With five games remaining in the regular season and the MLS playoffs out of reach, Toronto FC coach Robin Fraser plans to continue giving his young talent a chance to shine.

With 16 players on expiring contracts, there are plenty of decisions to be made.

“For us, we do want to get some questions answered,” Fraser said. “(There’s) uncertainty about some players for sure. That’s always in our mind at this point (of the season). But first and foremost is we’re trying to win games and we’re trying to get points.

“Certainly we want to look at a lot of our players who maybe we haven’t seen a ton of, but it’s finding the right time to put them in.”

The job auditions continue Saturday when Toronto (5-13-11) visits the Columbus Crew (13-7-10).

Columbus enters weekend play in seventh place in the Eastern Conference, five places and 23 points ahead of Toronto.

Backup goalkeeper Luka Gavran got his chance to start last Saturday in Toronto’s 1-1 draw at New England, conceding a 90th-minute equalizer on a deflected shot.

It could be Jules-Anthony Vilsaint’s chance Saturday. The 22-year-old forward, acquired in the Aug. 13 trade that sent trade that sent English midfielder Matty Longstaff to CF Montreal, has impressed in limited action off the bench.

“Jules has done really well in certain instances,” said Fraser.

Vilsaint turned heads Aug. 16 when he scored the tying goal in a 1-1 draw with visiting Columbus on Aug. 16. Vilsaint’s 77th-minute goal came three minutes into his TFC debut, the fastest in club history. Before that, the fastest debut strike timing was 13 minutes, by Justin Braun (in April 2013).

“He’s a player that we’re intrigued by,” Fraser said of Vilsaint. “It’s not too often you see six-foot-four guys with feet that soft and good soccer sense.

“He’s a player that certainly we want to have some questions answered by the end of the year.”

Two of his Vilsaint’s four career MLS goals have come against Columbus, including his first as a professional in a 4-2 Montreal home loss in September 2023.

TFC has drawn its last five games — against Philadelphia, Columbus, Atlanta, Montreal and New England. It has conceded — and scored — just four goals since its last loss, a 2-0 setback July 26 at Charlotte.

In contrast the Crew have given up seven goals in their last two outings. Columbus is coming off a 3-2 midweek loss at New York City FC, conceding a 94th-minute winner, and almost blew a 5-0 lead in a 5-4 win at Atlanta United last Saturday.

Columbus has won just one of its last six league outings (1-3-2).

“The reality is we concede too many goals,” coach Wilfried Nancy said after the NYCFC loss. “We’ve conceded seven goals in two games, simple as that. We score goals, but we concede goals. This is not the same goals that we concede every game. Regarding Atlanta the way we conceded and today the way we conceded, this is another situation. This is the reality.”

Fraser, who finished his playing career in Columbus, isn’t taking the Crew lightly, despite the recent defensive lapses.

“They’re excellent,” he said. “They play really well. They have a philosophy and a game model that they’ve achieved a great deal of success with … Yes, they’ve given up a few goals in the last two games but if you look at the body of work over the two to three years, they’re much more in the positive than they are in the negative.”

A hamstring injury forced Columbus star forward Diego Rossi out of the Atlanta game in the 42nd minute after completing a hat trick. Rossi, who leads the team with 16 goals, is expected to be out two to four weeks.

That puts the offensive onus on Canadian Jacen Russell-Rowe, a former member of the Toronto FC academy who has seven goals for Columbus this season.

Toronto is missing veteran centre back Kevin Long, who hurt his hamstring last Saturday in the 1-1 draw at New England. But captain Jonathan Osorio and forward Deandre Kerr, who also went down last week, were back in training this week after sitting out a few days.

“I think they’ll both be available,” said Fraser.

Columbus holds a 20-11-14 edge in the all-time series with Toronto, which is looking to record its first road victory over the Crew since May 2017.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 19, 2025.