The New York Red Bulls sure do like facing Toronto FC. In 43 all-time meetings between the two sides, the Red Bulls own a 24-9-10 record and are unbeaten in their past 12 regular-season matches against the Canadian club, going 9-0-3 in that span.
The Red Bulls look to continue that success when they visit Toronto on Wednesday.
New York (8-7-3, 27 points) has won each of the past four matches overall against Toronto and is riding a five-match unbeaten streak as the visitors. The Red Bulls, who are eighth in the Eastern Conference, will be hoping for the latter to help a team that is just 1-6-2 on opposing pitches this season. It’s a stark contrast from their results at home, where they are 7-1-1.
Their lone road victory came a month ago, a 2-0 triumph at D.C. United.
“It’s always important to get the result, but it’s only because we’ve only won one game on the road,” New York coach Sandro Schwarz said. “It’s always that we feel the pressure. … It’s necessary when we want to (have) the best performance each game.”
The Red Bulls are expected to have defender Omar Valencia available for Wednesday’s match. The 21-year-old missed the last match against Austin FC on June 14 with an injury sustained against Atlanta United on May 31.
Toronto, meanwhile, will try to shake off a disappointing first half of the season when it returns to action for the first time in nearly a month.
Toronto (3-10-4, 13 points) sits 14th in the Eastern Conference, just two points out of last place. It hasn’t played since May 31, falling 2-0 at home to Charlotte FC. That was Toronto’s third straight loss and sixth in the past eight matches.
“The first half of the season is over,” Toronto coach Robin Fraser said. “What happened happened, and only we can affect the second half of the season. I think the training has been really good. I feel like they’re in a good place. We know we have a big mountain to climb. But we’ve talked about it a lot during this break and I feel they’re pretty ready for it.”
Toronto returns to the pitch without captain Jonathan Osorio, who sustained a lower-body injury while training with Canada at the CONCACAF Gold Cup, and could still be without star forward Federico Bernardeschi.
Bernardeschi, who has missed the past two matches because of a suspension and a muscle strain, worked out with a trainer away from the main group Tuesday and no word had been given on his potential availability. He leads Toronto with four goals and four assists in 15 matches.
–Field Level Media
