‘NYCFC like to think of ourselves as the best prepared team in MLS’, says Jansen

Syndicated reporting provided by Stats Perform and reviewed by the SoccerNews editorial team.

Pascal Jansen has faith New York City FC can keep up their recent momentum against Toronto FC, as he believes his team are “the best prepared team” in MLS.

NYCFC have won both of their matches since returning from the World Cup break, following up a 2-1 win over Columbus Crew with a 3-1 victory over the Chicago Fire.

It means they are fifth in the Eastern Conference with 25 points, and they would leapfrog Chicago with a win on Friday.

Jansen acknowledged it was hard to keep momentum going, but he is confident NYCFC have what it takes to get a third straight win.

“[Keeping momentum going] is always the challenging part,” he said.

“We like to think of ourselves as the best prepared team in the league. So that is something that keeps the standard very high. Then it’s also about shared responsibility.

“The locker room and the staff both have their ways of dealing with things, and we find each other in order to keep each other competitive and on our toes and be very aware of the fact that a great start after a break is interesting, but it’s about remaining consistent and making progress in order to become better than the last game.”

More IMAX viewing of the Boys in Blue against Toronto this Friday pic.twitter.com/qRh0GvEjrf

— New York City FC (@newyorkcityfc) July 28, 2026

As for Toronto, they are playing their sixth road game in a row, but head to Yankee Stadium on a dismal run of form.

They last won on April 4 against the Colorado Rapids and have gone 11 matches without a win since then, extending that run with a last-gasp 2-1 loss to D.C. United last time out, which leaves them 12th in the East.

Despite their disappointing streak, head coach Robin Fraser is confident they can get a result against NYCFC.

“I think they’re very fluid in how they attack, and for us, it’s going to be about making sure that defensively we communicate well and we deny certain things,” Fraser told reporters.

“Then on the attacking end, it’s how do we find moments to find space on that small field? I think it’ll be a good matchup. I think it’ll be a good game.”

New York City FC – Nicolas Fernandez

Nicolas Fernandez scored the first of New York City FC’s three goals in their win over Chicago on Saturday, his third straight regular-season match with a goal and the 15th of his MLS career.

Only five players have scored more regular-season goals than Fernandez since his debut last July.

Toronto suffered a last-gasp defeat to D.C. United last time out, but Djordje Mihailovic provided a bright spark off the bench after coming on in the 54th minute.

He had a game-high four shots, while he was the only Toronto player to get two of his shots on target. Mihailovic accumulated 0.31 expected goals (xG) from those, only fewer than Theo Corbeanu (0.33 xG).

All For One episode presented by @Bell pic.twitter.com/dyHenIeSWy

— Toronto FC (@TorontoFC) July 28, 2026

MATCH PREDICTION: NEW YORK CITY FC WIN

New York City have won six straight matches against Toronto, including five straight in regular-season play.

The only opponent NYCFC have defeated in six consecutive regular-season meetings is FC Cincinnati from 2019 to 2021.

New York City have won each of their last two home matches, including a 3-1 victory over Chicago on Saturday. This is the seventh time they have won two straight home matches in all competitions since the start of last season, but their last three-match home winning run came in October-November 2024.

Toronto’s regular-season winless run hit 11 straight matches (D6 L5) with their 2-1 defeat against D.C. United. The Reds have just two longer single-season winless runs in league play – 14 straight to end the 2012 season, and 12 straight in July-September 2007.

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