April 25, 2025...MLS NEXT Pro Toronto FC II vs Chicago Fire FC II game report by Rocket Robin
I will post a full report with pictures, logos, and a more like a play by play in a few days.
Result and details of the Friday April 25, 2025 MLS NEXT Pro game between Toronto FC II and Chicago Fire FC II
played at York Lions Stadium in North York at 7:00pm.
35 min...TFC Dekwon Barrow GOAL...TFC Markus Cimermancic receives forward pass at CF 45 yard line in middle and he turns and steps forward and sends short pass over to TFC Marko Stojadinovic on right at 40 yard line. He runs forward and rolls ball upfield for charging TFC Malik Henry on edge of 18 yard box who's even with two retreating defenders. From 15 yards on right Henry rolls centering pass forward and charging Barrow is a step ahead of retreating CF Diego Konincks and at 6 yards one-touches ball forward to open left side of net as diving goalie Patrick Los was trapped on right side.
82 min...TFC Nathaniel Edwards wins Penalty kick from referee Melvin Christopher when he's tripped up on a run cutting over from right side of CF box. 83 min...TFC Hassan Ayari GOAL...TFC Ythallo stutter steps and rolls Penalty kick to left side of net but diving goalie saves by pushing it wide left. Charging Ayari beats retreating defender to get to ball from near end line and lifts 6 yarder over fallen goalie catching right corner of net.Final Score:......Toronto FC II.......2.......Chicago Fire FC II.......0.......
Attendance was about 150 on this cool evening which was getting colder the longer the game wore on. That figure was even lower than last week when it was the season opener on Good Friday which was actually warmer than tonight. Toronto had to make a sub at just 5 minutes when Mark Fisher was injured just outside the TFC box and needed the trainer. His replacement Anton Bossenberry fit in quite well from a cold start. It was a luxury for them to have a full bench of nine subs. Last week they only had five with no backup goalie as TFC was suffering injuries requiring players to fill in for a road trip to Salt Lake and they Academy teams were away at the Generation Adidas Cup in Florida. This week they even had an afternoon announcement that TFC midfielder Markus Cimermancic was being loaned to them for this one game only. Adisa De Rosario earned the shutout for TFC with some good saves and a goalpost and a bar saving sure Fire goals. De Rosario was one of the players away last week as an unused back up on the bench for the main team's Real Salt Lake game. Referee Melvin Christopher gave out no cards at all tonight in a game that never got out of hand. He infuriated Fire head coach Mike Matkovich for just lecturing Ythallo instead of giving him a card. "If you won't give him a card, why did you stop the game" was the complaint as it slowed down the Fire's momentum at that time of the game. Christopher played the new head injury rule well with him twice (if I counted right) when a man went down blowing his whistle instantly instead or waiting for the players to kick the ball out of bounds in good sportsmanship (rarely happens anymore) or letting play carry on. Trainers were rushed onto the field. NEXT Pro has cracked down on its other injury rules holding up the game but head injuries are 'take as long as you need'. Ythallo was the obvious choice to take the Penalty kick as he was the only one who scored during last week's tie with Carolina with them gifting the bonus point to the visitors in the Penalty kick rounds after 90 minutes of regulation. 4-1 looked bad. Ythallo stutter stepped then sent it to the open left side with the goalie diving right. That worked last week but he did the exact same shot tonight and the goalie was already diving the correct way as he connected. Don't they realize that the highlights make their way across the internet? Anyway Hassan Ayari scored on the rebound tonight (that play is OK in regulation time of course) which must have felt so good when he skied TFC's first shot in PKs last game to start the bad karma. The Fire had the short bench tonight, only bringing five subs. That will happen a few times a year to a visiting team. Their best player by far was winger Claudio Cassano who was the player who hit the post at 64 minutes and the bar at 68. Besides that he was sending in crosses all night and taking the cornerkicks and dangerous freekicks. Toronto's record improves to 3 wins, 2 losses, 1 tie for 10 points. This was, for two weeks in a row, the only Friday game this week so they are in a five way tie for third place but placed fourth for having more wins then most of those teams but have played one more game than most of them. Chicago's record falls to 2 wins, 4 losses for 6 points and are all alone in twelfth place out of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference. Only bright news is they lost 5-0 last week away in Huntsville (Alabama). Chicago did beat TFC II 1-0 at home back in March. The teams do meet a third time this season when the Fire II is here on July 20th. Toronto FC (the MLS team) is back in town for a five game home stand with a game tomorrow against New York City FC. TFC II has two more games left in their homestand including next Sunday May 4th against New England Revolution II. That is the day after TFC plays the Revs (MLS) in a situation much more common a few years ago. This was the second time I was at the stadium today. I had been here in the morning for a press conference of the new AFC Toronto who were getting ready for only their second game and their first road game on Sunday against Ottawa Rapid FC in the women's Northern Super League. While AFC was holding that, on the field was a practice of York United FC who are playing a Canadian Premier League game against Forge FC on Sunday afternoon. This stadium is a busy place. A superfan tonight was telling me the York University football team will play here as well (not the other stadium about 1500 metres from here. He said they will have to paint and overpaint the gridiron pattern for their four home games this season at great expense. Also the small crowd could have had a few people staying home because the game was carried on the free YouTube channel instead of the Apple paywall where peasants like me see the game summarized in 90 seconds on the league website..
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