But after an unproductive 45-minute opener, Toronto came out with more of a second-half goal and eventually beat Quakes goaltender JT Marcinkowski in the 71st minute on a quick counterattack.
Osorio sent the ball past Kerr and, with the defense backing away, the 19-year-old homegrown curled a low shot just outside the penalty area past Marcinkowski in the corner for his third of the season.
Four minutes later, Kerr played provider, sending a ball into the box which hit a defender and found Osorio on a late run. The Canadian midfielder made no mistakes from close range to score his fifth of the campaign
Toronto (5-10-4) was coming off back-to-back home losses to Seattle and Columbus and had managed just two wins in its last 11 league outings (2-8-1).
And with four of its next five games away, the TFC was looking to score points against a San Jose team that had yet to win on the road (0-6-2) this season. But the Quakes (4-7-7) were undefeated in their previous three meetings (1-0-2), winning 2-1 when they last visited BMO Field in May 2019.
Saturday’s game was a clash of the league’s two worst defenses, with Toronto 27th (conceding 1.89 goals per game on average) and San Jose 28th (2.06 goals per game).
The game followed a week of deals that saw Toronto’s Spanish playmaker Alejandro Pozuelo move to Inter Miami for a modest return and acquire Canadian midfielder Mark-Anthony Kaye from Colorado Rapids for a hefty price. The future of star centre-back Carlos Salcedo, like Pozuelo a Designated Player, remains up in the air amid hopes that he will return to Mexico for family reasons.
Salcedo was not on the matchday squad, but posted the latest in a series of cryptic tweets. The post showed a play button next to ‘Mx…’ suggesting that the switch to Mexico’s Liga MX is a done deal.
Kaye hasn’t arrived in town yet,
With the MLS secondary transfer window opening on Thursday, fans were hoping to see Italian star Lorenzo Insigne on the pitch. But the former Napoli captain, whose move to Toronto after the end of the Italian season was announced six months ago, has had his TFC debut pushed back to later this month due to a chest injury. calf suffered in Europe.
Insigne, 31, watched from the stands, signing autographs ahead of the game. Also in attendance was former Toronto midfielder Ralph Priso, who heads to Colorado in the Kaye trade.
Fellow Italian Domenico Criscito, a former Genoa captain, made his first start. The 35-year-old left-back took corners, looked calm on the ball and showed deft passing touch. He exited in the 80th minute to cheers from the announced crowd of 27,149.
Toronto had more ball early on but did nothing with it.
San Jose scored on its first shot on target, taking advantage of a gift from Toronto at its own end. Benji Kikanovic threaded a ball between Michael Bradley and Shane O’Neill and Ebobisse slipped a right-footed shot past Quentin Westberg into the corner of the goal.
The giveaway came after Toronto defender Chris Mavinga from the corner fired a dangerous ball through midfield toward Jayden Nelson.
TFC has not posted a league shutout since Sept. 25, 2021, in a 0-0 draw at Colorado with MLS’s no-clean-sheet streak now at 27 games.
San Jose went close with a pair of headers just off target in the first half.
Toronto had its best halftime chances in the 45th minute. Marcinkowski made a nice one-handed save to deny Kerr with Osorio’s shot on the rebound hitting a defender and flashing wide. Kerr’s header from the ensuing Criscito corner hit the crossbar.
Marcinkowski made a nice save on Osorio in the 55th.
The visitors were without Cape Verdean international midfielder of Dutch origin Jamiro Monteiro, one of the players designated by the “Quakes”, whose absence was attributed to “personal” reasons.
San Jose parted ways with coach Matias Almeyda after going winless in their first seven games (0-4-3). Alex Covelo, who was head coach of Earthquakes II in MLS Next Pro, came into Saturday’s game 4-3-3 as interim manager.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 9, 2022
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
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