It's Matchday 12, and New York City FC are looking to get their first road win of the season when they face Toronto FC at BMO Field.
New York City are coming off a crushing home loss to Colorado Rapids that ended a five-game unbeaten streak. NYCFC currently sit in seventh place in the Eastern Conference with 14 points after 11 games.
That puts them four spots behind third-place Toronto, who have 19 points in 11 games — and are on a five-game winning streak in all competitions. While NYCFC had a matchday to forget last weekend, Toronto played what was arguably their best game of the year in their 3-1 home win over FC Dallas. Frederico Bernardeschi netted two goals that day, ending his season-long scoring drought.
• Matchday 12: Toronto FC vs New York City FC
• Date and Time: Saturday, May 11, 7:30 pm ET
• Venue: BMO Field in Toronto
• Forecast: Gray and cool with a chance of rain, 51F/9C
• Watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
• Apple Broadcast Team: Joe Tolleson and Greg Sutton, Moises Linares and Pablo Marino (Spanish)
• New York City FC Radio: Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence (English), Roberto Abramowitz and Ariel Judas (Spanish)
• Officiating Crew: Lukasz Szpala (referee) Chris Elliot and Tyler Wyrostek (assistant referees, Filip Dujic (fourth official), Chris Penso (VAR), Craig Lowry (assistant VAR)
• Kits: New York City will wear their light-blue Interboro Kits; Toronto will wear their red and grey Club Kit.
Toronto also played a midweek match against CS Saint-Laurent in the Canadian Championship. A heavily rotated side that started just three players from the Starting XI that defeated Dallas easily defeated semi-professional Saint-Laurent 0-3.
New York City vs Toronto H2H
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 26 | 10 | 7 | 9 | 42 | 44 | -2 |
The 26 games between these two teams are the second-most played between New York City and any opponent, trailing only the 27 games with New York Red Bulls. The 42 goals NYCFC scored against Toronto are also the second-most, trailing only the 43 cored against Columbus Crew.
As for the 44 goals against, that trails only the 45 scored by Red Bulls.
The recent head-to-head favors New York City, who have four wins and one loss in the last five played. All of NYCFC's wins came at home — they have 15 goals in those games, and allowed five. The most recent win was the 2-1 triumph at Yankee Stadium in March, when a short-handed New York City held on after Keaton Parks was shown a red card in the 68th minute.
New York City's last win at BMO Field was way back in October 2020, when Jesús Medina scored the only goal of the game. Taty Castellanos and Alejandro Pozuelo were on the field that day, while head coaches Ronny Deila and Greg Vanney were on the sidelines. It was a different era.
New York City FC
• Player Availability: Maxi Moralez (ACL) and Rio Hope-Gund (leg) are unavailable, although Maxi has returned to training. The rest of the squad is healthy, according to head coach Nick Cushing.
• We'll repeat a question we asked last week: Will Talles Mango make an appearance? The Designated Player has just 6' of playing time in 12 games. True, he was out with an injury, but the winger is so marginal nobody blinks when told that one of New York City's highest-paid players is, once again, not in the Starting XI.
• James Sands is one yellow card away from being forced to serve a one-match suspension for accumulation. This is a tricky time to navigate a suspension, with New York City still to face Philadelphia Union and New York Red Bulls in the seven days post-TFC match.
• Will we see Jovan Mijatovic get some playing time? The striker went the full 90' in New York City FC II's cups 1-0 win over Colorado Springs Switchbacks in the US Open Cup on Wednesday. But he didn't make much of an impact in that game, and failed to take a single shot.
• One thing is for certain: We'll hear Joe Tolleson on Apple TV. The former New York City play-by-play announcer for the YES Network is now calling games for MLS Season Pass, and he will make his NYCFC debut tonight.
Toronto FC
• Player Availability: Midfielder Richie Laryea (thigh), wingback Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty (thigh), center-back Shane O'Neill (thigh), and midfielder Brandon Servania (ACL) are unavailable.
• Toronto can field a strong Starting XI despite the injuries. A front line of Prince Owusu, Jonathan Osorio, and Derrick Etienne are always dangerous.
• Former New York City captain Sean Johnson logged his 99th career MLS clean sheet on April 20 when Toronto defeated New England Revolution 1-0 at home. The goalkeeper is in search of #100.
• Aching to learn more about Toronto? Read what John Molinaro of TFC Republic told us in Oppo Research: 5 Things about Toronto FC.
