Match Report: CF Montreal 0 - 0 Toronto FC | OneFootball

The latest installment of the 401 Derby on July 16th, 2026, was highly anticipated as both teams returned from a two-month hiatus. Billed as a classic rivalry match, it turned out to be an incredibly tame and outright boring affair. After a solid month of watching elite, fast-paced drama at the World Cup, returning to the stark reality of MLS and watching Toronto FC slug it out at Stade Saputo felt like a massive chore. There was zero rhythm, plenty of rust, and an execution level that made it genuinely hard to stay locked in.

Red-y for Primetime

Jackson Gilman's Reliable Shift: Gilman is quickly proving that he can be a highly dependable presence along the backline. He isn't a flashy player, but flashiness isn’t required when you're grinding at left back. His steady performance naturally raises a massive question for the front office: do we really need to spend or wait on someone like Matheus Pereira when Gilman can put in shifts on a regular basis?

Luka Gavran Holds the Line: If not for Gavran, this match would have completely unraveled. He stepped up with a handful of crucial, sharp saves—including an absolute standout stop down low—to keep things respectable and keep the clean sheet intact.

A Crucial Away Point: If we are looking at the big picture, walking away from a hostile stadium with a point is a small victory. For a TFC squad in desperate need of points and in serious danger of dropping straight to the bottom of the table, this meager consolation prize keeps them afloat, even if the ninety minutes preceding it were thoroughly mediocre.

Seeing Red

Robin Fraser's Baffling Tactics: The questions surrounding head coach Robin Fraser's tactical choices continue to grow louder. The most confusing move of the night was bringing Jules-Anthony Vilsaint off the bench and deploying him out of position as a midfielder. Has Vilsaint ever played in the midfield during his entire professional career? It was an experiment that yielded nothing but confusion on the pitch and seemed like a desperate attempt. Is Fraser overthinking things or just out of ideas?

An Anemic Attack: The lack of quality up front was staggering. Out of eight total shot attempts, precisely zero were on target. How can the squad expect to be clinical or win games if they cannot force a single save out of the opposing keeper? Derrick Etienne Jr. looks completely out of sync with Sargent. For a striker who commands a $26 million profile, you simply can't generate offense when your star man only touches the ball twice inside the opposition’s box. Ugh.

Welcome to "Backpass FC": It might be time to officially petition MLSE to rename this club "Backpass FC." It's incredibly unclear who decided that a defensive, regression-heavy strategy was the way to break down a mediocre squad like CF Montréal, but every single time TFC built an ounce of momentum in the attacking half, a player would stop dead and pass it straight backward. It is fundamentally impossible to score goals when your priority is moving the ball away from the net. It’s an incredibly frustrating watch—though perhaps a slightly better moniker than "Lower Body Injury FC."

Toronto FC doesn't have much time to overthink this one. The Reds will travel to Foxborough, Massachusetts, next Wednesday night to square off against the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium. Sitting on a tough run of form, TFC will desperately be hunting for just their fourth victory of the regular season in what will be their 16th match.