Toronto FC (0W-4L-1T, 1 point) fell to a 2-1 road loss against the New York Red Bulls (2W-1L-2T, 8 points) at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Harrison, New Jersey on Saturday evening.
TFC Head Coach Robin Fraser made four changes from last week’s home opener starting XI against Chicago Fire with Henry Wingo, Raoul Petretta, Markus Cimermancic and Lorenzo Insigne coming in for Kosi Thompson, Jonathan Osorio, Tyrese Spicer and Deandre Kerr.
After an evenly contested opening 30 minutes, New York’s Noah Eile came close to giving the Red Bulls the lead, only to see his header from Emil Forsberg’s out-swinging corner skim the crossbar in the 33rd minute.
Seven minutes later, play at Sports Illustrated Stadium was halted when referee Jon Freemon visited the video screen to review a penalty claim from the hosts and home crowd. Following a lengthy in-stadium review, the referee pointed to the spot after Henry Wingo was adjudged to have committed a tripping foul on former TFC wingback Raheem Edwards in the box.
New York Red Bulls captain Emil Forsberg stepped up and coolly slotted the penalty kick into the bottom-right corner, giving the hosts the one-goal lead in the 44th minute.
Looking to freshen things up, Sigurd Rosted and Kosi Thompson were introduced as half-time substitutes before Derrick Etienne Jr. and Deandre Kerr came on further forward shortly after.
The attacking substitutes wasted little time in making an impact off the bench in New Jersey. The Reds found their equalizer when Derrick Etienne Jr.’s cross from the left-flank was met by a perfectly-timed header from Deandre Kerr, which looped over goalkeeper A.J. Marcucci and bounced into the goal off the crossbar.
The 70th minute strike marked a goal in consecutive matches for Deandre Kerr, following the Canadian’s opener last weekend, and moved the forward into joint-ninth on the club’s all-time goalscoring charts with 18 goals. On the play, Derrick Etienne Jr. and Lorenzo Insigne also registered their first assists of the 2025 MLS campaign.
With the game level at one apiece, New York Red Bulls responded six minutes later and took the lead when Felipe Carballo slipped Emil Forsberg through on goal and the Swedish playmaker slotted home for his second goal of the night.
Red Bulls’ Felipe Carballo was shown a second yellow card in stoppage time for dissent, reducing the hosts to 10 men for the final exchanges of the Eastern Conference affair. The hosts, however, hung on to their one-goal advantage to secure the 2-1 result and all three points from Sports Illustrated Stadium.
Next up, Toronto FC welcome the Vancouver Whitecaps to BMO Field on Saturday afternoon. Kick-off from Toronto, Ontario is set for 2:30 p.m. ET and will be broadcast globally on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
LINEUPS
NEW YORK RED BULLS – A.J. Marcucci; Noah Eile, Sean Nealis, Alexander Hack; Dylan Nealis, Peter Stroud (Felipe Carballo 65’), Daniel Edelman, Raheem Edwards; Wikelman Carmona (Serge Ngoma 65’, Ronald Donkor 88’), Emil Forsberg (C) (Tim Parker 90+1), Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting
Substitutes Not Used: Austin Causey, Adri Mehmeti, Aiden Jarvis, Wiktor Bogacz, Julian Zakrzewski
TORONTO FC – Sean Johnson; Zane Monlouis (Sigurd Rosted 46’), Kevin Long, Nicksoen Gomis (Kobe Franklin 72’); Henry Wingo (Kosi Thompson 46’), Matty Longstaff, Alonso Coello, Markus Cimermancic (Deandre Kerr 56’), Raoul Petretta (Derrick Etienne Jr. 56’); Federico Bernardeschi (C), Lorenzo Insigne
Substitutes Not Used: Luka Gavran, Lazar Stefanovic, Michael Sullivan, Theo Corbeanu
MEDIA NOTES:
- Sean Johnson and Kobe Franklin made their 50th Major League Soccer appearance for Toronto FC.
- With his 18th career goal for Toronto FC, Deandre Kerr moves into joint-tenth on the club's all-time goalscorers list.
