Charlotte FC tries to end road losing streak in matchup with Toronto
Charlotte FC (7-8-1, eighth in the Eastern Conference) vs. Toronto FC (3-9-4, 13th in the Eastern Conference)
Toronto; Saturday, 7:30 p.m. EDT
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Charlotte FC +153, Toronto FC +166, Draw +234; over/under is 2.5 goals
BOTTOM LINE: Charlotte FC visits Toronto aiming to stop a four-game road slide.
Toronto is 2-8-2 in Eastern Conference play. Toronto is 1-4-1 when it scores just one goal.
Charlotte is 4-6-0 against Eastern Conference opponents. Charlotte is 1-3-0 when it scores only one goal.
The matchup Saturday is the first meeting of the season between the two teams.
TOP PERFORMERS: Federico Bernardeschi has four goals and three assists for Toronto. Theodor Corbeanu has three goals over the last 10 games.
Liel Abada has six goals and one assist for Charlotte. Patrick Agyemang has four goals and one assist over the past 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Toronto: 3-5-2, averaging 1.2 goals, 4.2 shots on goal and 3.1 corner kicks per game while allowing 1.0 goal per game.
Charlotte: 4-6-0, averaging 1.6 goals, 5.2 shots on goal and 3.8 corner kicks per game while allowing 2.1 goals per game.
NOT EXPECTED TO PLAY: Toronto: Markus Cimermancic (injured), Nickseon Gomis (injured), Deandre Christopher Kerr (injured), Kobe Lloyd Franklin (injured), Richie Laryea (injured), Raoul Petretta (injured).
Charlotte: Jahlane Forbes (injured), Nimfasha Berchimas (injured), Brandon Cambridge (injured), Idan Gorno (injured), Nathan Byrne (injured), Timothy Michael Ream (injured).
___
The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
NBC Sports
28 minutes ago
- NBC Sports
Panthers endure uncharacteristic playoff collapse in losing Game 1 of Stanley Cup Final to Oilers
For nearly three full years under coach Paul Maurice, the defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers were unbeatable in the playoffs when holding a lead through either of the first two periods. Until Wednesday night. After a 4-3 overtime loss to Edmonton in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, the Panthers blamed themselves for playing too conservatively in allowing the Oilers to score three straight goals as Florida squandered a 3-2 advantage entering the third. 'Just not let up. Don't sit back,' said Sam Bennett, who scored twice — including his franchise-record 12th goal of this postseason. 'We've been really good all year at not sitting back with the lead, and for whatever reason we sat back tonight.' It was an uncharacteristic collapse for a Florida team that had won 31 consecutive playoff games under Maurice when holding the lead at an intermission break. Worse yet, the Panthers actually blew a two-goal lead in a game Leon Draisaitl sealed by converting Connor McDavid's centering pass 19:29 into overtime. The winning goal came on a power play, 72 seconds after Tomas Nosek was penalized for delay of game after lifting the puck over the glass. Maurice was more concerned with how the Panthers performed well before Nosek went into the penalty box. Florida was outshot 24-8 from the beginning of the third period on. 'I think we had some real good pressure. They get it back and then there were some plays we didn't compete,' Maurice said. 'I thought we were a little safe with the puck.' Florida dropped to 8-3 on the road this postseason and trails a series for the first time since losing the first two games of its second-round meeting with Toronto, which the Panthers rallied to win in Game 7. Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final is in Edmonton. As for Nosek's penalty, Maurice called it a tough break, and made a point to remind the player how valuable he was in helping the Panthers rally against Toronto. Nosek didn't make his playoff debut until Game 3 of the Maple Leafs series. 'That line came in and changed everything for us. We're not here without Tomas Nosek,' Maurice said. 'He's got lots of people sitting at his table and reminding him how good he's been.' The question for the Panthers is how they appeared to wear down as the game progressed in a rematch of last year's final, which Florida won in seven games. Just when it appeared Florida had grabbed the momentum by building a 3-1 lead on Bennett's second goal two minutes into the second period, Edmonton responded with Viktor Arvidsson's goal 1:17 later. And the Panthers looked gassed in the third when Mattias Ekholm converted McDavid's centering pass to tie the score at the 6:33 mark. The 46 shots allowed were the most permitted by Florida in the playoffs since giving up 65 in a 3-2 win over Carolina that took four overtimes in Game 1 of the 2023 Eastern Conference final. And they came a game after the Panthers allowed 52 shots in Game 5 of a second-round series-clinching 3-2 OT win over Toronto. Draisaitl's power-play goal was just the eighth allowed by Florida in 62 chances this postseason. Maurice remained calm in assessing how evenly matched the teams are in a series he believes has a chance to go the distance. 'It has the potential to be just a spectacular seven-gamer,' Maurice said. 'It was honest, it was hard, it was fast and it was tight. It was an overtime game.'
Miami Herald
an hour ago
- Miami Herald
Maurice's message to Nosek after game-deciding penalty in Florida's Game 1 Cup Final loss
All Tomas Nosek could do is watch from the penalty box as the Florida Panthers' hopes to win Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final slipped away. He was an observer for the casualty he committed, flipping a puck over the boards with just less than two minutes left in overtime to give the Edmonton Oilers a power play. Edmonton struck on that chance, with Leon Draisaitl beating Sergei Bobrovsky to seal the Oilers' 4-3 come-from-behind victory on Wednesday to open the best-of-7 series. It's a tough moment to take for Nosek, Florida's fourth-line center whose play typically slips under the radar. But the Panthers are doing what they can to make sure Nosek doesn't hang his head too much. 'That stuff happens in the game of hockey,' veteran forward Brad Marchand said. 'You know, it's a bad break. He's been a great player for us all year, all playoffs. So, yeah, we have his back on that one.' While the blunder is the moment fresh in fans' minds, a reminder of what Nosek has done for the Panthers this postseason. He was a healthy scratch through the first seven games of the playoffs — all five games in the first round against the Tampa Bay Lightning and the first two of the second round against the Toronto Maple Leafs. After Florida dropped the first two games to Toronto, Maurice made a wholesale change to his fourth line, dropping Mackie Samoskevich, Nico Sturm and Jesper Boqvist and inserting Nosek, A.J. Greer and Jonah Gadjovich in their place. The trio was integral in the Panthers winning Game 3 against the Maple Leafs and turning the tide of that series, which Florida ultimately won in seven games. Nosek has been in the lineup every game since, is integral on the penalty kill and on multiple occasions has had to move up in the lineup midgame to fill in for injured teammates. Through 11 playoff games, the Panthers have not allowed a goal at 5-on-5 in the 98:12 Nosek has been on the ice despite opponents having an expected goals for mark of 4.73. 'We're not here without Tomas Nosek,' Maurice said. 'It's a tough break. We make sure he doesn't eat alone tonight, he has lots of people sitting at his table reminding him of how good he has been for us. It's going to be tough. He's going to eat that one for a day. But from his penalty kill to that line changing the flow of that Toronto series, we'll remind him of that a whole bunch of times.''
New York Times
an hour ago
- New York Times
Donald Trump's travel ban undermines Gianni Infantino's World Cup vision
Gianni Infantino could scarcely have been more emphatic when taking to the stage at the FIFA Congress in Asuncion, Paraguay, last month. A meeting had been held with the White House Task Force in the preceding days, and assurances had seemingly been given that hardening immigration policies would not carry a price for the looming Club World Cup and the 2026 World Cup. Advertisement 'The world is welcome in America,' said Infantino, FIFA's long-serving president. 'Of course, the players, of course, everyone involved, all of us, but definitely also all the fans.' Infantino might well have delivered that promise in good faith, but it has not taken long for that cheerfully optimistic assessment to appear misguided. Any notion of the world being welcome must now carry an awkward asterisk. A travel ban against 12 countries was signed by U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday, halting movement into the United States for those deemed to be from high-risk territories. Citizens of Afghanistan, Myanmar (Burma), Chad, the Republic of Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen will be banned from entering the U.S. starting on Monday. 'Nothing will stop us from keeping America safe,' Trump said in a video announcing the executive order. And least of all, it seems, a World Cup that the U.S. will share with neighbours Canada and Mexico next summer. Although the new ruling will continue to permit entry to athletes, coaches and support staff who attend major sporting events — initially, only the World Cup and Olympics were specifically cited, but the White House clarified to The Athletic on Thursday that the Club World Cup and Concacaf's Gold Cup also fall into this category — fans will not be granted entry. Only 'immediate relatives' of those involved can hope to be exempt. Trump has outlined his reasons, rooted in national security, but the policy shift has given FIFA and Infantino a headache. Iran are already assured of a place at the 2026 finals, extending a run that has seen them travel to Brazil (2014), Russia (2018) and Qatar (2022). A fourth consecutive qualification was secured in March with a 2-2 draw against Uzbekistan. Head coach Amir Ghalenoei and his players, including Inter Milan forward Mehdi Taremi, will be allowed entry into the United States, but the first indications are that their supporters will not. Fans of Haiti, whose only previous World Cup experience came at the 1974 tournament in Germany, would also be subject to travel bans if their team was to continue its promising qualification campaign in Concacaf, as would Libya should they upset the odds and qualify as one of Africa's nine teams when that process is concluded in the autumn. Advertisement Infantino now finds himself in a diplomatic pickle. A close relationship with Trump and his administration was supposed to have its benefits, smoothing the path towards the first of 104 games to be played in the U.S., Canada and Mexico a year and a week from now. The bond was projected on multiple occasions, with Infantino even a guest at Trump's inauguration. He delayed his arrival at the aforementioned FIFA Congress as he wanted to be with Trump on his visits to Qatar and Saudi Arabia – a decision that caused members of the European delegation to leave the event early in protest. But now Infantino is left confronting a policy that threatens to undermine the values of a World Cup he has so often championed. 'It's obvious when it comes to FIFA competitions, any team, including the supporters and officials of that team, who qualify for a World Cup need to have access to the country, otherwise there is no World Cup,' Infantino told reporters in 2017, a year that had seen Trump ban travel from a number of predominantly Muslim countries during his first term in office. The inference was that any country unwilling to open its doors to all supporters could be prevented from hosting a World Cup. Fans of all competing nations were welcome in Russia and then in Qatar, two countries without America's reputation for freedom and openness. Iran were among those backed by thousands of their supporters at both tournaments. Infantino had been confident that the U.S. would be no different, but the guarantees he told the world that FIFA had last month have since disappeared. Trump indicated there is time for this to change ahead of next summer with the list of banned nations 'subject to revision based on whether material improvements are made.' That the Club World Cup and Gold Cup, both starting this month, have now been included in the list of 'major' sporting events might also indicate a willingness to add flexibility to a hardline stance. Advertisement It is nevertheless a problem that will take some spinning. Either Infantino knew the travel ban and its implications were in the post, but just did not want to let on in his public comments last month, or Trump's capricious nature has caught another supposed ally off guard. The latter feels more probable but still does not reflect well on Infantino after all the meetings, the gifts and photo opportunities of the last six months. Infantino remains that most voraciously political animal who maintains politics have no place in football's harmonious little world. Yet Trump's gear shift on immigration is a reminder about how that vision remains as fanciful as ever.
