TORONTO — Toronto FC's annual Caribbean Heritage Match on Saturday features two teams desperate to celebrate a win.
Toronto and the Philadelphia Union are both mired in nine-game winless streaks (0-7-2 for Toronto and O-5-4 for Philadelphia). Their last league victories were May 18 (3-0 at New England for the Union and 5-1 over visiting Montreal for TFC).
"It's a squad that's coming in in a very similar situation to us," Toronto coach John Herdman said of Philadelphia "Missing a lot of players … Philly, they've have been suffering as well.
"When you compare apples with apples, this is a game where Toronto FC, with the team we'll be able to put out, we should be able to get a win at home. And that's our commitment, to really push to get that win to get our season back on track,"
Philadelphia coach Jim Curtin called it a "big" game for both teams.
"We're both struggling, we're both not where we want to be," he said. "I think both have more quality within the group than the point total shows, but I've said it before — you are what your record says you are."
Toronto (7-13-3, 24 points) has lost six straight in league play and is coming off a 2-1 mid-week defeat at CPL champion Forge in the opening leg of their Canadian Championship semifinal.
Philadelphia (4-9-9, 21 points) ended a five-game losing streak by tying the visiting New York Red Bulls 0-0 last Saturday with 18-year-old homegrown 'keeper Andrew Rick recording his first shutout in his third career start.
Curtin said the tie "stopped the bleeding a little bit."
"It's not going to be instant for us to get out of this hole that we've dug ourselves in. Now we have to regroup and go again against a Toronto team that is also hungry for a win," Curtin said.
Toronto goes into weekend play in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, hanging onto the last payoff wild-card berth. Philadelphia is 14th, just one point out of the East basement.
The two teams played to a scoreless draw when they met at Subaru Park on May 29. That marked TFC's last clean sheet with TFC outscored 21-7 in the eight matches since in all competitions.
Toronto has gone 0-6-1 in league play since that meeting while Philadelphia is 0-5-2. The Union have not been helped by the injury absence of Jamaican international Andre Blake, a three-time MLS goalkeeper of the year who underwent knee surgery in late May.
Blake has returned to training this week but his status for the weekend is unclear.
"We're at our best when Andre's back … If he's ready, he'll play," Curtin said.
Midfielders Alejandro Bedoya and Jesus Bueno and forward Mikael Uhre were back training after injury absences and midfielder Jose Martinez, back from Copa America duty with Venezuela, could see action off the bench.
The 37-year-old Bedoya saw 11 minutes of action off the bench against the Red Bulls after missing the previous four games with a quad injury. He is expected to play a larger role on the weekend.
Blake and Bedoya have 448 MLS appearances between them.
Midfielder Jack McGlynn and defender Nathan Harriel have left to join the U.S. Olympic team.
"Getting stronger but not at full strength," was Curtin's assessment of his club's health.
The team trained with 14 players for much of the week, he noted.
Toronto remains without captain/midfielder Jonathan Osorio and fullback/wingback Richie Laryea, who are away with Canada at Copa America. Wingback Tyrese Spicer and midfielders Brandon Servania and Alonso Coello are injured.
Reinforcements are expected soon with the transfer window now open in Canada.
Strangely Philadelphia, which went 10-1-6 at Subaru Park last season, has had more success on the road (3-3-5) than at home (1-6-4) this season. And Curtin believes his club could have earned even more points on the road.
Philadelphia has scored 23 goals on the road in league play this season and just 13 at home where it has been held goalless for the last 287 minutes.
"We've put up three goals quite a bit, two goals, which is usually enough take points on the road. (We) just haven't been solid enough defensively, and you've heard me say that now for a lot of games," said Curtin. "I don't know what it is, what's causing the goals to go in on the road and maybe a tenseness in front of goal at home, but it's something we have to fight through."
Toronto is 9-3-4 all-time against Philadelphia at home and is unbeaten in the last three meetings (2-0-1) at BMO Field dating back to October 2021.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 12, 2024
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press
