FT: Toronto FC 0-0 New York Red Bulls – Game thread, preview, how to watch
Live Thread:
FT – That’s a wrap. It finishes goalless in Toronto as TFC’s winless run extends to four in all competitions.
90′ – Antonoglou gets a great opportunity late but his shot skips wide to the left.
90′ – Three minutes of extra time will be added.
89′ – Hugo Mbongue enters the match in place of Bernardeschi.
85′ – Bernardeschi on the break tries to find Insigne with a squared ball but it’s intercepted. Corner TFC.
80′ – So close! Insigne’s header is denied by Coronel after a killer cross from Bernardeschi.
75′ – Peter Stroud picks up a yellow for the visitors.
72′ – The away side make their first changes of the game. Cory Burke comes on for Manoel and O’Vonte Mullings replaces Cameron Harper.
69′ – Another chance on the break, this time it’s Antonoglou dashing down the left flank. His cross aimed for Akinola is put out for a corner.
67′ – Akinola is played through and the striker attempts a backheel to find Mabika who made a run from centre-back. The pass doesn’t come off.
60′ – Bernardeschi wins TFC another corner on the hour mark.
55′ – Johnson flies to his left to stop a curling effort from Tom Barlow.
48′ – Manoel is so close to finding an equalizer for the Red Bulls but his chipped effort dings off the crossbar! An early scare for TFC in the opening minutes of the second period.
47′ – Akinola gets an early chance in front of goal but his shot glides past the far post.
46′ – Second half action kicks off with a change at striker. Akinola enters the match at halftime in place of Sapong.
HT – We are goalless at the interval.
45′ – Fede’s free kick is saved by a diving Coronel.
45′ – Manoel is shown the first yellow card of the game. Free kick to TFC in a potentially dangerous area.
41′ – Kerr is forced out of action due to injury. Antonoglou comes on to replace him in the dying minutes of the first half.
38′ – The match is put on pause after Kerr goes down. Toronto’s forward is receiving some treatment from the medical staff.
33′ – Johnson comes out to punch a ball from danger but it only goes to New York’s Cameron Harper. The TFC keeper makes a quick reaction stop to deny his effort on goal.
30′ – From the ensuing corner, Sapong’s header from ten yards out goes just wide of the post! Toronto have gotten some good looks.
29′ – Insigne finds Bernardeschi in the box but his shot is blocked by John Tolkin! Corner TFC.
26′ – Bernardeschi wins TFC their first corner of the match. His ball finds Sapong at the back post but the striker is unable to convert the header!
24′ – A good chance for New York goes to waste as Omir Fernandez is unable to get his strike from close-range on target.
21′ – The visitors seem to be growing into the game as the half goes on. The Red Bulls are beginning to control the match in TFC’s end of the pitch more and more as the minutes tick by.
16′ – It’s been fairly stop and start here in the opening minutes. Insigne’s shot on target remains the only real opportunity for either side.
7′ – A good early chance on the break for Insigne but the Italian’s shot is easily dealt with by Colonel in goal. Kerr receives some treatment after a clash of heads with Dylan Nealis but the pair look good to continue.
1′ – The hosts get us underway at BMO. Come on you Reds!
7:25 pm – Views from warmups, courtesy of Sean Pollock.
6:55 pm – Mark-Anthony Kaye is a surprise omission from tonight’s contest. Cristian Gutierrez is part of his first matchday squad, with the left-back on the bench to start. Deandre Kerr is given his first start since the goalless draw in Nashville over a month ago.
6:30 pm – We’re approaching kickoff here at BMO Field where it will be a battle between the two sides bottom and second bottom in the Eastern Conference. Both TFC and the visiting Red Bulls are missing key figures, but both sides will be equally desperate for all three points. Lineups will be in shortly. Don’t forget to get your predicitons in here.
Starting XIs:
Toronto FC: Johnson; Petretta, Mabika, Laryea, Franklin; Servania, Thompson, Kerr; Insigne, Sapong, Bernardeschi
New York Red Bulls: Coronel; Tolkin, Stroud, Carmona, D. Nealis; Fernandez, Yearwood, Ndam, Harper; Barlow, Manoel
Match Preview via Aasim Hashim:
After a disappointing weekend in which Toronto FC lost to bitter rivals CF Montréal, the Reds will have to quickly lick their wounds and get ready for battle once again as they host the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday evening at BMO Field.
For some teams, a quick turnaround serves as a great opportunity to rectify the team’s previous disappointing result or lack of form and put a strong performance together. If given the opportunity, head coach Bob Bradley would jump at the chance to take a break and hit the reset button on his squad.
The team’s lack of form and mountain of injuries and the general sentiment around the club certainly needs a reset. Alas, we don’t live in a perfect world and so Bradley will have to soldier on with what he has available.
Unsurprisingly, since Saturday’s match-up, the club’s injury list has not gotten any shorter. In fact, the already shorthanded Reds will be without the services of Jakhele Marshall-Rutty as the Canadian will serve a suspension on Wednesday night after being sent off against Montréal.
The Reds, who have now lost their last three matches in all competitions and enter this matchweek at the bottom of the Eastern Conference, need to correct many aspects of their game. While Bradley and his coaching staff can only fix so much without key pieces of the squad available, one thing that they can fix in the short-term is the attitude of their players. It’s becoming more and more evident that this squad has players who are not playing for the badge on the front of their shirts.
For assurances that things can get better, the Reds can take a look across the field on Wednesday to see a club who have seemingly managed to change the course of their season. The Red Bulls, who most recently occupied the last spot in the East, have found immediate success after parting ways with their manager, Gerhard Struber.
A winless streak that saw the Red Bulls fail to win in seven consecutive matches was enough for the Red Bulls to replace Struber with interim head coach Troy Lesesne, who will serve as head coach until the end of this season. Since his appointment, Lesesne has guided NYRB to consecutive 1-0 victories in MLS league play and the U.S. Open Cup.
In their most recent outing, the Red Bulls were able to hold off their rivals New York City FC in front of their home crowd. American Omir Fernandez scored the winner in that fixture, just as he had done a few days earlier in the U.S. Open Cup against D.C. United.
The limited success that NYRB has had this season has come at home. Away from Red Bull Arena, NYRB have struggled this season, having picked no wins and three draws, in six matches on the road. It is quite a stark difference from the team that picked up nine wins on the road in 2022, most in the MLS, including spoiling the Reds’ opening day with an emphatic 4-1 victory at BMO Field last season.
Despite the club’s poor overall record, defence has not been the source of the Red Bulls’ problem; instead, it’s the fact that through 12 matches, the Red Bulls have conceded just 11 times, the second lowest in the Eastern Conference.
Leading the way at the heart of the New York defence have been Sean Nealis and Andres Reyes, who have appeared in all 12 matches this season. Unfortunately for the Red Bulls, however, both Nealis and Reyes will miss out on the trip north of the border as both players are suspended through yellow card accumulation. That is a stroke of fortuitous timing for TFC and an area that Toronto attackers should be able to exploit. That duo are just two of eight Red Bulls starters who have been ruled out of the clash with TFC.
New York has had the majority of success in this fixture and the Reds have failed on the road and at home against the Red Bulls. Including the aforementioned 4-1 victory at BMO Field, the Red Bulls have picked up at least one point in nine of the previous 10 matches in this fixture. The Reds’ only win over the last 10 matches against NYRB came in a 3-1 victory at BMO back in 2019.
Match Details:
Opponent: New York Red Bulls
Kickoff: 7:30 pm
Watch: MLS Season Pass
Stadium: BMO Field, Toronto, Ont.
I just got a crazy idea and bear with me on this one, but what if the home team actually wore their home jersey?
Stop making sense in a senseless season. I absolutely cannot stand these grey jersey’s while our opponents wear red at BMO.
We will have to start shouting “This is their house” next time the opponent wears Red while we wear something else at BMO.
I hope Kerr is okay. I never like to see head injuries, and it looks like he got two in about 20 minutes.
With consecutive head bumps it is really no option, he has to come out.
Team’s not great at handling the press, midfield non-existent, Sapong missed a free header, Bernardeschi not scoring while unmarked at the penalty spot and Kerr goes off injured. Lovely first half.
Let’s not forget Insigne’s breakaway chance!
We should have won this game based on the chances we had. We simply did not finish on our chances.
My eyes hurt after that I think there were more bad passes than good totally this jointed players taking on 2 or 3 guys because no one is supporting. At least the red bulls have fires their head coach, we are unfortunately owner by mlse so the bob malpractice continues, so is the amateur football that we are seeing displayed on the pitch…having said that we are only on red bull mistake away from perhaps taking 3 points.
Not wanting to be overly critical of players but the DP’s each have at least 5 give aways and both have had high percentage shooting opportunities. And, Insigne has been softly bumped off the ball in 2 challenges.
Only saying that to suggest it’s not just a young midfield that are stalling the attack. Let’s also acknowledge that Laryea is also charging the net and drawing fouls playing as a CB.
Both DP’s had a ton of give aways throughout the game. Insigne was much better in the second half.
One of the things you notice is that when some players make runs while the player with the ball keeps holding it and either turning back or trying to dribble through a herd of defenders, it just kills the willingness of the players to continue making runs to open spaces because they never get the ball (even attempts at making the passes don’t happen).
We all complain about M Bradley passing backwards, watching Servania, Insigne and Fede yesterday had me pulling my hair.
This team at so many times had the ball with a man advantage and instead of moving forward quickly we would either stop or turn back to allow NY to reset their defense and get more bodies behind the ball.
Also the gaps between the back line and midfield and midfield to forwards was too big and we simply could not get the ball moving unless we made long ball passes. Bob needs to correct this asap or get replace himself with a good coach (hell bring back Javier Perez for the rest of the season).
If Bob focuses on being the manager rather then the coach we may be okay.
Comme tators saying all that’s missing from Akinola is the end product. It seems to have been missing for a long time. I almost wish I hadn’t seen his salary. It makes me more frustrated with him.
Saying that all a striker is missing is the end product is like saying all a goalie is missing are the saves.
He’s OSL level
Don’t stress about his salary as he is classified as a U22 player and his cap hit is $200K. He was given that contract so that he would not be poached by another team while he came back from injury. I won’t be surprised if he is moved out down the road.
Commentators saying all that’s missing from Akinola is the end product. It seems to have been missing for a long time. I almost wish I hadn’t seen his salary. It makes me more frustrated with him.
Sorry. I thought I was editing the post, not posting it again. Am I missing a place to edit a post?
That was a good play between Bernardeschi and Insigne. Too bad it was saved.
One of the few good things we have done as a team the last few games
Let’s be honest, the DP’s had enough opportunity to put one away and earn 3pts. There was enough support from everywhere to say it was a step forward, even if against a very average team.
I don’t they are supporting each other nearly enough there too many times players (especially the dps) not having options around them to play the simple ball, having said that they both had opportunities to put the game away. The movement without the ball to come support is lacking so is the quality of the finishing as a whole. The team seem to also not have the same will and push as they did even last year say at nashville at Charlotte. The desire and belief to push on is fading by alot of players not just the dps.
Not enough by a long shot, agree. But in the first 15 minutes Insigne turned the ball over softly 3 times, more giveaways than good passes. So any young player trying to play off him would immediately adjust and pause their runs.
They don’t have enough discipline in practice to make the support automatic. You could see Kobe trying to attack and support so he knows what to do replacing Richie.
The biggest problem tonight was using the DP’s in the same positions they have failed at all season. One should be more central and on the ball earlier and that won’t happen in the 4-3-3 setup Bob is married to.
The last part you stated I think is the biggest issue (although I think they both need to play more central) the 4 3 3 is nearly impossible to have a positive outcome if u don’t have a quality number 9 and we don’t, add to that in that formation berna and insigne would have be alot more committed defensively because the mid gets over run when we lose possession, but that’s not playing to the strengths of the team now we got some injuries on top of that and yet bob is essentially asking
Kozy Thompson and sevania to produce results in the midfield which is an impossible task. The only way we get wins is if we get constant moments of brilliance from laryea and the dps which is also something that is almost impossible to occur on a consistent basis. This team isn’t put in a position to win and the main culprit by far is bob without a doubt.
Totally agree with you assessment. One of the things I have also noticed which supports your assertion is watching Sapong since he has joined the team. First couple of games he was making a lot of runs and there simply were no attempts at feeding him the ball. And subsequently from game to game you can see he is making less and less runs. Probably does not want to waste his energy.
One positive I noticed at this last game was Insigne talking to the younger players and guiding them. Perhaps this is a good step forward and we will see the rewards down the road.
But I agree with the giveaways, it gave me visions of Jefferson Soteldo.
I hope our DP’s realize that they don’t have to be a Seba…. just be solid players who are effective at raising the level of the players around them by making space, moving the ball quickly and being good leaders.
Bernardeschi wasn’t able to beat Tolkin all game. Tolkien’s 20 btw and on half of the salary that Petretta’s on. Not once have Insigne or Bernardeschi swapped wings. Basically nothing happening for them on their normal sides, you’d think they’d might swap for a few minutes at least but no.
Bad game of soccer all around even accounting for the injuries. This was on par with the snooze fest against NYCFC. TFC should be in the CPL and the Red Bulls should be in the USL. This was a bad display for the so called first division soccer of the MLS.
Some positives from the “deep bench”. Thomson, Kerr, Franklin and Antonoglou were all solid; not spectacular, but solid. Hopefully they continue to develop.
Franklin looks like a decent player.
Thompson was solid. Kerr unfortunately did not get to play enough due to injury. And Antonoglou shot late in the second half was an embarassment.
A few decent moments in the second half but overall midfield and forwards not supporting connecting well, again if that is the case the worst formation is 4 3 3 add to that we have no decent pro level number 9 but our coach is a fraud so he will continue to play that formation. This overall was hard to watch a game by two bad mls teams barely can be classified as a pro level game.
The back line pairing of: lareya, mabika, and petretta worked out well. Richie lareya is just class, he looked so good as usual. The back line had good moments, we played better this game although Red Bulls are almost as bad as us.
Macnaughton scored tonight in a win for Nashville, also playing well defensively. Trading him for Sapong, what a disgrace. Bob has got to be the worst coach in the league, and worst GM. Also, I know it’s harsh on the kid but what the hell was that shot by Antonoglu at the end, looked like he has never kicked a football in his life. That’s the state of our upcoming academy players? Christ.
You are correct bob is by far the worst coach and GM in the league he’s got that spot secure forsure.
I thought Insigne and Bernardeschi looked off form today, despite their efforts they had some tepid finishing. Akinola totally wasted the golden opportunity to score from Franklin. Laryea was best player, but playing as a centre back and as an attacking wingback… what a strange role. Franklin was also looking very strong defensively and helping spur the attack, and I expect he’ll continue to get better.
Midfield was lacking too many top players Osorio, Kaye, Marshall-Rutty, even M.Bradley to a degree.
I’m not convinced by B.Bradley’s coaching or substitutions at present.
midfield was poor tonight
Don’t forget Vasquez as well missing.