Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.
Robin Fraser insisted the standard of refereeing in MLS must improve as he hit out at decisions made in Toronto FC’s recent draw with Charlotte FC.
Niklas Dorsch’s last-gasp goal saw Toronto salvage a point in a six-goal thriller on Wednesday.
Toronto had to fight from 3-1 down and were also playing with 10 men, with captain Walker Zimmerman having seen red in the 56th minute.
It was the second straight game in which Toronto had a player sent off, and Fraser was left furious.
He said: “I keep saying I don’t understand what’s going on with the refereeing.
“It’s ridiculous, to be quite honest. Every week, every week we have something.
“Okay, we’ve already had two letters from the referees’ association saying, ‘Oh, I’m sorry. It should have been this, it should have been that.’
“The penalty in Montreal [on July 16], the penalty in DC [on July 25] and every week, it’s something.
“It’s hard enough to win in this league when you’re playing against 11 players, but then when you have the referees, you feel like you’re against them every week.
“It just becomes difficult. But what I’ve said to this group is, ‘This is the way it is.’
“For some reason, it feels like we’re playing against more than 11 players and, if that’s the case, then we need to do everything we can to score more goals.”
Next up for Toronto is a trip to face Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami.
Messi scored his first goal since his return to action as Miami drew 2-2 with the Philadelphia Union last time out.
Miami are second in the Eastern Conference, but they sit seven points behind leaders Nashville SC.
Dorsch making the @MLS TOTM bench pic.twitter.com/X9xwuAfU3i
— Toronto FC (@TorontoFC) August 20, 2026
Messi scored his 70th MLS goal (regular season and playoffs) in Miami’s draw with the Union on Wednesday.
It took Messi just 79 MLS matches to reach 70 goals.
Messi needed 127 La Liga matches to reach that mark with Barcelona.
Playing in his 13th MLS match, Cimermancic tallied both the first goal and first assist of his career in Toronto’s 3-3 draw with Charlotte.
Cimermancic joined Josh Sargent as the only Toronto players to notch both a goal and an assist in an MLS match this season.
Toronto earned their first away point against Miami on their last visit, in a 1-1 draw in April 2025.
Miami had won each of their first six home meetings with the Reds in all competitions by an aggregate score of 19-6.
The Herons equalled a season low with just five shots against Philadelphia. Prior to 2026, Miami had 12 MLS matches with five or fewer shot attempts but scored multiple goals in just one of those (versus FC Cincinnati in 2024).
Toronto have certainly shown some resistance, though. Their draw with Charlotte marked the second time Toronto have earned a result in an MLS match when having a player shown a red card while the team was trailing (after a draw with Sporting Kansas City in 2014).
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