{"id":9590,"date":"2026-04-18T18:46:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T18:46:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/9590\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T18:46:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T18:46:26","slug":"injured-duo-kuscevic-pereira-not-in-toronto-fc-squad-vs-austin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/9590\/","title":{"rendered":"Injured duo Kuscevic, Pereira not in Toronto FC squad vs. Austin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Toronto FC are back at home on Saturday afternoon, hosting Austin FC and former Reds winger Jayden Nelson at BMO Field. <\/p>\n

Austin will be motivated to get their season back on track, after losing 2-1 to USL Championship side Louisville City FC in the US Open Cup midweek. They are also winless since a March 1 game against D.C. United in the second game of their MLS season \u2014 their only win of the season so far. They also have three draws and three losses on the season, sitting 13th in the Western Conference on six points.<\/p>\n

Toronto, meanwhile, is riding a five-game unbeaten streak and is in the Eastern Conference playoff positioning seven weeks into the season. Four teams in the east sit on 11 points, including the Reds, after winning three of their last five games and drawing the other two.<\/p>\n

The injury bug continues to bite Toronto FC, with Walker Zimmerman (calf) still not ready to play, and Matheus Pereira (groin) and Benjamin Kuscevic (groin) both joining Zimmerman and several others on the shelf. <\/p>\n

The injuries to Pereira and Kuscevic are new, with both starting last weekend. They are the only changes to the Reds\u2019 starting lineup from last week\u2019s draw with FC Cincinnati, replaced in the starting lineup by Raheem Edwards and Kobe Franklin.<\/p>\n

Luka Gavran gets the start in net, behind a backline of Richie Laryea, Zane Monlouis, Franklin and Edwards. Jonathan Osorio, Jose Cifuentes and Alonso Coello retain their spots in midfield, and the unchanged front three are Josh Sargent in the middle with Daniel Salloi on the left and Derrick Etienne Jr on the right.<\/p>\n

Nelson starts for Austin in his latest return to BMO Field.<\/p>\n

\"\"Courtesy: David Pickering\/Waking The Red<\/p>\n

Last time out, Toronto drew 1-1 with FC Cincinnati, who they beat on the road to start the streak before heading home for this lengthy homestand. An own goal in the 83rd minute gave Toronto FC the lead going into stoppage time, but Kenji Mboma Dem stole a point with a goal in the 92nd minute.<\/p>\n

It was the second time that Toronto has dropped points in second half stoppage time this season, with the other being the 1-1 draw against Red Bull New York in their home opener on March 14. Those four dropped points would have them riding their first five-game winning streak since 2017, and one point back of Eastern Conference leaders Nashville SC. <\/p>\n

Related Reading: Toronto FC frustrated to concede again in stoppage time: \u2018Feels a lot like 2 points lost\u2019<\/a><\/p>\n

Though Austin have had a frustrating start to 2026, they have a lot of depth and quality in their squad.<\/p>\n

Brandon V\u00e1zquez has been out since last summer with an ACL injury that he is still recovering from, while his fellow designated players have been two of the team\u2019s key offensive contributors. Myrto Uzuni leads the club with two goals in seven matches, while former Orlando City SC man Facundo Torres has four assists in his first seven games back in MLS. <\/p>\n

Nelson, who joined the club from the Vancouver Whitecaps this winter and previously came through the ranks at TFC, has one goal across six appearances so far. <\/p>\n

\u201cImpressive and fighting team, they always come full power and they play with the ball,\u201d said D\u00e1niel Sall\u00f3i to reporters on Friday when asked what he expects from Austin. \u201cThey always have good ideas as a team and as an organization, they\u2019ve been performing very well I thought, obviously as a new club in the past couple of years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exciting any time we\u2019re playing against Western Conference teams, I played most of my career there so it\u2019s exciting to know the teams. It\u2019s going to be a good game.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Courtesy: David Pickering\/Waking The Red<\/p>\n

With three games in a week for the first time this season, Toronto FC will likely have to rotate players either on Saturday or midweek against the Philadelphia Union before hosting Atlanta United next weekend. All three teams are at the bottom of their respective conferences, so the rotation may not be based on ensuring certain players start against certain teams. <\/p>\n

A triple game week could also mean that Luka Gavran gets a night off this week for the first time this season, with the TFC goalkeeper having played every minute of the season so far, and starting again on Saturday. Experienced backup William Yarbrough would likely be first off the bench in place of Gavran, but youngster Adisa De Rosario is also signed to a first team contract.<\/p>\n

De Rosario and Kapor were both in Toronto FC II\u2019s starting lineup on Friday evening and unavailable for the first team on Saturday. Central midfielder Reid Fisher and right back Jackson Gilman were both called up from TFC II to make up the numbers due to the injuries in the team.<\/p>\n

Related Reading: \u2018Luka Gavran\u2019s maturation is happening quickly\u2019: Toronto FC boss Robin Fraser<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"Courtesy: David Pickering\/Waking The Red<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Toronto FC are back at home on Saturday afternoon, hosting Austin FC and former Reds winger Jayden Nelson…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[5309,5310,5311,318,359,5312,48,330],"class_list":{"0":"post-9590","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto","8":"tag-austin-fc","9":"tag-bmo-field","10":"tag-jayden-nelson","11":"tag-major-league-soccer","12":"tag-mls","13":"tag-tfc","14":"tag-toronto","15":"tag-toronto-fc"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}