Matchday 22: Toronto vs New York City FC at BMO Field

It's the third and final trip to Canada of the Major League Soccer regular season for New York City FC as it will try again to snap what's now a five-match winless streak, this time while facing Toronto FC at BMO Field.

This is something of a six-pointer in the playoff race. The teams are only separated by three points and three places in the Eastern Conference table, with New York City in seventh on 27 points and TFC in 10th on 24 points, but with form at opposite ends of the spectrum as the teams meet and each play their 22nd match of the season.

New York City can't find a way to win and hasn't done so since the Leagues Cup opener vs Santos Laguna, while Toronto has looked rejuvenated and is unbeaten in four games. Things started to turn for TFC when they last faced New York City FC at Yankee Stadium on Friday, July 31. That 1-1 draw started Toronto off on the four-match unbeaten run still intact now as NYCFC crosses the northern border.

A win would go a long way for either team, and New York City will hope getting club captain and starting center-back Thiago Martins back available will push them over the top against Toronto. The Brazilian defender last played in the 1-1 draw with Toronto in the Bronx, but was forced out of that match early in the 86th minute after suffering a muscle pull that's kept him on the sidelines ever since.

Nearly one month and six matches later and Thiago is off the injury report and declared ready to return by Pascal Jansen, and NYCFC will hope his return settles things down at the back. New York City struggled so badly defensively in the first half of the 1-1 draw at New England that preceded this trip to Toronto that Jansen made a double-substitution in the 40th minute, a move that paid off as things stabilized enough for the team to scrape out a draw. The 1-1 at Gillette Stadium was the first time in four matches played that NYCFC didn't concede two or more goals, so Thiago's return comes not a moment too soon.

Another thing possibly working in New York City's favor is that the club had a more normal amount of rest — five days — in advance of this trip to Toronto. The previous five matches played by NYCFC all came after just two or three days of time to recover, and playing on short rest has not gone well for this injury-riddled squad this season. We'll see if extra rest and extra time to work on the training pitch leads to a different performance from NYCFC.

Playing on short rest a season-long struggle for New York City FC

NYCFC has a record of 4W-3D-9L this season while playing on two or three days’ rest, 26th out of the 30 MLS teams in terms of the points-per-game the club has picked up while enduring quick turnarounds between matches.

New York Soccer JournalAndrew Leigh

New York City FC H2H Record vs Toronto

For a second straight matchday, NYCFC will play its 31st-ever match against a fellow Eastern Conference rival, though in this instance, they hold a slight edge in the all-time matchup with Toronto.