Matchday 18: New York City FC vs Toronto in the Bronx

Back to the Bronx as New York City FC plays a second straight home match at Yankee Stadium, this time welcoming Toronto FC for a somewhat rare Friday night kickoff.

Toronto is down bad right now, winless in 12 matches across all competitions, without a win in Major League Soccer since early April, and sitting in 12th place in the Eastern Conference.

New York City dealt with a winless streak of its own earlier this spring, but since the World Cup ended, it's been back-to-back solid wins for Pascal Jansen's team, wins earned despite operating with first nine, now 10 first-team players out with injuries.

They've benefited from big performances from attacking Argentines Nicolás Fernández Mercau and Agustín Ojeda in each of those wins, which took them up to fifth in the East after being precariously down in eighth place when the World Cup break set in.

New York City FC plays this match then goes off on a two-week diversion to face three Liga MX teams at Sports Illustrated Stadium in Leagues Cup, not playing in MLS again until August 16 against Philadelphia.

Toronto, desperate for a win, has this one last shot to break their prolonged streak against NYCFC before they get two more weeks off from competitive games, since they're not one of the MLS teams participating in this year's Leagues Cup, then got a long stretch of consecutive home matches — this will be their sixth straight road game.

This will also be the 30th time these two Eastern Conference rivals have met, and results lately have been heavily skewed in New York City FC's favor.

NYCFC’s perfect return from World Cup break, what to make of Luighi

Takeaways from the back-to-back wins for New York City FC that highlights some individual standouts, plus talk of the ongoing summer transfer rumor season, with SE Palmeiras forward Luighi reportedly about to join NYCFC.

New York Soccer JournalMark Radigan

New York City FC vs Toronto Head-to-Head