MLS weekend preview: Brief-handed Toronto FC in robust towards Nashville

Going up towards one of the best crew in MLS away from dwelling is hard sufficient. Doing it with out a number of key gamers is even harder. 

That’s precisely the task dealing with Toronto FC forward of Saturday’s street match towards Nashville SC. 

Nashville (17-3-6) not solely sits atop the general league standings with 59 factors, 25 spots and 28 factors above Toronto (6-Sep 11), nevertheless it additionally turned the primary MLS membership to formally clinch a playoff berth final week, doing so with eight video games remaining.

The crew from Music City seems to be like a lock to win the Supporters’ Shield, awarded to the crew with one of the best regular-season file, and is on tempo to set a brand new MLS mark for many factors in a single season (Inter Miami compiled 74 factors in 2024). They’re additionally unbeaten at Geodis Park this 12 months with 12 wins and one draw, simply the league’s finest dwelling file. 

Toronto has to cope with all of that whereas being short-handed for the journey to Nashville.  

Walker Zimmerman earned his fifth warning in final week’s street loss to St. Louis City SC, that means the veteran centre again, who used to play for Nashville, is suspended for this weekend’s recreation attributable to yellow card accumulation. 

Fullback Richie Laryea and defender Richard Chukwu (Canada) and centre again Benjamin Kuscevic (Chile) are additionally unavailable attributable to nationwide crew responsibility. Midfielder Markus Cimermancic (Slovenia under-21) will even be absent attributable to his first profession worldwide call-up. And DP midfielder Djordje Mihailovic, one in all Toronto’s finest creators, will miss his fourth consecutive match with a hamstring harm.

With three-fourths of his again line lacking, coach Robin Fraser must remedy a Nashville aspect boasting the fourth-best assault in MLS with 53 objectives. Sam Surridge ranks third within the MLS Golden Boot race with 16 objectives whereas Hany Mukhtar has 11. Cristian Espinoza is the crew’s chief playmaker with 12 assists.  

“I believe we’ve group of men, and [there’s] a cause why the crew has been constructed the way in which it’s — as a result of clearly we have to have depth, and we’ve defenders that we like and we imagine in. It’s totally different to not have the fellows who we see week in week out, however we actually have quite a lot of perception in the remainder of the group,” Fraser stated. 

Nashville has additionally conceded solely 21 objectives this season (one of the best defence in MLS), so breaking them down also needs to show to be a problem for Toronto. 

The timing of the newest FIFA worldwide window couldn’t be any worse for TFC, as they sit twelfth within the Eastern Conference, three spots and 4 factors adrift of FC Cincinnati, who maintain down the ninth and closing playoff berth with eight video games remaining. 

Being denied the providers of a number of prime gamers attributable to nationwide crew responsibility is unlucky for Toronto. But Fraser isn’t dwelling on it, as MLS typically doesn’t shut down for worldwide breaks, so this isn’t new for him as a coach. 

“It is what it is, and we have to deal with it. And we’ve dealt with this for 30 years in the league now, so it just has become part of what we do. We’re certainly looking forward to a time when we won’t have these [conflicts] anymore. Is it frustrating this time of year? Probably, based on where we are. If we were sitting at the top [of the standings], it probably wouldn’t be that frustrating,” Fraser said. 

The one factor TFC have going for themselves is that they posted a come-from-behind 2-1 win over Nashville at BMO Field earlier this month, handing the Tennessee-based membership solely its third lack of the MLS marketing campaign. 

“I don’t think [that win] serves as a blueprint so much as it gives us belief. Meaning, they’ll change things. They’ll have different personnel, so it’s not like we can do the exact same things,” Fraser stated. 

“But I think it gives us a measure of belief. Obviously, beating a team that’s at the top of the table, I think, will definitely have a positive effect. Having said that, there’s a reason they’re at the top of the table. It’s because they’re really good, and obviously we need to do a lot of things well, and we need to win our duels and that sort of thing.” 

Elsewhere in MLS this weekend: 

• The Vancouver Whitecaps will attempt to make it two wins in a row and three in 4 video games after they host D.C. United on Saturday. The Whitecaps sit atop the Western Conference, however three golf equipment are inside 5 factors of overtaking them. What’s extra, Vancouver’s subsequent 5 video games after this weekend are away from dwelling, so a win towards its Eastern Conference foes at BC Place would give them some additional safety (and presumably a bit extra respiration room) earlier than they hit the street. 

• Things look fairly bleak for CF Montreal, who’ll host FC Cincinnati on Saturday at Stade Saputo. Montreal has misplaced 5 in a row (winless in six) and has only one victory in its final 15 matches. Toiling in final place within the Eastern Conference (and second-last total), Montreal seems destined to overlook the playoffs for a second consecutive 12 months and for the third time in 4 years. Montreal shall be severely short-handed for this match because it’s coping with some accidents and 9 gamers shall be away on nationwide crew responsibility. 

• St. Louis City SC is certainly the most well liked crew in MLS proper now, and it’ll try to preserve its streak going when it visits the New York Red Bulls on Saturday. Last week’s 3-1 dwelling win over TFC means St. Louis is unbeaten in 16 straight MLS video games (18 in all competitions) and hasn’t misplaced since May 3. This unimaginable run has allowed them to climb out of the underside half of Western Conference standings and into fourth place, simply 5 factors again of front-runners Vancouver.  

• As far as the most well liked participant in MLS proper now goes, that honour goes to American teenager Cavan Sullivan. The 16-year-old midfielder has scored six objectives and tallied 5 assists in his final six matches for the Philadelphia Union, serving to them climb to sixth within the Eastern Conference. Unfortunately for Philadelphia, Sullivan gained’t be accessible for Saturday’s dwelling match vs. Orlando City as he’ll be away with the U.S. nationwide crew, which performs Peru in a world pleasant the identical day. 

• Lionel Messi is on a tear proper now. The World Cup winner has scored in every of his final three video games and has 9 objectives and 6 assists in his earlier eight MLS outings. Messi shall be trying to sustain his spectacular kind when Inter Miami hosts the Columbus Crew on Sunday. Last week, Messi scored his one hundred and first objective for Miami. He leads MLS in each objectives (20) and assists (13) this season and appears a really sturdy guess to win an unprecedented third consecutive league MVP award. 

• French winger Allan Saint-Maximin has hit the bottom operating since becoming a member of Charlotte FC as a free agent in the summertime with one objective and 5 assists in eight MLS appearances. He scored his first objective for the membership in final week’s 2-1 win over D.C. United and can attempt to add one other to his tally when Charlotte hosts the Chicago Fire on Saturday. It’s an important match between Eastern Conference rivals as Charlotte sits fourth (which comes with home-field benefit within the first spherical of the playoffs), whereas Chicago is simply 4 factors again.