Toronto FC held the Supporters’ Shield-leading San Jose Earthquakes to a 1-1 draw on Saturday afternoon, despite having an incredibly depleted squad. Daniel Salloi scored two minutes in for the Reds, who conceded 12 minutes later before neither side found the winner.

Toronto FC fans have come to dread the weekly MLS Player Status Report before each match, and on Friday evening it again was not kind to the Reds. Ten players were unavailable for Robin Fraser due to injury including Josh Sargent and Jules-Anthony Vilsaint, who picked up injuries midweek.

Luka Gavran continued his streak of starting every match so far this season in net, behind a backline of Kobe Franklin, Zane Monlouis, Lazar Stefanovic and Raheem Edwards from right to left. Markus Cimermancic joined Jonathan Osorio and Alonso Coello in midfield, and the front line was Salloi and Malik Henry on either side of Emilio Aristizábal.

As a result of all the absences, the club had to call up four youngsters from Toronto FC II to be available off the bench: defender Micah Chisholm, midfielders Antone Bossenberry and Fletcher Bank and forward Jahmarie Nolan to Short-Term Agreements. In more positive news for the Reds, Walker Zimmerman was available again off the bench after missing the last match to be with his wife, who gave birth to their third child, and came on for Monlouis late in the second half.

After a chance in the first minute for Toronto FC was cleared away by a defender, Salloi wasted no time getting the scoring underway in the second minute, curling a low shot into the bottom right corner.

It was his team-leading fourth goal of the season, and team-leading seventh goal contribution, coming in their eleventh match of 2026. 

Preston Judd, San Jose’s leading scorer, tied things up 12 minutes later. Niko Tsakiris whipped in a low cross from a free kick from just outside the Toronto FC box, and Judd timed his run well to get a foot to it, redirecting it past Gavran to make it 1-1.

It was Judd’s seventh goal of the year and Tsakiris’ seventh assist.

“It felt like there’s no way somebody should be that available in front of our goal,” Fraser said after the match. “It felt like a lapse, I need to look at it closely. Little bit of disbelief, to be quite honest, I haven’t looked at that one closely. I know he started in an offside position, but we may have dropped and kept him onside.”

“I think it was more from me, my mistake in a sense, because I was supposed to set the line and I was supposed to be the first guy in front of the zone,” Edwards acknowledged after the match. “I was actually middle, which kind of messed up the rhythm of our set lines, so it was kind of on me. We didn’t draw properly as well too, so it was far too easy, far too easy. It was kind of childish in a sense.”

Aristizábal and Judd traded headed chances that both narrowly missed the target at either end of the pitch during a back-and-forth half, and Beau Leroux forced a save out of Gavran in first half stoppage time, but otherwise neither side had a great chance to break the deadlock before halftime came around. That was the only attempt on target in the first 45 minutes that didn’t end up in the back of the net, and the hosts outshot the visitors 7-4 in total heading into the break. 

Courtesy: Shaun McLeod/Waking The Red

After Stefanovic seemed to pick up a knock at the end of the first half, Chisholm came on for his MLS debut. With Zimmerman sitting on the bench it was unexpected to see the 21-year-old brought on instead, but it was a big opportunity for him to get first team minutes.

Jack Skahan tested Gavran with a low shot five minutes into the half, but the TFC netminder was able to make a comfortable stop. 

Gavran made another comfortable catch on the hour mark after Judd leaned back and tried to power a header by him, but couldn’t get enough power on it. The Reds called for a penalty at the other end of the pitch when the ball struck the outstretched arm of Daniel Munie, but the referee chose not to consult the Video Assistant Referee and waved away the protests.

Judd put the ball in the back of the TFC net moments after that, but it was called back for an offside on the play.

Fraser went to his bench again in the 67th minute, replacing Aristizabal and Henry with Derrick Etienne Jr and Deandre Kerr. In the 73rd, Monlouis came close to giving his team the lead with a header on target from a corner, but Benji Kikanovic reacted quickly to clear the ball out for another corner, which nothing came from. Ian Harkes fell to his knees in the 83rd minute, after he had a great opportunity to test Gavran from inside the box, but his low shot skipped wide of the far post.

Salloi thought he won the game for TFC when he chipped the ball over goalkeeper Daniel, but Reid Roberts charged back and bicycle kicked it before it could fully cross the line.

That’s the closest either side came to finding a match-winner, and they each had to settle for a point.

“It’s kind of a win in itself,” said Edwards after the match. “Good response from [losing to] Atlanta, it was a man up mentality and I think a lot of guys stepped up in a big, big way. The starters and even the guys that came on from the bench, they helped push the tempo and then kept the level and even raised it a little bit. So credit to the team.”

“We keep going from here. It’s a positive for sure.”

The Earthquakes maintain their spot at the top of the Supporters’ Shield standings for another week, sitting at a record of 9-1-1 after eleven matches. Toronto FC moved up to sixth in the Eastern Conference for the time being, with a 3-5-3 record.

The Reds host Atlético Ottawa on Tuesday night in Canadian Championship action before ending their lengthy homestand against Inter Miami on Saturday.