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• Toronto v New York City FC: Progress does not happen without ‘taking punches’ – Cushing

  Nick Cushing believes you have to “take the punches” in order to make progress as his New York City side prepare for a trip to Toronto FC in MLS on Saturday.

  NYCFC were on a five-game unbeaten run in MLS, winning three matches in a row, before they lost 2-0 to the Colorado Rapids last weekend.

  They currently sit seventh with 14 points, but things are tight in the Eastern Conference and another defeat could see NYCFC slip further down the table.

  "When you win a three-game homestand, you feel like you're on top of the world," Cushing said.

  "And then you lose one, and you feel like you fell off the edge of a cliff.

  "This team is on a journey, and it's making progress. I said three, four weeks ago that progress is disheartening, right?

  "Progress is demotivating, progress is disappointing. You have to take the punches and go back and figure out how you continue to progress and improve a young team, a new team, to continue to win football games."

  Toronto are flying high in the East, sitting third with 19 points after putting together a three-match winning run, and are just five points behind leaders Inter Miami. 

  Federico Bernardeschi scored twice as they beat FC Dallas 3-1 last time out in MLS, leaving head coach John Herdman to sing the Italian's praises. 

  "I really enjoy working with Fede; there are so many different layers to him," Herdman said. 

  "I asked him to stay focused on his leadership. As I keep telling him, if you keep focusing on shaping your leadership, good things happen to good leadership, and the universe turns, and that's what happened."

   

  PLAYERS TO WATCH

  Toronto – Federico Bernardeschi

  Bernardeschi (two goals, one assist) was involved in all three of Toronto’s goals against Dallas last Saturday, making him the first Reds player to record three goal contributions in a match since Jacob Shaffelburg in September 2021.

  NYCFC – Mounsef Bakrar

  NYCFC lead all MLS teams for touches in the opponent's penalty area per match this year, averaging 30.2.

  Among players, Bakrar is second in the league behind only Denis Bouanga (9.5), with 8.1 touches in the opponent’s box per 90 minutes this season (minimum 400 minutes played).

  MATCH PREDICTION: DRAW

  NYCFC have won three straight meetings with Toronto, including a 2-1 home win on March 16. It is the first time either team have won three straight meetings in the history of the sides' head-to-head series (26 matches in all competitions).

  However, NYCFC have won just one of their 23 away matches in all competitions (nine draws, 13 losses), dating back to the start of last season, though that win came in Canada – a 1-0 victory at CF Montreal last July.

  Meanwhile, Toronto have won four straight matches in all competitions after winning four of their previous 29 in all competitions dating back to May 2023. With a win on Saturday, Toronto can equal their points total from the entire 2023 season (22). However, Cushing's visitors are likely to be competitive.

  OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

  Toronto – 32%

  Draw – 29.5%

  NYCFC – 38.5%

• Eve, Shabazz welcome two-match friendly to gauge players readiness

  Trinidad and Tobago's Head coach Angus Eve and his Guyanese counterpart Jamaal Shabazz welcomed the upcoming two-match friendly international series as a window to not only give new players an opportunity to strut their stuff, but also to gauge their overall readiness for the World Cup qualifiers.

  The senior Soca Warriors and their Jaguars counterparts will lock horns on May 13 and 15 at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurapo, as they kick start preparations for the FIFA World Cup qualifiers in June, as well as the Concacaf Nations League campaign in September.

  Eve pointed out that a handful of new players will be given the opportunity in the two matches owing to their good form in the ongoing 2023/24 T&T Premier Football League (TTPFL) season.

  Defenders Sheldon Bateau, Josiah Trimmingham and Andre Raymond, who became a regular fixture at left back toward the backend of the Soca Warriors' 2023/24 Nations League campaign, have completed their respective club seasons and are expected to be involved in the friendlies. Daniel David, Ezekiel Kesar, Isaiah Lee, Matthew Woo-Ling and the Miscellaneous Police FC pair of Simeon Bailey and Josiah Wilson, will also be in the mix to stake a claim on a spot in the squad for the major tournaments.

  "We see these games as a very important cog in the wheel of our preparations going into the World Cup campaign for 2026," Eve said, via a T&T Football Association release.

  "It's an ongoing programme that we have started since I have come on board where we get some international games to get the locally based players up to speed to see how they perform against international opposition,” he added.

  

  Guyana, guided by Shabazz, a former T&T coach, gained promotion for the upcoming Nations League A campaign after topping their Nations League B group, which included Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas and Puerto Rico. This represents their competitiveness and quality which Eve is expecting to see on show against his team.

  "Guyana is also in the League A of the Nations League so it's not slouches we will be playing. It gives the local players a final opportunity to be seen outside of their league against international opposition so that we can pick the final squad. That is what these exercises are about,” Eve noted.

  That said, the tactician explained that meetings with recently-elected TTFA president Kieron Edwards, have been fruitful.

  "The TTFA president has been in the media saying how positive the meetings were and we think they were also positive from our end. He and his new board are committed to helping us and the country to qualify for another World Cup,” Eve shared.

  Meanwhile, Shabazz believes the Soca Warriors are formidable opponents, as he praised the TTFA and the Guyana Football Federation for their huge investments with the staging of the friendly matches.

  "Of course, whether it is football, cricket, hockey or rugby, when Guyana plays T&T, we want to win so it's also going to be a title fight. Trinidad and Tobago are formidable opponents, and it will provide a stern test for the home-based players vying for a spot in the final squad for our FIFA World Cup qualifiers in June,” Shabazz said.

  The last meeting between the two teams at the same venue ended in a 1-1 stalemate two years ago.

  Kick-off will be 7 pm on both days, with tickets priced at $75 (covered section) and $50 (uncovered section).

   

• Boehly says Chelsea masterplan is 'coming together'

  Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly believes the Blues' plan is finally starting to come together, hailing the "beautiful football" played by Mauricio Pochettino's men in recent weeks. 

  Chelsea have spent over £1billion on players in less than two years under the Boehly regime, but they have had to wait to see any kind of return on that sizeable investment.

  Following a dismal 12th-placed Premier League finish in 2022-23, Chelsea endured a difficult start to their first campaign under Pochettino, but a recent upturn has them eyeing European qualification.

  Chelsea have only lost one of their last 12 Premier League games (six wins, five draws), beating Tottenham 2-0 and West Ham 5-0 in their last two to move into the top seven.

  With games against Nottingham Forest, Brighton and Hove Albion and Bournemouth to come, the Blues have put themselves in with a chance of securing Europa League football for next season, and Boehly is delighted with their progress.

  Speaking at a Sportico conference in Los Angeles on Wednesday, Boehly said: "We've seen the last two and a half games... in the second half at Aston Villa and against Tottenham and West Ham, we played beautiful football.

  "It was so fluid, it was exactly the way we drew it up, when we came out of the back, built up and moved up the pitch, it was very organised, then the number of shots we had…

  "In those two and a half games, you could really start to see what we were working on coming together." 

  Chelsea's 5-0 rout of West Ham last Sunday made it nine wins in their last 11 Premier League games at Stamford Bridge (one draw, one defeat).

  Since the start of December, they have earned the joint-most home wins (nine, alongside Arsenal) and home points (28, level with Manchester City) in the Premier League.