César Araújo, Alex Freeman help Orlando City beat Toronto

Mar 1, 2026, 09:59 pm

ORLANDO, Fla. -- - César Araújo had a goal and an assist, Alex Freeman scored his first MLS goal and Orlando City beat Toronto FC 3-1 on Saturday night.

Araújo, a 23-year-old midfielder, opened the scoring on a free kick in the 33rd minute, banging it off the post and into the net to beat goalkeeper Sean Johnson.

Freeman, a 20-year-old homegrown making his first career start, slipped behind the defense and ran onto a long ball played by defender Kyle Smith from the defending third and tapped it ahead to himself before blasting a low shot from just inside the box to give Orlando (1-1-0) a 2-0 lead in the 35th.

Martín Ojeda ran onto a through ball played by Araújo and, when goalkeeper Sean Johnson charged from his line, Ojeda cut outside before tapping it into a wide-open net to make it 3-0 in the 63rd minute.

Sigurd Rosted, a 30-year-old defender in his fourth MLS season, scored his first career goal in the 72nd to trim Toronto's deficit to 3-1 and Deybi Flores capped the scoring in the 86th minute.

Dagur Thorhallsson replaced Luis Muriel in the 80th and scored in the 81st minute to make it 4-1.

Norwegian international Ola Brynhildsen made his debut for Toronto (0-1-1).

Former Orlando City and current Toronto FC defender Richie Laryea is forced off in the 22nd minute due to injury.

Robin Jansson (thigh), Favian Loyla (thigh) and Duncan McGuire (shoulder) did not play for Orlando. The club announced before the game that Jannson is expected to miss three weeks.

Orlando is 10-9-3 all-time in the regular season against Toronto, 6-5-0 at home. The teams split the a pair of games last season, each losing at home.

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