Toronto FC visits Red Bull New York on
Saturday hoping to close Giants Stadium with a win, and its first-ever trip to
the MLS Cup playoffs.
Toronto, which joined MLS in 2007, enters the last weekend of the season among
six teams still competing for the final two postseason berths.
Toronto FC (10-10-9) is tied for eighth, one point behind Colorado, and level
with D.C. United, FC Dallas and New England. RSL is also in contention, but is
two points behind the pack.
Toronto earned a crucial 1-0 win against Real Salt Lake last week, but manager
Chris Cummins knows that effort will be wasted if the team can't follow it up
on the road this week.
"We're not in the playoffs yet," Cummins said. "We've still got next week and
if we don't perform next week then (the RSL win) has been for nothing.
"We must be professional and get back-to-back wins to get into the playoffs."
Toronto, led by backup goalie Brian Edwards' first shutout of the year against
RSL, is basically in a must-win if it hopes to reach the postseason.
"They threw everything at us, the kitchen sink if you like. Eddie's come up
with some massive saves for us today, he's been outstanding," Cummins said.
Colorado visits Real, and can lock up the seventh spot with a win. United, New
England and FC Dallas could all win to stay level with Toronto FC and the last
berth would come down to tiebreakers.
Toronto is without Carl Robinson and defender Marvell Wynne is doubtful with a
quad problem. Rookie goalie Stefan Frei could return, leaving Cummins a tough
decision to make after Edwards played so well last week.
TFC earned two straight wins over New York earlier this season, edging the Red
Bulls 2-1 on June 13 and 2-0 on June 24, both at BMO Field.
New York (4-19-6), which has played at Giants Stadium for the last 14 seasons,
plays its last game at the stadium before moving into new Red Bull Arena.
The Red Bulls lost to Real, 2-0, in their last match to finish the season with
no wins on the road. New York was 0-13-2 away from Giants Stadium, and is just
the third team in MLS history to finish the season without a road win, joining
the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2003 and Real Salt Lake in 2005.
New York's two points on the road ties an MLS all-time low, but it has earned
16 points at home and hopes to play spoiler this weekend.
"We have one game left and hopefully we can play spoiler against Toronto and
leave our fans with a win going into next season and into our new stadium,"
New York's Jeremy Hall said.
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