Sean Johnson made four saves to keep his first clean sheet of the season, but Toronto FC was still forced to settle for a 0-0 draw against the visiting Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday afternoon.
Johnson’s performance helped Toronto (0-4-2, 2 points) snap a four-match losing skid in what was by far the Reds’ best defensive effort of the season, having conceded multiple goals in all five previous games.
Opposing goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka made three stops to keep his third shutout in four games for Vancouver (4-1-1, 13 points), which has gone back-to-back matches without a victory.
The Whitecaps outshot their foes 16-6 but were left without a goal for the first time this season.
Toronto lost team-leading scorer Deandre Kerr to an apparent injury in the 53rd minute, while Whitecaps defensive midfielder Andres Cubas was forced off with his own issue in the 61st.
The chances were mostly Vancouver’s, though they often failed to test Johnson from promising positions.
Before halftime, Mathias Laborda missed wide on an early look inside the 18-yard box in the eighth minute. And then Laborda and Jean Claude Ngando failed to direct headers on frame with successive close-range chances at the half’s midpoint.
After the break, the Whitecaps’ best moment arrived in the 67th minute. Ali Ahmed failed to direct his corner kick header on frame, and Emmanuel Sabbi forced Johnson into a sprawling save from a tight angle on a follow-up attempt.
The Reds had an excellent chance to win it late when Deybi Flores reached Federico Bernardeschi’s outswinging free kick at the back post but headed directly at Takaoka.
But Vancouver continued to apply most of the pressure. Ranko Veselinovic’s header from the second phase of a corner kick forced Johnson into another lunging stop in the 88th minute, and Veselinovic’s volley from another corner that followed missed slightly high of the target.
Toronto created a goal-mouth scramble deep in second-half stoppage time, but Vancouver defenders managed to block each attempt before they had a chance to test Takaoka.
–Field Level Media
