Toronto, ON (My Sportsbook) - The New England Revolution will aim to extend their lead in Major League Soccer's Eastern Conference table when they travel north of the border to take on Toronto FC on Saturday at BMO Field.
The Revs are coming off a midweek MLS fixture that saw them top Eastern rival D.C. United 2-1 at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. The win snapped a rare two-game losing streak by the Revs, who were coming off losses to Chicago and San Jose.
New England won on Wednesday without the services of one of the best goalkeepers in the league, Matt Reis, because he is suffering from a back strain. He is questionable to return on Saturday. In his absence, Doug Warren preformed admirably to get the win vs. United.
"[Doug Warren] looked confident," New England coach Steve Nicol said. "He had a couple of things he had to make decisions about and when he had to make decisions, he made the right one, which is half the battle with goalkeepers. It is great they can make fantastic saves, but if they can make good decisions on a regular basis, it makes it look easier than it actually is."
It was just the seventh start of Warren's MLS career, which began in 2003 with D.C. United. He had a career record of 0-3-2 with United before coming to New England before the start of the 2005 season.
"Doug and I have been friends since we were 16, 17, and we were on youth teams together," New England forward Taylor Twellman said. "I'm a big fan of Dougie and we're just blessed with two really good goalies. Fortunately, I have been a part of Doug's two wins here and they were both against D.C., so it's well deserved."
Toronto, which is 5-1-4 at home this season, has lost three of its last four league fixtures and now sees itself tied for last in the East with Kansas City. The team is coming off a 2-0 loss at New York in its last league fixture.
"I have to give them some compliments," TFC coach John Carver said of New York. "Usually the side that has the advantage goes on to win the game. To be fair to them, they stuck to their guns and worked ever so hard and that made it difficult to break them down. We should have had enough to break them down and we didn't. So a little bit of credit goes to their coach and to their team."
Toronto added veteran forward Carlos Ruiz in a trade from the Los Angeles Galaxy on Thursday in an effort to bolster its attack so it will be better prepared to break down opponents.
"We're looking forward to bringing in another quality striker," TFC manager and director of soccer Mo Johnston said. "We've now got [Chad] Barrett and [Danny] Dichio who is on the road to getting healthier and this will also help bring young Ibee [Abdus Ibrahim] along properly. We're very excited to get Ruiz in here - he holds the ball up well and is a clinical finisher."
Ruiz, 28, leaves L.A. as the second leading scorer in Galaxy history with 50 regular season goals for the club. The Guatemalan forward is the all-time leader in postseason goals in MLS, and is currently eighth on the all-time goals list with 82.
It's unclear if Ruiz will be available for selection on Saturday. Dichio is also questionable after he suffered a concussion vs. the Red Bulls last weekend.
The Revs will be without forwards Kheli Dube (groin strain) and Adam Cristman (toe sprain) while forward Abdoulie Mansally is listed as doubtful with an ankle sprain. Winger Sainey Nyassi will also miss the game because of a suspension for yellow card accumulation.
