FT: Toronto FC 2-2 DC United—Match thread, starting xi, and how to watch

LIVE MATCH THREAD

FT: Toronto FC 2-2 D.C. United — Another one.

90+4—Massive from Quentin Westberg to keep the game tied.

88’—GOAL! Toronto FC 2-2 D.C. United—A mixup at the back as two centre-backs plus Quentin Westberg all go for the same ball, and the youngster Griffin Yow makes no mistake on the volley.

87’—Pablo Piatti was down. He was holding his hamstring. He did call for the trainer. But now he’s back on. No this is not a typo. Piatti defies logic.

84’—I know it’s been like a minute, but Laurent Ciman has managed to give the ball away like four times.

80’—That was close from Q, wasn’t it? Playing with fire near his own net. Laurent Ciman checks into the game for Nick DeLeon. 3-5-2, now? Odd.

77’—DANCE RICHIE!

75’—Zavaleta checks off for Chris Mavinga. I have to say, solid 75 from Eriq Z after a shaky start.

74’—Dance Richie! He has to be our best option at LW right now, no? He made a breathtaking run forward from RM there, playing an interesting role interchanging with DeLeon at RB.

70’—Two 17 year olds on the pitch for D.C. United? Fight fire with fire. Free the kids!!!! (Are they on the bench tonight?)

65’—VAR here for a Richie Laryea elbow? arm? Yellow card for Laryea, mini heart-attack there. But on we go.

60’—GOAL! Toronto FC 2-1 D.C. United — AYOOOOOO! Akinola makes his mark! A ball back into the box from Osorio finds Ayo, who heads home. He loves playing D.C.

56’—CHANCE! Marky Delgado wins the ball back in the TFC half, picks his head up to find Ayo Akinola on the counter who makes a nice move before laying it off for Pozuelo, but the Spaniard takes the ball too wide, allowing the defender time to recover and get a block in. Some more positive play from the Reds here.

52’—Pozuelo with his hands on his head as Ayo had a clean look at goal if he could connect on the pass. Very rare moment where Poz gets the weight of the pass wrong.

51’—Great start to the second half for TFC here. They’re threatening. Oso has been crucial in the midfield, playing that sort of Michael Bradley role.

46’—That’s a shock. Hope this isn’t injury related.

8:38 p.m. EST—Going to leave this here.

HT: Toronto FC 1 - 1 D.C. United—I don’t even know what to make of that 45.

45’+1—It’s like he can hear us. Jozy makes a great run to get onto the end of a ball, cuts a pass back, but nothing comes of it. A D.C. United player is injured after a collision with Pablo Piatti...didn’t think that’d be the way I’d type that sentence at the start of the year.

43’—“Over under for distance traveled by Altidore this match? 2 km?” — HeavyRedFlow | DKM. But seriously, his movement is day and night compared to Ayo.

36’—That was the 10 minutes Toronto FC probably needed. They’ve settled into the match now and will (hopefully) be able to pick apart D.C. from here. Of course, the counter-attack always remains a threat. 63 per cent possession for TFC compared to 37 from D.C..

24’—Yellow card to Nick DeLeon, veteran foul. He’s playing his former team tonight (once again).

17’—GOAL! Toronto FC 1-1 D.C. United—A cross from Richie Laryea is horrendously cleared, falls right into Poz’s lap, and he slots home. Tie game.

15’—I’m just guessing at the minutes as this point (there’s no score clock on the screen). But a few half chances from TFC. I guess that’s a decent response?

12’— “Ahahaha. Great joke guys. Can we stop now?” — Jeffrey P. Nesker | I couldn’t have said it better myself, Jeff.

10’—Chance! After a brutal header from Eriq Z in his own box, D.C. United hit the crossbar. Everything’s fine, right?

6’—GOAL! D.C. United 1 - 0 Toronto FC — I was just about to praise the Reds start, but a horrendous giveaway from Omar Gonzalez gives Ola Kamara the ball and he gets it past Q despite the TFC GK getting a hand to the ball. That’s definitely not the start you needed.

1’—Players take a knee before kickoff in protest of racial injustice. We’re off. It’ll be important to get off to a good start tonight, get everybody into the game.

7:30 p.m. EST—Any guesses? I’m thinking we see him in the 75th minute or so. And no, you don’t get prediction league points for this.

7:09 p.m. EST—’What minute does new signee Tony Gallacher come on tonight? He’s made it clear that he chose to come to Toronto in search of first-team minutes.’

7:19 p.m. EST—Expect a 7:38 p.m. EST kickoff tonight. Pretty weird not having a full 30-minute pregame show on TSN.

7:14 p.m. EST—As always, friendly reminder to get your guesses for today’s scoreline in our Prediction League.

7:09 p.m. EST—What minute does new signee Tony Gallacher come on tonight? He’s made it clear that he chose to come to Toronto in search of first-team minutes.

7:06 p.m. EST—If there’s one team that TFC could get away with playing Eriq Z at CB it is D.C.. With Ciman and Mavinga picking up knocks, now’s not the time to start taking risks.

6:55 p.m. EST—Alright, let’s reset the vibes here. As BandwagonFan15 pointed out in the comments, it’s 2020, perhaps Zavaleta will do well starting at the back. Crazier things have happened, right?

6:50 p.m. EST—An explanation for TFC’s Starting XI tonight via KJ

6:45 p.m. EST—Here we go. Let’s get right to it. Wait until you see these starting XI’s.

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STARTING XI’s

Here’s how Greg Vanney’s side will line up tonight. Oh boy.

And for the home side:

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MATCH PREVIEW (courtesy Brady Reid)

ST.JOHN’S, Canada— After an all-Canadian six match stretch, Toronto FC is south of the border and in the nation’s capital to take on familiar foes D.C. United on Saturday evening.

TFC were last in action ten days ago when Jozy Altidore silenced the minuscule Stade Saputo crowd, grabbing a late winner to secure a 2-1 win over the Montreal Impact, a result which ultimately helped them into the Voyageurs Cup final.

For D.C., it’s two Saturday night home games in a row as the Black-and-Red look to bounce back from a disappointing 2-0 loss to the New York Red Bulls at Audi Field last weekend.

Going two straight matches without a goal and scoring just four in an eight game stretch, Ben Olsen’s group will be desperate to get on the score sheet and back into the Eastern conference playoff race.

Olsen was relatively hush midweek on a number of his players dealing with injuries and how it might impact their availability for the weekend. Captain Steve Birnbaum and starting keeper Bill Hamid are both questions marks to feature against TFC, while midfielder Paul Arriola remains sidelined with a significant knee injury.

Reds captain Michael Bradley remains out for the time being, joined on the injured list by potential replacement Liam Fraser. With no injuries suffered in Montreal, expect the same starting XI that topped the Impact to take the field on Saturday.

Animosity has been the theme between these two sides in recent memory. Exactly eleven months ago to the day, TFC put four past Hamid in extra time to top DC 5-1 at BMO Field in MLS Cup playoff action.

Fast forward to July 13th of this year and Toronto looked destined for another lopsided victory in this fixture. 2-0 up and in cruise control with 10 minutes remaining in their MLS is Back tournament opener, TFC allowed 10 man D.C. to snatch two goals at the death and earn the most unlikely point in a 2-2 draw.

The objective for Greg Vanney’s group will be simple heading into this one: Play a complete 90 minutes.

For D.C, they’ll have something to say about the final outcome right up until the last whistle, as has been the case when these two go head to head of late.

In what will surely be a hotly contested affair, expect some fireworks at Audi Field Saturday night as two teams searching for three points and a jump in the Eastern conference table do battle.

Additional Notes:

• TFC and D.C. have played to a draw in five of their last seven meetings excluding the 5-1 ET Toronto victory from last October.
• D.C. United last scored two or more goals in a game in their 2-2 draw against Toronto back on July 13th.

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HOW TO WATCH