Good afternoon! It's matchday again and our glorious club has traveled north of the border, to face a resurgent Toronto FC (7:00pm ET, MSG, Galavision, match notes here). Let's look at how both teams come into this one.
Toronto has come on strong, since Andy Dick's doppleganger (Paul Mariner) took over. Unlucky to come away with draws against Houston and New England, Toronto took out their frustrations on a hapless Montreal Impact, to the tune of a 3-0 away victory (this past Wednesday). TFC is surely not the team they were just about a month ago. The Canadians will look to ride the goal scoring exploits of Danny Koevermans (4 goals in the last 3 games) and continue their three game unbeaten streak.
The Red Bulls will look to continue the momemtum gained, after that thrilling 3-2 home victory last Sunday, against a bottom of the East TFC side. That said, they'll have to be wary of the much improved "Reds". None other than Thierry Henry has declared this "won't be an easy game". Dane Richards returns from suspension but Rafa "The Boss" Marquez is out through injury. With Marquez, Markus Holgersson and Wilman Conde (probably) out, the center of the Red Bulls' defense would seem to have a gaping hole right about now. With all that in mind, let's get to some predictions!
The great Matt Conroy (aka Who Shot Sam) has this for us:
Toronto won just its second game of the season earlier this week in Montreal. Yeah, they've generally sucked, but they have been better since Aron Winter got canned. In recent years TFC has been our bitch. I like us to score against their defense, which is still terrible, but I suspect we may let in a few as well. 2-2 draw. Henry and Richards for us. Koevermans scores twice for TFShite.
I'm hoping the Red Bulls can come away with a victory here, but today's Toronto FC team is not the same team from a month ago. The Red Bulls will have several key defensive players out and Thierry Henry will not be tip-top, match-fit shape. I'm thinking a 1-1 draw will be the result, with KFC breaking out of his mini-slup with a scorcher.
Tom Faust has this for us:
Though I was the only one with the cojones to predict an RBNY loss last week, I was never more pleased to be wrong. Despite the inexcusable 0:30 goal and the defensive laps that led to Pontius' second, RBNY looked strong. It may have been their most offense-minded game this year. However, it's not our current strength that makes me optimistic. Rather, I'm confident that two-win TFC will find a way to lose. If you saw them give away 2 points on a last-minute corner against New England, you know what I'm talking about. I'm calling a 2-0 Red Bull victory.
David Kilpatrick (aka Dr.K.) has this for us:
TFC are a Terrible Football Club at the moment and the Bulls have to be riding high with the win over the Scum Sunday. Still think we're good for a gaffe in the back but we'll cruise to a comfortable 1-3 road win.
Alrighty then! Make sure you check out Sub-Watch (right below this post), let's hope for the best and C'mon You Red Bulls!
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