Toronto FC hosts the New England Revolution on Sunday evening in an important game between two Eastern Conference rivals.
Here’s what you need to know about the match.
WHY IS THIS SUCH A BIG GAME?
Well, for starters Toronto would like to rebound from last week’s 2-1 road loss to the Seattle Sounders, a game the Reds nearly earned a point from even though they were missing six starters due to injury, suspension, national team call ups and personal reasons.
More important, New England currently sits fourth in the Eastern Conference, one place and three points ahead of Toronto, although the Reds have a game in hand. The third- and fourth-place teams in the East will have home-field advantage in the first round of the MLS playoffs, so TFC badly needs a victory to keep the Revs within distance if they’re going to claim that fourth spot.
“Our design is to track down some of the teams ahead of us [so] this is one of those games that became very important. [New England is] also one of those teams that as the playoffs come around that you’re going to have to play or beat to get through the playoffs,” Toronto coach Greg Vanney said of the Revolution.
Also, a Toronto win would be a franchise-record 12th for the season, besting the franchise record 11 set during last year’s 11-15-8 campaign.
Sunday programming alert: Watch Toronto FC vs. New England Revolution in MLS action live on Sportsnet 360. Coverage starts at 5:00 pm ET/2:00 pm PT. || Broadcast schedule
REVS NO SOFT TOUCH
Unbeaten in six matches, New England is one of the hottest sides in MLS at the moment. The Revs won their fourth game in a row—their longest winning streak of the season—after manhandling Orlando City at home last weekend. New England has outscored their opposition 9-1 over their last four games.
Veteran forward Charlies Davies leads the Revolution with nine goals this campaign, two of them coming in a home win over Toronto earlier this summer.
“Once they get going and they get confident, they’re a handful,” Vanney said. “Because they’re active, they’re busy, they have good soccer players, they work really hard and they’ve got an arrogance and swagger about them once they get going. And you’ve got to break into that a little bit.
“I think, as we’ve seen, they’re sort of a team that can go in spurts. They can run off a lot of wins, they can also go the other way a little bit and fall into a lull. I think that’s really where their confidence is and right now they’re a confident group.”
TFC’S INJURY CONCERNS
In Seattle last week, Vanney was without defenders Ahmed Kantari (foot), Damien Perquis (quad), Nick Hagglund (knee), midfielders Jackson (hamstring), Benoit Cheyrou (ankle), Daniel Lovitz (heel), and forward Sebastian Giovinco (adductor).
Hagglund and Perquis could be available for Sunday’s game, but Vanney was non-committal after Friday’s practice when asked about the status of Giovinco, Kantari and Cheyrou.
Giovinco, 28, has enjoyed an explosive debut season in MLS thus far, scoring 17 goals and adding 13 assists, and has emerged as a leading candidate to win the league’s MVP award.
Needless to say the injury of the Italian goal scorer is a concern for the Reds as they fight for playoff positioning down the season stretch—they need their best player on the field at this crucial part of the MLS campaign.
One player TFC will guaranteed be missing is midfielder Collen Warner, who will serve the final match of his two-game suspension on Sunday.
Some good news: Jozy Altidore is back after missing the Seattle game due to U.S. national team commitments. Altidore has three goals in his last two matches for TFC.
MORROW IS BACK
TFC defender Justin Morrow missed last week’s game in Seattle so he could be with his wife as she gave birth to the couple’s first child. To read all about what Morrow had to go through to witness the birth of his daughter Chiara, CLICK HERE.
Mother and baby are doing well, while Morrow trained all week with Toronto and is expected to be back in the starting lineup on Sunday.
HEAD-TO-HEAD
The teams are meeting for the third and final time this season. New England’s Juan Agudelo and TFC’s Michael Bradley traded goals in a 1-1 draw on May 16 at Gillette Stadium; Charlie Davies scored a pair of goals as the Revolution earned a 3-1 home victory on Aug. 1.
New England leads the all-time MLS series with nine wins and eight draws in 21 meetings. The teams each have two wins (with five draws) in nine encounters in Toronto. TFC have not defeated the Revolution at home since a 1-0 win on May 22, 2010.
WHAT’S NEXT
Toronto FC travels to New York City FC for a game on Wednesday before returning home to host the Colorado Rapids next Saturday.
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