Toronto will hope to erase memories of Wednesday’s mistake-filled 5-0 loss to New York by putting in a more focused display against Houston on Saturday night (8:30 p.m. ET on GOL TV Canada).

The match will be a league-high 21st game for Toronto in MLS this year. The fixture congestion (this will be their fifth game in 14 nights) has been particularly devastating for the Reds as several regulars continue to miss time due to injury.

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[inline_node:6718]When Toronto and Houston first met on May 7, the Reds were well organized and took a 2-1 victory away from the contest. Joao Plata scored his first goal for TFC and became the darling of BMO Field with a man of the match performance.

Plata dedicated his strike form the spot to head coach Aron Winter for showing confidence in the Ecuador forward. Winter has kept with Plata but unlike that day in May, the coach is without several others that played a crucial role in the victory.

Adrian Cann, Dicoy Williams, Julian de Guzman, Jacob Peterson, Alen Stevanovic and Maicon Santos all carried a pivotal part in the previous Houston fixture.

Heading into Saturday, Cann (ACL), Williams (knee) and Maicon (hamstring) are all out of the lineup and there was only a very minor possibility that de Guzman, who experienced knee swelling following the Vancouver win on July 2, would rejoin the team in Texas. It was learned on Friday morning that this is not to be. Stevanovic has ended his loan-spell in Toronto since May 7, leaving only Jacob Peterson (hamstring) as the lone member of the six in question likely to play in Saturday’s contest.

Toronto will train in Houston early Friday evening. Toronto FC TV will be on the scene to provide the latest pregame reactions from the coach and players on TorontoFC.ca leading up to kickoff on Saturday.

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