee/notesDateSource 6 Tony Gallacher LiverpoolSeason long loan

Draft picks

The following players were selected by Toronto FC in the 2020 SuperDraft held on January 9.

First round Pos.PlayerCollegeOverallSyracuse19Georgetown25

Second round Pos.PlayerCollegeOverallClemson33Indiana51

Out

Transferred out

No.Pos.PlayerToFee/notesDateSource14Traded for $100,000 in GAM3Out of contract28 MLS Pool Goalkeeper Option declined5 Option declined55 Option declined54 Option declined11Option declined7 Colorado RapidsTraded for $50,000 in GAM

Loaned out No.Pos.PlayerLoaned toFee/notesDateSource 5 Julian Dunn Valour FCSeason long loan 12 Rocco Romeo HB KøgeYear long loan until June 2021 14 Noble Okello HB KøgeSeason long loan until December 2020

Pre-season Toronto FC's pre-season officially began on January 18 when players and staff attended BMO Training Ground to undergo medical evaluations. Their first official training session of the season occurred on January 20 in Orlando, Florida as part of the team's preliminary training camp. The team resumed training camp on February 5 at the University of California, Irvine and played a series of friendly matches.

Matches

Competitions

Major League Soccer

League tables

Eastern Conference

Overall

Summary

Note: Table does not include three group matches of MLS is Back Tournament.(Pld 3, W 1, D 2, L 0, GF 6, GA 5, GD +1, Pts 5)

Results by round

Matches The 2020 Major League Soccer schedule was originally released in full on December 19, 2019, 12:00 PM ET. However, the season was suspended on March 12 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in the cancellation of matches. The season resumed in July with the MLS is Back Tournament, where the three group stage matches counted as regular season games. Following the tournament, the regular season continued; however, due to travel restrictions between the United States and Canada, the league's three Canadian teams played their next six matches against each other in Canada, with these matches also serving as the qualification process for the 2020 Canadian Championship.

MLS Cup Playoffs

Canadian Championship

Qualification As part of the MLS regular season, Canada's three Major League Soccer clubs played each other three times from August 18 to September 16. The team with the most points from this series, Toronto FC, qualified for the Canadian Championship.

Final After being unable to be held in 2020, the match was initially postponed to early 2021 to occur at the beginning of the 2021 season. On March 11, 2021, it was announced that the match could not be completed in time for the start of CCL competition; a compromise was reached where Toronto FC would be named to the CCL slot, while Forge FC would be permitted to host the match once it was finally played. On March 25, 2021, Canada Soccer president Nick Bontis said that the final may end up taking place as late as July 2022. On March 2, 2022, it was announced that the final would take place on June 4, 2022 at Tim Hortons Field.

Leagues Cup

Toronto FC was set to compete for the first time in the Leagues Cup after not qualifying the CONCACAF Champions League and finishing in fourth place in the Eastern Conference during the 2019 regular season. They were to host a club from Liga MX in Mexico and entered the draw as the fifth seeded MLS team. The tournament was cancelled on May 19, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

MLS is Back Tournament

Group stage

Group C

Knockout stage

Round of 16

Competitions summary {| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" |- !rowspan="2"|Competition !colspan="8"|Record !rowspan="2"|First Match !rowspan="2"|Last Match !rowspan="2"|Final Position |- ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! |- | MLS Regular Season

|February 9, 2020 |November 8, 2020 |2nd in Eastern Conference, 2nd Overall |- | MLS Cup Playoffs

|colspan="2"|November 24, 2020 |First round |- | Canadian Championship |colspan="11"|Postponed until 2022 |- | MLS is Back Knockout Stage

|colspan="2"|July 26, 2020 |Round of 16 |- ! Total

!colspan="4"|

Goals and assists

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:100%; text-align:center" |+Goals !width=15|Rank !width=15|Nation !width=130|Name !width=15|Pos. !width=50|Major League Soccer !width=50|MLS Cup Playoffs !width=50|Canadian Championship !width=50| Knockout Stage !width=50|Total |- |rowspan="2"|1|||| Ayo Akinola || FW || 9 || 0 || 0 || 0 ||rowspan="2"|9 |- ||| Alejandro Pozuelo || MF || 9 || 0 || 0 || 0 |- |rowspan="2"|3|||| Richie Laryea || DF || 4 || 0 || 0 || 0 ||rowspan="2"|4 |- ||| Pablo Piatti || FW || 4 || 0 || 0 || 0 |- |rowspan="2"|5|||| Jozy Altidore || FW || 2 || 0 || 0 || 0 ||rowspan="2"|2 |- ||| Patrick Mullins || FW || 1 || 0 || 0 || 1 |- |rowspan="4"|7|||| Ifunanyachi Achara || FW || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 ||rowspan="4"|1 |- ||| Nick DeLeon || MF || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 |- ||| Tsubasa Endoh || FW || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 |- ||| Jonathan Osorio || MF || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 |- |colspan="4"|Own goals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |- class="sortbottom" | colspan="4"|Totals||33|| 0||0||1||34

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:100%; text-align:center" |+Assists !width=15|Rank !width=15|Nation !width=130|Name !width=15|Pos. !width=50|Major League Soccer !width=50|MLS Cup Playoffs !width=50|Canadian Championship !width=50| Knockout Stage !width=50|Total |- |1|||| Alejandro Pozuelo || MF || 10 || 0 || 0 || 0 ||10 |- |rowspan="2"|2|||| Richie Laryea || DF || 4 || 0 || 0 || 0 ||rowspan="2"|4 |- ||| Pablo Piatti || FW || 4 || 0 || 0 || 0 |- |4|||| Jonathan Osorio || MF || 3 || 0 || 0 || 0 ||3 |- |rowspan="2"|5|||| Jozy Altidore || FW || 1 || 0 || 0 || 1 ||rowspan="2"|2 |- ||| Nick DeLeon || MF || 2 || 0 || 0 || 0 |- |rowspan="6"|7|||| Auro Jr. || DF || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 ||rowspan="6"|1 |- ||| Michael Bradley || MF || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 |- ||| Marky Delgado || MF || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 |- ||| Tony Gallacher || DF || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 |- ||| Chris Mavinga || DF || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 |- ||| Patrick Mullins || FW || 1 || 0 || 0 || 0 |- |- class="sortbottom" | colspan="4"|Totals||30||0||0||1||31

Shutouts {| class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:100%; text-align:center" !width=15|Rank !width=15|Nation !width=130|Name !width=15|Pos. !width=50|Major League Soccer !width=50|MLS Cup Playoffs !width=50|Canadian Championship !width=50| Knockout Stage !width=50|Total |- |1|||| Quentin Westberg || GK || 6 || 0 || 0 || 0 ||6 |- |2|||| Alex Bono || GK || 3 || 0 || 0 || 0 ||3 |- class="sortbottom" | colspan="4"|Totals||9||0||3||0||9

Honours

MLS Team of the Week WeekStartersBenchCoachOpponentRef.2 Ifunanyachi AcharaNew York City FCMLS is Back – Round 1 Ayo Akinola Alejandro PozueloD.C. UnitedMLS is Back – Round 2 Ayo Akinola Richie Laryea Alejandro PozueloMontreal Impact6 Pablo Piatti Alejandro PozueloVancouver Whitecaps FC7 & 8 Alejandro PozueloMontreal Impact13 Alex BonoNew York City FC14 Richie Laryea Greg VanneyColumbus Crew15 Alejandro PozueloPhiladelphia Union16 Ayo Akinola Alex BonoNew England Revolution17 Eriq Zavaleta Patrick MullinsFC Cincinnati19 Pablo Piatti Richie LaryeaAtlanta United FC22 Richie LaryeaInter Miami CF

MLS Player of the Week WeekPlayerOpponentRef.14 Richie LaryeaColumbus Crew

MLS Goal of the Week WeekPlayerOpponentRef.14 Richie LaryeaColumbus Crew

MLS Player of the Month MonthPlayerMonth's StatlineRef.September Alejandro Pozuelo4 Goals, 2 Assists

End of Season awards AwardRecipient(s)Ref.MLS MVP Alejandro PozueloMLS Best XI Alejandro Pozuelo

References

Notes

External links