Toronto FC will need all-hands-on-deck in order to fly over The Herons on Saturday

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Heading into a crucial match at Inter Miami on Saturday night, the Toronto FC forward brigade remains stone cold, and not in a cool Steve Austin sort of way.

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TFC coach Bob Bradley is doing everything he can to light a fire under his two veteran forwards – Jesus Jimenez and Ayo Akinola – but nothing seems to be happening. Bradley inserted the 22-year-old Akinola in the starting XI against the visiting New England Revolution on Wednesday night in place of Jimenez to try to shake things up. Akinola had a couple of decent scoring chances but left the game with nothing on the board. Jimenez came in the 65th minute and missed at least one really good chance. Both are mired in an awful slump. Despite sitting second on the team with eight goals, Jimenez hasn’t scored in 10 straight games while Akinola hasn’t found the back of the goal in his last 12 appearances.

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If not for TFC’s Italian stars, as well as Canadian midfielder Jonathan Osorio, the Reds would be in deep trouble. As it is, heading into Saturday’s match at DRV PNK Stadium, TFC (8W 12L 6D) continues to pick up points and sit in the 11th spot in the MLS Eastern Conference with 30 points, three points out of a playoff spot with eight games remaining. The toughest part of reaching the postseason for Toronto is the fact that would have to pass four teams in order to reach the playoff line, one of those clubs being Inter Miami (9W 12L 6D), a club tied with Florida rival Orlando City for the last playoff spot with 33 points (The Herons also have one game in hand over Toronto). Obviously, Saturday’s game is huge for both teams.

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“We’ve not let anything faze us so far this year – that part has been really, really good,” said TFC captain Michael Bradley, following the Reds’ 2-2 draw against the New England Revolution on Wednesday night at BMO Field, a game that TFC dominated. “The mentality, the resolve of the group has been incredible. We’ll be ready to step on the field in Miami on Saturday night and really go for it.”

Saturday’s match will feature be Il Magnifico vs. The Maestro – a new TFC star against a former Reds’ great.

Il Magnifico – winger Lorenzo Insigne – and his two Italian teammates on TFC – have been lights-out since joining their new MLS club last month. Federico Bernardeschi (four goals and two assists), Insigne (two goals and an assist) and defender Domenico Criscito (one goal) have now been involved in 10 of TFC’s last 12 goals in MLS action, including both goals on Wednesday. Bernardeschi scored a goal for the third consecutive match against the Revs to become the first player in club history to score in his first three MLS home matches for the Reds. Criscito scored his first goal for TFC.

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The Maestro – former TFC standout Alejandro Pozuelo – was traded to Miami in July, and scored his first two goals in Miami’s 3-2 come-from-behind win over New York City FC last Saturday. Pozuelo had 28 goals and 34 assists during his career in Toronto – those 62 goal contributions ranking fourth-most in Reds’ MLS history (including playoffs).

With the 2-2 draw against the Revolution on Wednesday, TFC has now picked up 11 points and remain unbeaten in their last five MLS matches (W3 D2). The Reds haven’t gone more than five straight games without a defeat since a nine-match unbeaten run in Sept.-Oct. 2020.

“The football that we’re trying to play and what we’re trying to do, it’s pretty clear,” said Michael Bradley. “We’re trying to make more of our football, to score more goals, to create more big chances to reward ourselves more. And at the same time in this last stretch, we’re not giving away a ton. We have more control – that control leads to giving away less chances, less big chances.”

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“So Miami, we’ll look at them,” he added. “They have a good team, they’re on a good little run, but the way that we’ll try to go about it won’t change for them.”

After a 2-1 TFC win in the first MLS meeting between the two sides, Inter Miami has won three straight matches against Toronto.

“Coming into Miami, we definitely want to pick up three points for sure because just this game alone we felt like we could have closed the gap even close because we’re trying to chase New England basically at this point,” said Akinola, following the draw against the Revs.

“I think if we come in with the mentality that we’re coming to beat them, we climb the standings more and more, so I feel like they’re more under pressure than we are,” Akinola said of Miami. “We feel pretty good about our performance, we just needed to create finishing, but I’m pretty sure it’s not going to be like that almost every game. We’re going to finish our chances when we have the opportunity. So just coming into Miami, I feel pretty good about us.”

MORROW EMBARKS ON HARVARD FELLOWSHIP

According to journalist Jeff Carlisle, former TFC defender Justin Morrow is six months into a two-year fellowship via the Global Sports Initiative at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. Morrow’s focus is on athlete activism as it pertains to combatting racial discrimination. Morrow joined the TFC front office in February as the club’s Technical Development Manager.

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