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Orlando City vs. CF Montreal: Five Takeaways

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3 years ago

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Orlando City failed at home in spectacular fashion Wednesday night against a CF Montreal team that sat at .500 even though it had gone 2-1-2 in its previous five matches. The 4-2 loss was troubling, but it’s not panic time just yet. Teams go through ups and downs over the course of a 34-game season and Orlando came out of a seven-game unbeaten run prior to these last couple of subpar performances.

Let’s take a look at Wednesday’s match to see what we can glean.

Seeing Red

Two Lions were sent off, which means not only did the club have to play shorthanded on Wednesday, but Orlando City will also do so this Sunday in Philadelphia. Nani and Andres Perea hit the showers early for different reasons against Montreal and that’s not great for Sunday either. Nani’s marching orders came on a pair of first-half yellow cards. The first of those was due to a set piece miscue. A soft and seemingly unexpected pass forced him to try to reach a ball before Montreal could pounce and break with the Lions’ defense forward for the free kick. The second was his own doing, as he got caught in possession, gave away the ball, and then compounded the problem by fouling from behind on a Montreal transition.

Perea’s foul was an intentional attempt to prevent a 1-v-1 scoring chance but the young midfielder was banking on getting a yellow with teammate Antonio Carlos racing down the middle of the pitch in an effort to get back. Referee Rubiel Vazquez was of the opinion that Carlos was not in a position to potentially get involved in the play and therefore Perea denied a clear goal-scoring opportunity, so the red was shown. Carlos has pretty good wheels, so I’m not sure I agree with Vazquez’s assessment, but it’s a judgment call.

Neither of these would likely be overturned on appeal, so Orlando City should just swallow them and move on.

Counter Punched

Both red cards for Orlando and a couple of the Montreal goals were created by something the Lions did all night — give the ball away. The Lions were fine in their own end but struggled to connect passes in the attacking half. The team was simply too sloppy. Passes were often telegraphed or sent at improper angles or were poorly weighted. Sometimes two players simply weren’t on the same page, such as when Mauricio Pereyra picked out a vertical pass, only to see Daryl Dike make a diagonal run. All of these things led to Montreal collecting the ball and quickly creating trouble in transition. The Lions took turns starting the counter attack for Montreal — Emmanuel Mas, Pereyra, Perea, Junior Urso, Nani, Dike, etc. Montreal’s quickness in transitioning from defense to offense was a problem for Orlando all night but if the Lions had been less careless with the ball, it could have been avoided entirely.

Adding Injury to Insult

Usually the saying is the other way around, but in this case Wednesday night’s match added injuries to the insults that Montreal’s goals heaped on the Lions. In addition to losing Nani to two yellows in the first half, Orlando lost two wingers in a 10-minute span. Silvester van der Water felt something amiss and asked to come off. His replacement, Chris Mueller, was only on for four minutes plus stoppage time but then had to come out of the game at halftime for tweaking an ankle. Losing two hard-working players who can create certainly hindered Orlando’s chances in the match and now we’ll have to wait to see if either or both are unavailable for Sunday. Additionally, Pedro Gallese seemed to have a groin issue after having to change directions quickly to try to prevent a corner kick. The team was down to just Sebas Mendez, Alexandre Pato, and Mason Stajduhar on the injury report and now the list might start growing again.

We didn’t get an opportunity to ask Pareja after the game about Joao Moutinho, who wasn’t in the match day lineup. It’s possible that was just to manage Moutinho’s minutes, but it’ll bear watching on Sunday.

Fool’s (Purple &) Gold

Oscar Pareja liked the fight that his team showed in tying the match while down a man after going behind by two goals. Many Orlando City fans likely felt the team was back in the game and had a chance to get a result after Robin Jansson and Ruan scored to tie the match at 2-2. But it was false hope for Orlando. Montreal had been kicking the ball around the pitch prior to Ruan’s goal and didn’t seem terribly interested in attacking or taking on players in space. The visitors were content to play the ball to open teammates while they didn’t need any goals to get the win. Once Orlando tied the score, Montreal went back into attack mode, won several set pieces, took on defenders, scored, and took back control of the game.

Agent of Chaos

One of my favorite sayings this season has been that Ruan is an agent of chaos. Whatever he does on the pitch, the Brazilian Bullet is always involved in some way — for good or bad. The right back was so far inside on Montreal’s first goal that he couldn’t recover and prevent Romell Quioto from picking out his spot with the entry ball. Ruan was also part of the set piece gaffe that led to Nani’s first yellow card. In addition, the speedster went down too easily in the box on one occasion, trying to draw a penalty — he often tries harder to win a foul than he does to beat his man. On that play, he should have played a cross to a teammate who looked to be in a good position to score if he’d received a pass. He can feel free to fall down after the pass and have just as good a chance to win the foul in that situation.

But, on the other hand, Ruan did stray inside to score the second Orlando goal. He also made some good runs down the right and on one of them his cross hit traffic in front and fell for Dike, who inexplicably missed the empty net from about eight yards out with the goalkeeper lying on the ground. Ruan sometimes ignores opportunities to get to the end line, opting to circle back and make a negative pass or to cut inside and pick out a teammate, only to then come to a stop and not be available when that teammate is closed down. He’s exceedingly dangerous when he gets to the end line. Even if he’s not the best crosser, sending in a hard, low pass into traffic in the box from there accomplishes the same thing that Ruan does — it creates chaos.

Bonus Takeaways!

  • Slow Mo — Pereyra may be playing through a knock right now — whether he is or how severe it is, we’re not sure — but even when at 100%, it appears he may no longer possess the speed he needs to be as effective in MLS as we’d all like. He’s a fabulous passer and, when given time and space, can turn a game with one kick of the ball, but he often is caught and dispossessed or gets pressured into a mistake by a faster opposing midfielder closing him down, and being a step slow is the reason why he gets most of his yellow cards.
  • Please Stand Up — Mueller was on the pitch for four minutes of regular time and five minutes of stoppage time and he fell down at least three times. But Cash wasn’t the only one. Mas and others had trouble maintaining their feet in the match. Montreal didn’t seem to have the same issue, so I’m ruling out the pitch conditions. I don’t know if it was the wrong boots, concentration, or something else, but the slipping definitely impacted some promising plays.
  • Orlan_o City — Suddenly, there’s no D in Orlando. The four goals shipped Wednesday make nine in the past three matches, which is an unprecedented number in the Pareja era. The Lions scored two of those nine on themselves, which they at least were able to avoid on Wednesday. But the team has also conceded off of set pieces and/or restarts four times in the last two matches and that trend must stop.
  • Another Streak Ends — The Lions were an impressive 7-0-0 in 2021 when scoring more than one goal in a match. A win was almost guaranteed whenever Orlando put more than one ball in the net. That came to a screeching halt in the 4-2 loss to Montreal. That statistic helps illustrate how good the defense usually is since Pareja took over.

That’s what I saw from the Lions’ second straight loss. I thought the attitude was better than last Friday at Atlanta, but the execution was certainly poor, and once Nani was sent off, the outcome seemed inevitable despite Orlando’s brief rally. Here’s hoping the lads can gather themselves and get a result on Sunday but being shorthanded might contribute to extending this current skid to three matches.

What stood out to you against Montreal?

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Orlando City vs. Toronto FC: Final Score 2-1 as Lions Blow Late Lead at Home

Orlando’s inability to finish or to defend for a full 90 minutes was again front and center in a late home loss to the Reds.

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11 hours ago

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April 27, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Jeremy Reper

It was the same script for the Lions (2-4-3, 9 points) in a brutal 2-1 loss to Toronto FC at Inter&Co Stadium tonight. A lack of finishing chances and odd defensive lapses in an otherwise solid game turned around Orlando City’s 1-0 lead late and allowed Toronto FC (5-4-1, 16 points) to smash and grab three points in Orlando.

Duncan McGuire staked his team to a 1-0 lead by halftime, but late headers by Tyrese Spicer and Prince Owusu in the 87th and 90th minutes, respectively, turned things around quickly at the end. Orlando’s four-game unbeaten run is over, as is the team’s 6-0-2 run against Toronto, and the Lions fell to just 1-2-2 at home.

“Very disappointed obviously with a game that certainly had the necessity for us to add three points, win at home, and after these past four games just keep that momentum going,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said after the game. “And the end of the game is very disappointing for us.”

Pareja’s lineup offered up a couple of changes from the side that drew at Montreal, with Rafael Santos, Martin Ojeda, and McGuire entering in place of Kyle Smith, Nico Lodeiro, and Luis Muriel, respectively. Pedro Gallese started in goal behind a back line of Santos, Robin Jansson, David Brekalo, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson. Cesar Araujo and Wilder Cartagena started in the central midfield behind an attacking line of Ivan Angulo, Facundo Torres, and Ojeda, with McGuire up top.

The first half was a contrast in styles. Orlando City tried to work the ball up the pitch methodically, but the Lions were often their own enemy in sending an off-line pass or overshooting their intended recipient. The movement was a bit slow and predictable, and Toronto limited most of Orlando’s play to the sides once the Lions got into the final third.

The Reds looked to play direct balls over the top fot Owusu and Federico Bernardeschi when possible, and Toronto looked like the more dangerous team, despite having less of the ball and not getting forward often.

The first chance for either side was a shot over the bar by Owusu in the ninth minute from just outside the area.

Orlando had a few chances to play direct as well, but couldn’t pay them off. The first came in the 11th minute when Araujo made a forward run and made a fantastic pass to send McGuire behind on the right. However as the striker was collecting the ball and looking to get into the box, he was pulled back by Nickseon Gomis, who was booked. Referee Armando Villarreal ruled that another defender could have made a play on McGuire, so there was no red card. Ojeda went for goal on the ensuing corner kick but missed the top left corner just wide in the 13th minute.

Brekalo, who had picked up a knock a few minutes earlier, had to sub off in the 16th minute, with Rodrigo Schlegel coming on to replace him.

Torres tried to pick out McGuire in the 19th minute but the defense arrived to knock the ball back to El Cuervo. His second pass attempt was deflected off of him and out for a goal kick. Torres should have won a corner on another cross moments later but the AR’s flag came up and it didn’t appear to be a good call upon looking at the replay.

Orlando got beat over the top in the 28th minute but Schlegel did well to track back and knock the ball out for a corner kick. The Lions cleared the ensuing set piece.

Bernardeschi then started to get more involved. His cross in the 32nd minute went out for a goal kick, and moments later he got in behind and went down in the box but he was ruled offside.

McGuire sent Angulo behind down the right in the 34th minute. The winger could have crossed in but decided to cut back instead. His heavy touch was costly, as the defense arrived and knocked it out off of him for a goal kick, wasting the opportunity. Regardless, Orlando opened the scoring three minutes later.

The Lions finally completed a play in the 37th minute and it started in the back. Jansson pinged a long ball down the left channel for Torres to run onto. Once he got there, Torres put a cross into the box and McGuire got to it, knocking it in to make it 1-0 with his fourth goal of the MLS season.

“Facu played a beautiful ball and made my job real easy after a good buildup play,” McGuire said. “Good counterattack from the guys.”

Two minutes after the goal, Angulo tried to pick out McGuire but the striker couldn’t quite get onto it.

Santos was caught too far inside on a switch in the 42nd minute, which freed up Bernardeschi to cut inside and take a shot. The Italian’s shot fizzed just inches wide of the left post.

McGuire thought he’d scored his second in stoppage time. Jansson made a great play to deny a cross at the defensive end and Orlando broke in transition. Ojeda sent a gorgeous ball across the field from the left to McGuire on the right. The big striker scored on an absolute blast from a tough angle but the flag came up, and this time it looked to be the correct call upon seeing the replay.

“Martin played a good ball. Unluckily, I couldn’t stay onside,” McGuire said. “I mean, it was a good ball by him but I should have stayed onside.”

That was the last opportunity of the half and the Lions took their advantage to the break.

Orlando City held the halftime edge in possession (54.5%-45.5%) and passing accuracy (87.3%-84.1%), while the visitors attempted more shots (3-2) and won the only corner of the first half. Each team put one shot on target.

The teams exchanged corners early in the second half but couldn’t pay them off and the game settled into a bit of back-and-forth play. However, shots were rare in the early going of the second period.

Thorhallsson jumped up into the play in the 61st minute and fired a shot but it deflected out for a corner.

Toronto threw more players forward and started getting more looks. Gallese made a solid save in the 68th minute to deny a shot by Alonso Coello. Deybi Flores fired a minute later from outside the area but hit his shot wide. Thorhallsson blocked a close-range shot in the 72nd minute and the follow-up was sent wide of goal on the rebound.

Torres sent a blast on goal in the 73rd minute and Johnson did well to make a diving save. There was plenty of power on the shot but it was a bit too close to the center of goal.

Derrick Etienne, Jr. sent a header just wide of the left post in the 81st minute, but Gallese had it covered anyway had it been on target. The Lions were defending too deeply at this point and couldn’t get or maintain possession, allowing Toronto to push even higher up the field.

The visitors finally tied the game in the 87th minute and it had been coming. The ball was played out to the right and substitute Kyle Smith couldn’t prevent a Kobe Franklin cross into the area. Nobody picked up Spicer’s run into the box and a routine cross suddenly became a problem with Toronto outnumbering Orlando defenders in front of goal. Spicer put a lot of power on his shot and gave Gallese no chance.

The Lions nearly pulled the goal back two minutes later. Thorhallsson got down the right flank and sent a dangerous ball into the area. Angulo slid to try to get a piece of it at the near post but couldn’t make contact and Johnson smothered it.

It was a costly missed opportunity, because the visitors tied the game on their next attack. The ball again cycled out to the right of the Toronto attack and Smith again could not prevent a cross. Bernardeschi sent the ball to the left, where Thorhallsson had strayed too far from the back post. By the time he realized the danger, it was too late. The ball found Toronto’s leading goal scorer and Owusu sent a powerful header down into the ground in front of Gallese. The keeper was going down, following the flight of the ball but the angle of the bounce off the turf took it up and over him and into the roof of the net to make it 2-1 in the 90th minute.

Orlando had just one decent look in the five minutes of stoppage time. Luis Muriel was fouled just outside the left corner of the box. The Lions had possession so Villarreal allowed play to go on. The ball was crossed through the area and Cartagena tried a shot on the half volley but sent it over the crossbar in the 92nd minute. That was that.

With Toronto chasing the game and Orlando unable to maintain possession after the hour mark, the visitors turned around the possession, keeping more of the ball (52.3%-47.7%), as well as finishing with more shots (13-8), shots on target (4-3), corners (4-3), and passing accuracy (85.2%-84.9%).

“I think we’re playing the way that we want to play and we’re trending in the right direction but I feel like just two little mishaps in the end of the second half cost us the three points tonight,” McGuire said.

“In the second half we lost control of the ball and we lost control of the game and we couldn’t hold the result,” Pareja said. “That’s what we need to study during the week to see how we can be better, because after a good first half, in the second half we lost control of the game.”

The Lions are back home again next Saturday when they host FC Cincinnati.

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Orlando City vs. Toronto FC: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

The Lions welcome an improved Toronto side to Orlando for an Eastern Conference battle.

Published

22 hours ago

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April 27, 2024

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Welcome to your match thread for a Saturday night matchup between Orlando City (2-3-3, 9 points) and Toronto FC (4-4-1, 13 points) at Inter&Co Stadium (7:30 p.m., MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+). It’s the first of the two scheduled meetings between the Eastern Conference rivals this season, with the Lions set to make the return trip to Toronto on July 3.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of the match.

History

Orlando is 8-8-3 in the evenly split all-time, regular-season series. However, the Lions have won the last four meetings, sweeping the season series in 2022 and 2023. At home, Orlando is 5-4-0 against the Reds. City is currently on its longest ever unbeaten run in the series, compiling a 6-0-2 record in the last eight meetings.

The most recent meeting came on Decision Day of last season on Oct. 21, when Duncan McGuire came off the bench at BMO Field, scoring twice to beat Toronto 2-0. The teams last met in Orlando on July 4, 2023, with Orlando City putting the Reds to the sword on Independence Day, beating the Canadian side, 4-0. Cesar Araujo, McGuire, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, and Ercan Kara scored for the Lions, and Toronto finished with 10 men after Federico Bernardeschi was shown his second yellow card just past the hour mark.

Orlando City also romped 4-0 over the Reds in the previous meeting, Sept. 17, 2022 at Exploria Stadium. Facundo Torres, Kara, and Tesho Akindele scored for the Lions to go along with a Lukas MacNaughton own goal. The Lions won on May 14, 2022 at BMO Field, 1-0, thanks to a 92nd-minute goal from Kyle Smith, who flicked a header from a corner kick cross inside the far post to lift the Lions to victory.

The Lions went 2-0-1 in three meetings with Toronto FC in 2021. The teams played to a 1-1 draw at BMO Field on July 17, 2021. Jozy Altidore came off the bench to score the opener but Nani equalized from the penalty spot minutes later. Benji Michel drew the penalty, which was originally ruled a foul on the Orlando winger but was overturned after video review by referee Marcos de Oliveira.

The other Toronto “home match” in the 2021 season series came on June 19 at Exploria Stadium. The Reds were dealing with pandemic restrictions in Canada that forced the team to play home games in the United States. Orlando City built a 2-0 early lead on goals by Akindele and Nani, only to see Toronto tie the match by halftime on goals by Ayo Akinola and Jonathan Osorio. Junior Urso scored late to lift the Lions to a 3-2 victory. The teams first met that year on May 22, with Orlando City claiming a 1-0 win on Akindele’s goal.

The teams did not play in 2020 due to the pandemic affecting the schedule. Prior to the MLS stoppage for the pandemic, the teams met most recently in Toronto on Aug. 10, 2019, with the Lions grabbing a point at BMO Field in a 1-1 draw. Michel opened the scoring in the 69th minute but the Reds equalized off a scramble following a set piece in the 77th. The other matchup between the sides that season came on May 4, 2019, when the Reds walked out of Orlando with a 2-0 win on goals by Osorio and Jay Chapman.

The teams split their season series in 2018. Orlando City captured a 2-1 win at home in James O’Connor’s first home game as head coach of the Lions on July 14, 2018. Chris Schuler and Dom Dwyer staked City to a 2-0 lead and Nick Hagglund ruined the shutout in the 94th minute off a Sebastian Giovinco free kick delivery. The 2018 meeting in Toronto saw the Reds get a 2-1 win at BMO Field on Ryan Telfer’s 87th-minute goal.

Toronto shredded Orlando in a 3-1 win on July 5, 2017. Altidore and Giovinco combined to score Toronto’s three goals. Carlos Rivas gave Orlando a consolation goal. In the first meeting of 2017, Orlando out-possessed, out-shot, and out-passed the hosts, and played like the better team on the night. However, the Lions could not overcome a two-goal deficit and Giovinco’s first-half brace led Toronto to a 2-1 win.

The Lions got their first victory in the series on June 25, 2016, winning 3-2 at Camping World Stadium. Kaká scored from the spot in the 10th minute of stoppage time to win it. Cyle Larin and Adrian Winter each gave OCSC leads in the game, only to see Jordan Hamilton and Justin Morrow equalize until the captain’s late winner. The Reds took the second 2016 matchup in Orlando with a 2-1 victory, scoring late through Altidore. Tosaint Ricketts gave Toronto an early lead but the Lions fought back on a Larin goal. The teams also drew 0-0 on Sept. 28 of that year, with Toronto able to fend off the Lions with 10 men over the final 20 minutes of the match.

In 2015, Toronto took home all nine points in the three meetings, beating Orlando by a combined score of 11-1.

Overview

Orlando City enters on a four-game unbeaten run (2-0-2), including last Saturday’s 2-2 draw at CF Montreal. The Lions are 1-1-2 at home in 2024, but the win and one of the draws came in the two most recent matches at Inter&Co Stadium.

Toronto FC has shown tremendous improvement under John Herdman early in the season despite missing several key players with injuries. The Reds, however, are 3-1-0 at home but just 1-3-1 on the road in 2024. The team had lost three straight matches overall before knocking off New England last week. Now the Reds are on a two-game winning streak in all competitions, having beaten Rovers FC 5-0 in the Canadian Championship Wednesday.

The Lions will have to track forward Prince Owusu, who paces Toronto FC with four goals on the season. No one else on Toronto has more than two goals, and sitting on two is Lorenzo Insigne, who is out for tonight with a thigh injury. Orlando will need to be aware of Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty, who leads the Reds with two assists.

But perhaps the sleeping giant is Bernardeschi, who leads Toronto FC with 37 shot attempts and 18 key passes, yet somehow has no direct goal contributions on the season. Even if he hasn’t been producing end product, the Italian has been dangerous.

“Looks like we’re getting more cohesiveness with the boys and they’re gluing more things together,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said ahead of the game. “We’re reviewing things and have done in prior games, but since we’re not getting results it seems like it’s not happening. In the end, you have to win games, you have to get results, so the good things get magnified and the things that aren’t being done well, seem like you need more time to fix it. It’s indeed important to get results.”  

Orlando City will be without forward Ramiro Enrique (ankle). Toronto will be without Insigne (thigh), former Lions Richie Laryea (thigh) and Shane O’Neill (thigh), and Brandon Servania (knee). In addition, Deandre Kerr (foot) is questionable.

Match Content

Official Lineups

Orlando City (4-2-3-1)

Goalkeeper: Pedro Gallese.

Defenders: Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, David Brekalo, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson.

Defensive Midfielders: Cesar Araujo, Wilder Cartagena.

Attacking Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Facundo Torres, Martin Ojeda.

Forward: Duncan McGuire.

Bench: Mason Stajduhar, Kyle Smith, Michael Halliday, Rodrigo Schlegel, Felipe, Jeorgio Kocevski, Nico Lodeiro, Jack Lynn, Luis Muriel.

Toronto (3-4-3)

Goalkeeper: Sean Johnson.

Defenders: Nicksoen Gomis, Kevin Long, Sigurd Rosted.

Wingbacks & Midfielders: Raoul Petretta, Alonso Coello, Deybi Flores, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty.

Forwards: Jonathan Osorio, Prince Owusu, Federico Bernardeschi.

Bench: Luka Gavran, Tyrese Spicer, Aime Mabika, Matty Longstaff, Kobe Franklin, Cassius Mailula, Kosi Thompson, Derrick Etienne, Jr., DeAndre Kerr.

Referees

REF: Armando Villarreal.
AR1: Cory Richardson.
AR2: Logan Brown.
4TH: Brad Jensen.
VAR: Kevin Terry, Jr.
AVAR: Jonathan Johnson.

How to Watch

Match Time: 7:30 p.m.

Venue: Inter&Co Stadium — Orlando.

TV/Streaming: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+.

Radio: Real Radio 104.1 FM (English), Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish).

Twitter: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow along at @TheManeLand, as well as Orlando City’s official Twitter feed (@OrlandoCitySC).

Enjoy the match. Go City!

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Intelligence Report: Orlando City vs. Toronto FC

Get the inside scoop on Toronto FC ahead of Saturday’s match.

Published

2 days ago

on

April 26, 2024

By

Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Mark Thor

Another Orlando City matchday is almost upon us, and the Lions will try to extend a four-game unbeaten streak Saturday night and finish off an undefeated month of April. OCSC will do so back in the comfortable confines of home, as Toronto FC travels south for the first of two games between the teams this season.

A visit from Toronto means I caught up with Tomas Karageorgos of Waking the Red. As usual, he was very helpful in bringing us up to speed on TFC ahead of the upcoming match.

This is John Herdman’s first year in charge of Toronto. What sort of style does the team play under him?

Tomas Karageorgos: John Herdman plays a variation of a 3-4-3 or 3-4-2-1 formation that prefers to build plays out of the back. Herdman also relies on his center midfielders to win possession back and push the ball to either flank. German striker Prince Owusu’s constant pressure on opposing defenses has caused some turnovers in TFC’s favor. Owusu’s style of play has not only helped his teammates but himself as well — he has scored five goals in the club’s last six matches.

Run me through some of the additions and departures that took place during the off-season. Who are some new faces to keep an eye on?

TK: The four major additions that the club made was signing defensive midfielders Deiby Flores and Matty Longstaff; Canadian fullback Richie Laryea is back for a third time; and Irish center back Kevin Long. Flores has been described as a dog in the sense of not being afraid to get stuck into tough challenges. Longstaff was signed from Newcastle United and is beginning to play consistent minutes — he still has room to grow as he’s a young player. Long was signed from Birmingham City and has been a rock in the center of the back three. A strong aerial presence and calmness has helped to contribute to Toronto’s six clean sheets across all competitions this season. There’s not much to say about Laryea that hasn’t been said, he’s arguably the best defender in MLS when healthy. Another underrated signing was French defender Nicksoen Gomis from Sheffield United, he has had quiet-yet-consistent performances. Notable departures include Salvadoran goalkeeper Tomás Romero, Norwegian striker Adama Diomande, and club legend Michael Bradley, who retired at the conclusion of the 2023 season.

TFC has quite the list of injured players at the moment. Who has been filling in for the missing faces, and how have they looked?

TK: Lorenzo Insigne, Richie Laryea, and Shane O’Neill continue to miss action due to thigh injuries. Midfielder Brandon Servania is slated to return during the middle of the season as he is recovering from knee surgery. First overall draft pick Tyrese Spicer has filled in for Insigne and has two goals in his account for the club — he has a high work rate on both sides of the ball. Canadian youngster Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty is gaining more experience on the right side while Laryea is sidelined. Gomis and Sigurd Rosted have been taking turns covering O’Neill, and Alonso Coello is continuing to build on an impressive first season with the club in the absence of Servania.

Which players will be unavailable due to injuries, suspensions, etc.? What is your projected starting XI and score prediction?

TK: The names I noted above who are injured will be unavailable. Also, attacker Deandre Kerr is listed as questionable.

Predicted starting XI: Sean Johnson; Nickeson Gomis, Kevin Long, Sigurd Rosted; Tyrese Spicer, Alonso Coello, Deybi Flores, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty; Jonathan Osorio, Federico Bernardeschi, Prince Owusu.

Score prediction: 1-1. 

Thank you to Tomas for his insight into Toronto FC. Vamos Orlando!

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