• Matchday 10: Toronto FC vs New York City FC
• Date and Time: Saturday, April 26, 2:30 pm ET
• Venue: BMO Field
• Forecast: A gusty wind makes it feel wintry, 50 F/10 C
• Watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
• Apple Broadcast Team: Blake Price and Paul Dolan (English), Francisco X. Rivera and Diego Tabares (Spanish)
• New York City FC Radio: Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence (English), Roberto Abramowitz and Ariel Judas (Spanish)
• Officiating Crew: Pierre-Luc Lauziere (referee), Gerard-Kader Lebuis and Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho (assistant referees), Mario Al Ayass (fourth official), Kevin Stott (VAR), Tom Supple (assistant VAR)
• Kits: New York City will return to the light blue Excelsior Kit; Toronto will wear the red Club Kit
Welcome to Matchday 10 as New York City FC looks to stop the bleeding from a run of three losses suffered across the last four matches played.
To do so, they'll have to get a result on the road against a Toronto FC side unbeaten in their last four games and coming off their first 2025 win, squeaking past a 10-man Real Salt Lake 1-0 while playing at altitude in Sandy, Utah.
New York City failed to score in three of their five away matches played so far this season, including in last weekend's dispiriting 2-0 loss to New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium.
Can the team's sputtering attack find more success against Robin Fraser's TFC, the team with the worst expected goal difference (xGD, -5.8) in the Eastern Conference?
New York City vs Toronto H2H
| GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 27 | 11 | 7 | 9 | 45 | 46 | -1 |
New York City is ahead in the historic H2H with Toronto thanks to recent form: NYCFC's record of 4W-0D-1L in the last five matchups, with 13 goals scored and just 3 goals, lifts the club's overall record.
The most recent matchup was New York City's 3-2 away win in Toronto. The tense game devolved into one of the ugliest confrontations in Major League Soccer last year, and that ended with six players – five from Toronto and one from New York City – plus ex-Toronto head coach John Herdman earning suspensions for their behavior.
On top of that, Herdman and his team accused former New York City head coach Nick Cushing of punching a Toronto player at a previous game — the allegation was never proved, and an inquiry by the league cleared Cushing of wrongdoing without fully exonerating him. A few months later, Herdman was swept up in the Dronegate scandal and found by Canada Soccer to have created a "culture of spying" and fear when he was head coach of the national team. Herdman later resigned, and is currently without a managerial position.
Oliver Strand
New York City Scouting Report
• Player Availability: Mitja Ilenič (leg) is out, as are Malachi Jones (leg) and Jacob Arroyave (knee).
• It's been a streak of eight away matches played (0W-3D-5L, 5 G/12 GA, -7 GD) since New York City last won on the road — the playoff 0-0 draw-turned-win at FC Cincinnati is just a draw for our purposes, as there's no PK shootout following any potential TFC-NYCFC tie today.
• Tayvon Gray looked sharp in a return to MLS action vs the Revs, involved in both of New York City's shots on target and even voted Player of the Match by HRB readers. Gray started and went the full 90 minutes when New York City went to Toronto and won 3-2 in 2024 and he might need to do it again.
• What will Pascal Jansen's midfield look like in Toronto? Jonathan Shore was asked to do all the defensive midfield work alone in the first half at Gillette Stadium and it didn't go well, with the 18-year-old removed at halftime and replaced by Keaton Parks. With Parks and Andrés Perea, like Gray returning from an injury absence, coming on in the second half against New England, it's hard to say who will get handed the starts centrally at BMO Field.
• Lot of doubts also being raised about this New York City attack and the progress, or lack thereof, made by U22 Initiative signings Agustín Ojeda and Julián Fernández. Ojeda still has zero goal contributions in 2025 despite two straight starts while Fernández has one goal and two assists, but has been limited to two brief substitute appearances since being removed after 40 minutes during the 2-1 home loss to Minnesota United.
• Matt Freese recorded his most saves in a single game during the 2024 season in New York City's last trip to Toronto. Freese made nine saves in NYCFC's 3-2 away win, in perfect balance with the zero saves he made at Yankee Stadium when the two teams first met last season (also a win for Freese and New York City).
• One player unlikely to be in the lineup is Aiden O'Neill. New York City's new-car-smell midfielder is still awaiting his visa.
• For all the prep you need on this year's Toronto FC, read Matthew Mangam's latest Oppo Research with John Molinaro of TFC Republic. Matthew and John cover TFC's new look under new (but also returning) coach Robin Fraser, how the team's new signings have acclimated, and why old New York City friend Sean Johnson might decide the result on Matchday 10.
Matthew Mangam
