FT: Toronto FC 1-1 New York Red Bulls—Match thread, preview & how to watch

Live Match Thread

FT: Toronto FC 1-1 New York Red Bulls.

90+2—Three minutes of added time left here for Toronto FC to salvage a win and keep their five-game winning streak alive. A draw would still extend their unbeaten run to eight.

86’—Toronto FC dropping into a back 3 now with Auro, Mavinga, and Gonzalez and pressing high. They’re in a 3-4-3 pushing for that go-ahead goal.

83’—Akinola with another chance for Torotno FC but the striker scuffs the shot again! Not the best night finishing-wise for Ayo, but he’s had his chances.

78’—GOAL! New York Red Bulls 1-1 Toronto FC—Wow. Take a bow Kaden Clark. What a moment for the 17 year old who was signed last Saturday! He scored then and he scores again tonight! Wow. What a beauty. All of those missed chances coming back to bite The Reds?

75’—Richie Laryea limping here ...oh man that doesn’t look great. But it is a good sign that the Canadian is playing through it. Second striaght game we’re sort’ve caching our breath here with Laryea...

73’—CHANCE! Oh No! That was such a beautiful move but a shot from six yards out from Pozuelo is blocked by the Red Bulls defence! I can’t believe that wasn’t in the back of the net. What a play by Richie Laryea to get Pozuelo into that position. Poz should have three or four tonight.

66’—Right on queue. You only get this TFC insight here! Tsubasa Endoh the first substitution to come into the match tonight. Let’s see if this 25 minutes or so here can get the 27 year old going.

62’—CHANCE! Ayo Akinola with a great direct run in behind to get on the end of a Pozuelo through ball, but the striker gets his shot wrong at the top of the box. It wasn’t an easy chance on the run, but those are the ones that he & Jozy generally love to wrap their foot around. This game actually has been pretty entertaining much to my surprise. It was shaping up to be a bit of a bore, but I gotta say it’s been anything but.

61’—The kid has come in for Red Bulls... I say fight fire with fire Greg... #FreeTheKids

56’—CHANCE! Omar Gonzalez, come on... he’s been so solid tonight, but that was ugly. It was a decent ball over the top from the Red Bulls, but the defender gets a backpass header wrong and it puts the Red Bulls attacker in behind. Thanksfully, Q is there to bail him out as the TFC keeper makes himself big to make the save. It should definitely be 1-1 right now.

53’—CHANCE! Pozuelo gets in behind after Auro finds the midfielder streaking through the top but the spin slows the Spaniard down just enough for the Red Bulls to recover. Poz still manages to get a decent shot off, opting to try and place it rather going for power, and it’s comfortably saved. I’m not sure that was the best option there and it looked like Poz knew it.

52’—I should mention that Vanney said yesterday that he’d like to get Tsbasa Endoh going a little bit here down the stretch because he knows that he can help the team come playoff time.

46’—We’re back! And KJ mentions that some of the young guns Priso/Marshall-Rutty may get some minutes later....come on. This just got a lot more interesting. ICYMI: Read about the Priso signing from earlier today here.

HT: Toronto FC 1-0 New York Red Bulls—You can’t be too upset with that half if you’re Greg Vanney, but TFC look like they’ll need to dig in and find bit of extra energy tonight if they want to close out this game and come away with three points. Do you change anything if you’re Vanney?

43’—First time that we’ve seen Ayo Akinola played in on the counter, and he’s so dangerous. If that pass from Piatti is a yard further, that’s probably in the back of the net, but instead, RBNY are able to recover. TFC are trying to get one more before the break here...

38’—Richie’s gotta be a bit more wary of what he does after the play, especially with VAR nowadays. A few times now we’ve seen some extra curriculars from him...play with that edge, but know the line. Don’t need anything stupid now. Forgot to menton this, but shoutout this Quentin Westberg first-half save.

32’—GOA—Hold on. Nevermind! Off a corner, the Red Bulls strike a ball from the top of the box, and it finds the bottom corner, but Quentin Westberg argues for offsides and gets the call! It appears that someone impeded the TFC keeper & it definitely looked that way. The Reds may have caught a break, but I do think Q would’ve had that if he saw it all the way. Regardless, another bounce goes TFC’s way!

31’—That goal was a significant one for Pozuelo, who in just over a year, has his name among some of the club’s greatest.

22’—GOAL! Toronto FC 1-0 New York Red Bulls—GET IN! The Spaniard calmly rolls the ball into the corner from the spot as it looked like the Red Bulls’ keeper was expecting a panenka. It didn’t come and TFC have their lead! (Leads* Matthew, leads.)

21’—PENALTY! Ayo Akinola turns and strikes in the box off the corner and it hits the Red Bulls’ defender’s arm. Pozuelo coming up to the spot here...

21’—Another great strike from Pablo Piatti from distance! You can’t leave him open, he’s so consistent shooting the ball.

18’—CHANCE! Another half-chance for the Reds as Ayo Akinola receives a pass in the box, has space, but the striker can’t manage to get the ball out of his feet and loses his opportunity. TFC could be 2 or 3 up right now.

8’—CHANCE! Pozuelo with great chances early on as the first one is off a great run, while the second one comes off a nice Nick DeLeon low-cross. He definitely should’ve had the second one, and he probably would’ve liked the first one back as well.

5’—Interesting to see Richie Laryea on the left-hand side tonight and Auro Jr. back on the right. We saw them play opposite wings last game and have seen a numerous amount of combinations from Vanney this season.

1’—We’re off. Sorry, a little behind here, but we’re back. Let’s go, boys! I’m assuming players took a knee prior to kickoff, but just in case, here’s a friendly reminder to keep doing your part in the battling towards conquering racial injustice.

7:22 p.m. EST—Lead the way, cap. That content >>>

7:20 p.m. EST—A little late tonight, but friendly reminder to leave your guesses for tonight’s final score line in our Prediction League before kickoff!

7:10 p.m. EST—Toronto FC pregame shows should be mandatory. It’s not hockey season! Let’s show TFC some respect, especially with the fact that they’re in first place and the direction that soccer in this nation is heading.

6:45 p.m. EST—What’s going on everyone? We’re BACK! It’s Game Day and haven’t we all been spoiled with just how much Toronto FC we’ve been treated with of late? Just three days after beating FC Cincinnati, the Reds are taking on the New York Red Bulls this evening, a side they haven’t seen since last August. Both teams are revamped, with TFC looking for their sixth-straight win and another crucial three points which will hopefully further separate them atop the Supporters’ Shield race.

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STARTING XI

The Reds with a strong starting XI tonight as we were 10/11 on our predicted starting xi. Keep an eye out for the young guns on the bench, including Toronto FC’s newest signing Ralph Priso.

And for the bad guys tonight... damn this team is different without Bradley Wright-Phillips

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PREVIEW (Courtesy Aasim Hashim)

TORONTO, Canada—What a productive long weekend it was for Toronto FC. The Reds recorded a second consecutive clean sheet, a fifth straight victory, and most importantly, clinched their spot in the MLS Playoffs on Sunday night, with six games to spare.

Now, as the Reds prepare to host the New York Red Bulls on just three-days rest, their attention can shift solely to the MLS Supporters’ Shield. Kick-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m EST.

Greg Vanney was able to rest a handful of players on Sunday night and turn to his bench for some important minutes. The rotations paid off handsomely as it was Patrick Mullins who found the back of the net for the game’s only goal, and Eriq Zavaleta played a key role in the clean sheet alongside Omar Gonzalez. Mullins and Zavaleta’s performances earned both a spot on the MLS Team of the Week.

While both Mullins and Zavaleta will likely start Wednesday’s match on the bench, Sunday night should give Vanney the belief that he can confidently turn to his bench to help ease the pressure off of his starters.

The Reds will be without captain Michael Bradley, lead talisman Jozy Altidore, left-back Justin Morrow, and second choice keeper Alex Bono through injury. Sunday night also saw Richie Laryea be substituted midway through the second half as well. After the game, however, Vanney eased concerns over the right-back’s injury concerns, stating that Laryea should be available for Wednesday night.

Laryea provided the assist for TFC’s goal Sunday night and has become a key part of the Reds’ offence in recent weeks. If healthy, Vanney will likely turn to his in-form fullback to extend TFC’s lead at the top of the East.

Standing in TFC’s way of extending their season win streak will be the Red Bulls. New York is coming off of their own 1-0 win against Atlanta on Saturday after snapping a two-game losing streak. This Red Bulls team is a different team than in past years. They’ve particularly have had a hard time filling the gaps left by two-time Golden Boot winner Bradley Wright-Phillips. While the offence has been more spread out in 2020, not having a central figure like Wright-Phillips has hurt the Red Bulls offence.

Despite schedules, travel, injuries, bubble-life and other factors TFC have faced in 2020, the Reds have been playing at a historic pace. Even better than the 2017 Treble winning side.

Shortened season or not, this has been an incredible season so far for the Reds, and it seems as they’re not yet satisfied.

Toronto has been getting better and better with each passing game. Wednesday night will be another chance for the Reds to show why they are currently the team to beat in the MLS.

Additional Notes

• This will the first time that the Reds and New York face-off in 2020. In two meetings last year, each team walked away with a win on their home turf
• With 10 assists this season, Alejandro Pozuelo leads the league in assists and is the sixth Toronto FC player to record double-digits in assists in a season. Sebastian Giovinco (three times), and Victor Vazquez are the others. MVP status.

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WTR PREDICTED STARTING XI

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HOW TO WATCH

Who: New York Red Bulls
When: Wednesday, October 14, 7:30 PM ET
Where: Rentschler Field, Connecticut
TV: TSN 1/3/4