The MLS weekend gets underway in the Big Apple on Friday night when the New York Red Bulls host the Eastern Conference leaders Toronto FC in a match which should be appealing to those who watch it.
The Red Bulls have stumbled in recent times and need to get their campaign back on track rather quickly while Toronto will be looking to open up a whopping eight point lead at the top of the East with a win here ahead of the rest of the matches this weekend.
New York Red Bulls
After their surprise home defeat to the previously struggling Los Angeles Galaxy last weekend it is now three defeats on the spin for the New York Red Bulls which is a run they won’t be used to in the regular season. In fairness they looked a pale shadow of the side that has dominated this Conference table in recent seasons against the Galaxy.
All season long I have felt everything that has come from the Red Bulls in attacking areas has needed extra effort. It is like nothing is coming naturally or fluently and eventually that sort of thing catches up with you and we’ve seen that recently. That is putting more pressure on their defence too which also isn’t coping.
Toronto FC
The Canadian side are blazing away with things in the Eastern Conference at the minute. They head into the match off the back of six successive victories in one of the best runs in Major League Soccer history and I’m sure they will never have been so confident heading into a match as they will be for this one.
Everything is going smoothly for the Toronto side. Even in a mad run of fixtures they have been able to shuffle their pack and still come out with the results so their coaching staff should take an awful lot of credit for that. Toronto have the best defensive record in the East and that is allowing them to express themselves up top.
Team News
New York Red Bulls have a doubt over Aurelien Collin who has a dead leg and may be forced to miss the game. That aside they look to have a full squad.
Toronto FC are going to be without Sebastian Giovinco for the next three weeks. He has a quad strain while Nick Hagglund faces longer on the side having torn a medial ligament. Jonathan Osorio is questionable.
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Betting
The general consensus would be that betting on Toronto FC without Sebastian Giovinco would be foolish but they played a couple of matches without him recently when they were saving him during a busy period and they won them both so although he is a loss it isn’t like they can’t function without him.
Right now and especially after last week I’m not sure I could be backing the New York Red Bulls against anyone especially against a side as tough defensively as Toronto can be. We’ve seen Toronto win matches on the road which is encouraging and given the way the two sides are playing I think Toronto to avoid defeat has to be the bet in this one even without Giovinco.
Tips
WON – Back Toronto FC (+0.5AH) to beat New York Red Bulls for a 4/10 stake at 1.90 with BetVictor
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