After a few games at the end of last week, MLS is truly back in full swing with a loaded slate of matches on Wednesday night, with all 30 teams across the league in action.

Toronto FC will stay on the road for their second of a four-game stretch exiting the World Cup break, heading to the American Northeast to face a New England Revolution side currently sitting fourth in the Eastern Conference after a somewhat surprising but strong start to the 2026 campaign.

Gillette Stadium has actually been somewhat kind to the Reds in recent years, with a notable victory coming in 2021. Early goals from Yeferson Soteldo, Kemar Lawrence, and Tsubasa Endoh were all needed to stop a ferocious second-half comeback from the hosts as the game ended 3-2 in favour of Toronto.

Remarkably, a TFC side that finished 13th in the East was one of just two teams to beat the Supporters' Shield-winning Revolution in their own stadium all season — one of the only bright spots on an otherwise dull campaign.

Last year's two meetings between these two sides saw a 2-0 New England win at BMO Field in the spring, while a late deflected goal from Luca Langoni spoiled a strong road effort from Toronto in the reverse fixture.

How Toronto enter the match

Recent times have not been good at all for the Reds, with a 0-0 draw away to Montréal in the Canadian Classique last Thursday extending the club's winless run to nine games in MLS play, and ten in all competitions.

The story of the season so far has been injuries, and even with nearly two months off in the summer, Toronto still exited the break with a number of key starters either unavailable or not at full fitness.

Things do seem to be progressing in the right direction, though. Star playmaker Đorđe Mihailović and key centre-back Benjamin Kuscevic both made the bench last week, with the former playing about 15 minutes off the bench.

Players who have missed time like Walker Zimmerman, Richie Laryea, and Josh Sargent are all back and fit as well, and we are getting closer and closer to seeing what Toronto look like with a full-strength roster once again.

That being said, results and performances will have to change quickly to prevent 2026 from being another lost season in Toronto. While keeping just a second clean sheet of the campaign in the derby was a good sign, it was a messy and dull game where TFC were unable to find a single shot on target.

With the team sitting three points and three spots behind DC United for the final wild card spot in the East, a run of wins coming together is a must as the summer progresses.

How New England enter the match

The Revs are back in action for the first time in almost exactly two months on Wednesday, and will hope to build on what has been a very promising start to life in 2026 under new head coach Marko Mitrović.

As usual, New England are a team built around star playmaker Carles Gil, the Spanish attacking midfielder who runs the show as much as anyone in MLS.

However, the big shift for the team this year has been stability in and around the back line. The return of US international goalkeeper Matt Turner has helped with this, with his 5.98 goals prevented metric sitting right at the top of the league.

While they have gotten elite goalkeeping, the Revolution still sit comfortably in the top ten in terms of fewest expected goals allowed as well, with the comfort of a more relaxed and compact defensive system proving beneficial.

The strategy of defending hard, having Turner make stops when needed, and hoping Gil can win you the game is a pretty solid one, and it has given the Revs eight wins in 14 games in the first portion of this campaign.

Availability

While Toronto's injury issues are improving, there are still a handful of players who will be missing for this one. Markus Cimermancic, Nicksoen Gomis, Nelson Palacio, Matheus Pereira, and Lazar Stefanović were all absent for last week's derby, and it will be unlikely for them to feature this week either.

On the other side, the Revolution will be missing full back Ilay Feingold due to a foot injury, while the status of Leonardo Campana is up in the air after an injury forced him to miss the World Cup for Ecuador. Winger Luca Langoni is working his way back to full fitness and likely won't be fit to start for this one.

Projected XIs

One big boost for the visitors is the return of captain Jonathan Osorio, who missed the Montréal tie due to yellow card accumulation. While Mihailović looked decent off the bench last week, TrueNorthFoot projects it is still premature for the American to see starter's minutes just yet.

For New England, while it is difficult to predict a line-up after so much time off, it should look pretty similar to how it did before the break.

New England Revolution (4-2-3-1): Matt Turner; Will Sands, Mamadou Fofana, Ethan Kohler, Brayan Ceballos; Alhassan Yusuf, Brooklyn Raines; Diego Fagúndez, Carles Gil, Peyton Miller; Dor Turgeman

Toronto FC (4-2-3-1): Luka Gavran; Richie Laryea, Zane Monlouis, Walker Zimmerman, Kobe Franklin; Jonathan Osorio, Alonso Coello; Dániel Sallói, Derrick Etienne Jr., Theo Corbeanu; Josh Sargent

Game information and how to watch

📆 Wednesday, July 22, 2026
⏰ 7:30 pm ET / 4:30 pm PT
📺 Apple TV, TSN, RDS
🧑‍⚖️ Sergii Demianchuk
🏟 Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, United States