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BMO Field An early look at construction underway at BMO Field obtained by Chopper 24. <\/p>\nTORONTO \u2014 Former Toronto FC captain Michael Bradley returns to BMO Field on Saturday, this time as coach of the New York Red Bulls.<\/p>\n
For the 38-year-old Bradley, it\u2019s familiar ground having made 308 appearances across 10 seasons with Toronto before retiring after the 2023 campaign. Only current captain Jonathan Osorio, at 398, had made more appearances for the franchise.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m excited to come back to Toronto,\u201d Bradley said. \u201cA lot of good people there, a lot of good people in and around the club, BMO\u2019s a great stadium. It\u2019s their home opener. So I think it will be a great afternoon.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cl\u2019ve said this a lot of different ways, a lot of different times \u2014 I gave everything I had in my time in Toronto, from the second I got there until the second I left,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd I think what we did and what we were able to accomplish was pretty unique and pretty special and ultimately speaks for itself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bradley is part of TFC history, having led the club to the treble in 2017 when it won the Supporters\u2019 Shield, MLS Cup and Canadian Championship. And he was hard to miss, the first player to survey the playing surface before every game at BMO Field.<\/p>\n
\u201cA little bit weird for him on the other side but I\u2019m sure he\u2019s going to be very warmly welcomed by the fans and everybody,\u201d said Osorio.<\/p>\n
The stadium looks different these days, with temporary stands for the World Cup looming at the north and south ends. Weather could be a factor with snow forecast for Friday and a high of 1C on Saturday.<\/p>\n
BMO Field An early look at construction underway at BMO Field obtained by Chopper 24. <\/p>\n
Toronto (1-2-0) looks to build on a 1-0 victory over FC Cincinnati, its first-ever win at TQL Stadium, while the Red Bulls (2-1-0) hope to bounce back from a 3-0 loss to visiting CF Montreal. <\/p>\n
Saturday could well see the debut of Josh Sargent, Toronto\u2019s newly acquired designated player.<\/p>\n
\u201cJosh is eligible and I probably think we\u2019ll see him for some minutes,\u201d said head coach Robin Fraser.<\/p>\n
The 26-year-old U.S. international last played Jan. 4 for Norwich City in a 2-0 loss to Stoke City in England\u2019s second-tier Championship. He was subsequently relegated to training with Norwich\u2019s under-21 team as his transfer to Toronto \u2014 worth up to US27 million \u2014 slowly progressed.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/DM75Q7VUUBVK2RW42YMUNQ62MQ.jpg\")
United States’s Josh Sargent looks on prior to a friendly soccer match against Japan, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo\/Jeff Dean, file) United States’s Josh Sargent looks on prior to a friendly soccer match against Japan, Tuesday, Sept. 9, 2025, in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo\/Jeff Dean, file) <\/p>\n
Bradley is well acquainted with Fraser, his Toronto counterpart, given Fraser served as an assistant coach under Greg Vanney during TFC\u2019s glory years.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe spent a lot of good days together, had a lot of success together \u2026 Robin is a good man,\u201d said Bradley.<\/p>\n
\u201cMichael eats, sleeps and breathes soccer,\u201d said Fraser. \u201cThere was no question he was going to coach. And there\u2019s no question he\u2019s going to be a good coach.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Red Bulls arrive riding a 13-game unbeaten run (9-0-4) against Toronto, which is looking for its first win against the New Yorkers since a 3-0 decision July 2019 at BMO Field. The Red Bulls hold a 24-9-11 edge in 44 regular-season meetings with TFC.<\/p>\n
Teenage forward Julian Hall leads the Red Bulls with three goals. The 17-year-old scored both goals in New York\u2019s season-opening 2-1 win at Orlando, becoming the fifth player in MLS history to record multiple goals in a game at the age of 17 or younger. Hall had the lone goal in the subsequent 1-0 victory over visiting New England.<\/p>\n
Bradley also gave starts to 16-year-old midfielder Adri Mehmeti and 17-year-old defender Matthew Dos Santos against Orlando, making the Red Bulls the first team in MLS history to start three players aged 17 or younger in a regular-season match.<\/p>\n
Both the Red Bulls and Toronto are works in progress, with Bradley in his first year at the helm and Toronto looking to blend in new talent.<\/p>\n
\u201cLike everywhere we continue to try to see the best way to put the pieces together,\u201d said Bradley. \u201cThe football that we are playing is different this year \u2026 And we\u2019re still in the early days, so we\u2019re trying to figure out what our best group is.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Red Bulls roster includes former TFC defender Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know Jahkeele well and I know firsthand what he brings to a group,\u201d said Bradley. \u201cSo we\u2019re really excited to have him here \u2026 I think he\u2019s had a strong start to the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toronto\u2019s Raheem Edwards and Derrick Etienne Jr. both had stints with the Red Bulls.<\/p>\n
Toronto, celebrating its 20th season, is looking to return to the playoffs for the first time since 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe fans are hungry for something good,\u201d said Fraser.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 13, 2026.<\/p>\n
Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TORONTO \u2014 Former Toronto FC captain Michael Bradley returns to BMO Field on Saturday, this time as coach…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":534282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[49,48,82,3302],"class_list":["post-534281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/534282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}