Union facing tougher test against Toronto after keeping D.C. United off the scoreboard
After a dreadful start, the Union are unbeaten in two straight matches. Host Toronto could be shorthanded Wednesday, as seven players missed the most recent match with injuries.
A 0-0 draw with D.C. United may not have been an inspiring result to spectators at the Union’s lone match at Subaru Park this month, but as Bradley Carnell said after his team came off the pitch on Saturday, the team is feeling confident as it enters a tightly-packed part of the schedule.
Carnell reiterated the Union’s rising optimism Monday in a news conference ahead of a Wednesday clash at Toronto FC (7:30 p.m., Apple TV).
“You look at the faces around here, everyone feels like it’s a step in the right direction,” Carnell said. “Everyone feels like it felt right, and it looked right.”
The Union (1-6-1, four points) claimed their first clean sheet of the Major League Soccer season against D.C. Keeping Toronto off the scoreboard will likely prove more challenging.
Toronto (3-2-3, 12 points) lost its first two matches of the season but is unbeaten in its last six. The club’s run of form has been bolstered by Josh Sargent, 26, who the club acquired as a Designated Player signing from the English Championship’s Norwich City for $22 million in February.
Sargent, who played with the U.S. men’s national team at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, has settled in quickly in Toronto. A drama-filled exit from Norwich City kept him out of the Canaries’ lineup for much of January and all of February, but Sargent has logged a goal and an assist since making his Toronto debut on March 14.
Both contributions came in the same match, a 3-2 victory over the Colorado Rapids, with Sargent scoring the winner in the 85th minute.
“Aerially, he’s a threat,” Carnell said of Sargent. “And, I think, service from wide areas, and set pieces, and all the bits of it.”
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Toronto still needs Sargent to step up his production, especially after attacking midfielder Djordje Mihailovic suffered a pelvic stress fracture that will keep him out of the lineup until June.
Dániel Sallói has been the best source of goals for Toronto this season. The Hungarian forward has scored three goals in eight matches, including one in the 52nd minute of Toronto’s last match, a 3-3 draw with Austin FC.
“They’ve had some good games, some tough games,” Carnell said. “But again, we put teams in type of a game, and let’s see how that one goes.”
On the road again
Including the draw against D.C. United, the Union are in the midst of playing three matches in eight days. After Wednesday’s match, the Union will travel to Columbus to face the Crew at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.
The game in Toronto will be the Union’s first midweek contest since they were eliminated from the Concacaf Champions Cup by Club América on March 18.
Schedule congestion appeared to be one of the factors that contributed to the Union’s historic season-opening losing streak, but Carnell feels his side is in a better place to navigate this tight stretch of the schedule.
He said that by controlling the match against D.C., his team put itself in a better position to return to the pitch on short rest.
“We [controlled] the field in 80 yards or 75 yards, basically, from front to back,” Carnell said. “We made the game really tight. We made it really controllable … So I would imagine everyone to be able to turn around and go again. Physically, I think we’re in an excellent space right now.”
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Toronto is also facing three games in eight days. It could be shorthanded Wednesday, as seven players missed the most recent match with injuries. In addition to Mihailovic, starting center backs Walker Zimmerman (calf) and Benjamin Kuscevic (groin) were out with injuries against Austin.
The league’s availability report for Wednesday’s match will come out on Tuesday.
The Union have seven matches remaining before the MLS schedule takes a break to accommodate the FIFA World Cup. Because of their slow start, they will need to find positive results in that stretch if they want to be in position to contend for a playoff spot when the season resumes in July.
Fortunately for the Union, lackluster performance from many Eastern Conference teams has kept them close to the cut line. Nine teams from each conference make the postseason, and the Union are four points behind D.C. United, the ninth-place team in the East.
Carnell is hoping that his side can build some momentum after picking up points in back-to-back matches for the first time this season.
“This is part of the joys and the struggles of being a coach,” Carnell said. “You have these moments where everything rolls. In the month of May last year you go 11 unbeaten, and 13 overall. Now we’re two unbeaten, and now we’re trying to build off of that and gain momentum off of that. The group’s intact, and the group shows a lot of hunger. Everyone’s recovered and everyone’s looking to go get some points in Toronto and Columbus.”
Injury updates
Carnell said Agustín Anello participated in training Monday. The forward has missed the last five matches with a hamstring injury after scoring his first Union goal in a 3-1 loss to Atlanta United on March 14.
Carnell mentioned that both Stas Korzeniowski and Sal Olivas are dealing with ankle injuries. Korzeniowski has made five appearances for the Union after earning his first call-up from Union II in February, while Olivas has made one appearance for the first team in 2026.
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