Toronto FC likely will be without captain Jonathan Osorio when they return to MLS regular-season action Saturday to host the New England Revolution.
The midfielder suffered a dislocated shoulder in the Reds’ 3-2 loss in a penalty shootout to CF Montreal on Wednesday in the preliminary round of the Canadian Championship.
“I’ve seen people recover from that really quickly, and I’ve seen people take a really long time,” Toronto coach Robin Fraser said. “Not until we do some sort of exam will we be able to tell how severe it is, but it’s going to hurt for a while.”
The news is more optimistic on Italian forward Federico Bernardeschi, who is nursing an ankle injury.
“It’s just a little bit of instability in his ankle,” Fraser said. “We just want to make sure that it’s safe for him rather than put him out there just because we need him to play. We want to make sure it’s safe for him so that it doesn’t turn into a long-term thing.”
Toronto (1-5-4, 7 points) is still looking for its first home win of the season (0-2-2) but has points in four of its last five matches (1-1-3).
Saturday will be the first of two meetings between the Reds and Revs this season. Toronto will visit New England on Sept. 13.
Toronto won both meetings last season, picking up 1-0 victories on March 3 and April 20.
The Revolution (4-4-1, 13 points) will look to stretch their winning streak to four games when they visit Toronto. New England is 2-2-1 in away matches this season.
The Revs’ recent success, including three straight clean sheets, has been attributed to the new-look back end, including Mamadou Fofana and Tanner Beason alongside Brayan Ceballos.
“I think our mentality, above all, is our strength, along with the unity between teammates,” Ceballos said. “We’re all working day-to-day and keeping our responsibilities.”
New England has conceded just seven goals in nine games this season — tied with the Vancouver Whitecaps for the fewest goals allowed.
–Field Level Media
