Toronto FC can continue their surprising unbeaten start to the new season when they visit New York City FC on Saturday night.
Toronto (2-0-1, 7 points) has won its last two matches 1-0 on goals from Italian national team star Lorenzo Insigne and is the only team left in MLS that has yet to concede a goal in its first season under coach John Herdman.
It's quite the reversal from 2023, when the Reds conceded an Eastern Conference-worst 59 goals. But to keep another clean sheet, they will have to do so without former NYCFC goalkeeper Sean Johnson, who picked up a late injury before last weekend's 1-0 win over Charlotte FC.
"What we know about Sean is, he's a resilient lad," Herdman explained. "But he's probably got two weeks before we'll see him. We've been assessing him, and it's a better decision not to push him too far or too early."
Luka Gavran did well as Johnson's deputy against Charlotte, making three stops and completing a critical, penalty-area challenge to deny Enzo Copetti a breakaway opportunity.
NYCFC (0-3-0, 0 points) are still looking for their first points of the season following a stunning 2-1 defeat to the Portland Timbers in their home opener.
Santiago Rodriguez scored the opener in the 10th minute for New York City, which failed to reach the postseason in 2023 for the first time since they fell short in their inaugural MLS campaign in 2015.
But Antony leveled the game for Portland in the 85th minute before Evander secured all three points with a brilliant strike from long distance deep in second-half stoppage time.
"In our dressing room after the Portland game there was a lot of anger," coach Nick Cushing said. "I think after that result, it's about how you have those conversations as a group. You have to be constructive. Sometimes you must have honest conversations, and sometimes it must be constructive questions and answers and we went through that this week."
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