MLS preview: Revived Toronto FC meet tough challenge in Messi

TORONTO — After going winless in 12 consecutive MLS matches, Toronto FC has shown some genuine signs of life over the course of its last two outings.  

Last weekend’s win over the New England Revolution (the club’s first since April) was followed up by a wild game on Wednesday in which TFC came from two goals down in the second half to earn a draw against Charlotte FC while only playing with 10 men. 

Those results helped TFC (4-7-9) move up to 11th in the Eastern Conference, two spots and three points below the playoff line with 14 matches remaining in the regular season. But much tougher challenges are ahead for the Reds, specifically Saturday night’s road game vs. Lionel Messi and Inter Miami. 

Messi is having another MVP-type campaign in 2026 with 13 goals and nine assists in 17 appearances, helping Miami, the defending MLS Cup champions, to climb up to second place in the overall league table – 22 places and 18 points above Toronto. 

The Argentinian superstar seems to have enjoyed playing against TFC since he entered the league in 2023, scoring three goals and tallying a pair of assists in five contests against the Canadian club. Back in May at BMO Field, Messi ran rampant in scoring one goal and setting up two others to propel Miami to a comfortable 4-2 win over Toronto. 

Now TFC have to deal once again with Messi, who scored and registered an assist in a 2-2 road draw vs. the Philadelphia Union on Wednesday.  

“[Their] stadium’s gonna be full again, stars on the other team; these are the reasons we all wanted to be soccer players, to have these moments. It’s gonna be very difficult to get a result but the season’s getting to a point where you have to make up for points that you lost, and this could be one of those games,” TFC winger Dániel Sallói said. 

Toronto coach Robin Fraser made no bones about it in calling Messi the greatest to ever play the game. 

“There have been good players all throughout history who've done really good things and are really talented in certain ways. But I think on the attacking end of the field, I don't think there's ever been anyone like him,” Fraser said.

“Between his ability to beat people, his ability to dribble at speed with the ball so close to him that it's impossible as a defender to figure out the times that you can actually lunge at it, and then on top of that, his ability to make decisions at top speed, running at top speed with people around him, and his ability to still make decisions and execute – I just think it's been unparalleled. No one's done it like him.”

TFC midfielder Djordje Mihailovic concurred with his coach. 

“It's one of those things where you can't describe sometimes the type of player he is because he makes it look like he's playing in a park. He's been killing every single team, every single player that has tried to defend him for 20 years. There's just too many words to describe Messi,” Mihailovic offered. 

But don’t mistake TFC’s admiration for Messi as a sign of weakness.  

With the team battling to get back into the thick of the playoff race and with time slowly running out, Toronto has everything to play for when it visits Nu Stadium on Saturday for its final regular-season game vs. Miami.  

The Reds aren’t simply going to roll over against the MLS champions, said midfielder Markus Cimermancic, who scored his first career goal for TFC in the midweek match vs. Charlotte. 

“When I think about when we played Miami in May, there's a couple chances that I had in transition that if I was better, honestly, I think we could have scored a couple [more] goals. And I feel like against Miami, you always get some chances. Yes, you have to defend the greatest player in my opinion, but if we score our chances and obviously limit their chances, I feel like we have a good chance of winning,” Cimermancic stated. 

Elsewhere in MLS this weekend:    

• Alexis Sánchez will make his home debut in MLS when CF Montreal hosts the LA Galaxy on Saturday. Montreal made a blockbuster move earlier this month when it signed the free agent forward who scored 198 goals during an 18-year spell with a number of European clubs, including Arsenal and FC Barcelona. Sánchez is also Chile’s all-time top scorer with 51 goals across 168 international appearances. He came off the bench for the final 12 minutes in Montreal’s 2-1 road win over the Columbus Crew on Wednesday and could earn his first start for his new club this weekend. 

• Fresh off a midweek home loss to the Houston Dynamo, the Vancouver Whitecaps will try their luck against another Texas-based club when they host Dallas FC on Saturday. Wednesday’s shutout loss saw Vancouver leapfrogged by Houston for first place in the Western Conference. The Whitecaps are just one point behind the Dynamo and could retake the lead in the West with a win on Saturday, but have just one victory in their last seven matches across all competitions  

• The Chicago Fire will attempt to make it seven wins in a row in all competitions when they visit the New York Red Bulls on Saturday. Chicago have won three consecutive MLS matches – and six of its last eight – dating back to May 13. At the same time, the Fire advanced to the quarterfinals of this summer’s Leagues Cup – a competition featuring the best teams from MLS and Mexico’s Liga MX – by winning all three of their group stage matches. 

• The Portland Timbers will be vying to make it two wins in a row under new coach Martí Cifuentes when they visit Los Angeles FC on Saturday. The Timbers have played under interim coach Jack Cassidy since parting company with Phil Neville in May. Cifuentes, whose previous experience includes spells in charge of Leicester City and QPR, oversaw Portland’s 3-1 home win over San Diego on Wednesday in the Spanish coach’s MLS debut. 

• It’s a battle of the bottom dwellers on Sunday when Atlanta hosts Sporting Kansas City. Atlanta sits in the bottom of the table in the Eastern Conference, but the Georgia-based outfit is on somewhat of a roll with two consecutive wins, including a 2-1 road decision over Minnesota United on Wednesday. Likewise, Kansas City occupies last place in the Western Conference, having gone winless in its last four outings and with just a single victory in its previous seven contests.