TORONTO -- Almost three weeks after its last league outing, Toronto FC returns to action Friday night against the New York Red Bulls as the MLS season resumes with a vengeance following a World Cup break. After just two league games in June, Toronto (6-4-1) will go on to play seven in July plus a friendly against Tottenham. Five of those contests are against Eastern Conference opposition, meaning valuable points in the playoff race are on the line. Manager Ryan Nelsen gave his players eight days off following the 1-0 win over visiting San Jose on June 7. They have been training ever since, albeit with sessions pushed forward a little bit to allow players to watch the World Cup in the afternoon. There are different allegiances, although the team is rooting for both Brazil and the U.S. given the presence of TFC goalie Julio Cesar and midfielder Michael Bradley at the tournament. Canadian international Jonathan Osorio is pulling for Colombia, where his parents came from. The U.S.-Ghana game pitted the 12 Americans on the Toronto roster against Ghana-born forward Dominic Oduro. Massage therapist and acupuncturist Marcelo Casal is cheering for Uruguay. The public relations department is still mourning the exit of Italy. While his players enjoyed time off, albeit with a prescribed gym regimen, Nelsen and his coaches were at work planning training sessions. "We might have worked around a nice glass of red," said Nelsen, whose business holdings include a winery back home in New Zealand. Nelsen is expecting a hard contest Friday against the Red Bulls (4-5-6) who are one point behind fourth-place Toronto in the East despite having played four more games. Toronto defeated New York 2-0 when they met in May at BMO Field, with Jermain Defoe scoring early and Luke Moore scoring late. "I think that game was a big game for us," said Nelsen. "We had a few guys out (injured) and wed just come back from the West Coast after 120 minutes (in an Amway Canadian Championship game in Vancouver) and it was a really, really good performance. "New York will have a lot of motivation, in all honesty, to put one back on us. Its at their home field. Ive got a real sense that everybodys desperate to play a game after the break. "Its nice to have a break but everybody wants to get back on the field. I can sense this games going to be a really good one, a good tough one. Im looking forward to it." The host Red Bulls will also be well rested. Star striker Thierry Henry, fresh from a stint as a BBC World Cup analyst, and Colombian defender Jamison Olave have not played since May 27 at Sporting Kansas City, skipping artificial turf games June 8 in New England and June 14 against the New York Cosmos (in U.S. Open Cup play). The Red Bulls Australian star Tim Cahill is slated to be back from the World Cup and could make an appearance Friday night. Cahill did not see action in the Socceroos 3-0 loss to Spain on Monday but scored two goals earlier at the tournament including a highlight-reel volley against the Dutch. "Were expecting them to play," Nelsen said of Cahill and Henry. While hes a Kiwi, Nelsen was raving about Cahills strike against the Dutch while saying it had not got the publicity it deserved. "For me, if a Brazilian did that, or an Argentinian, or a big-country-type player did that, theyd be raving about that for years to come. ... It was of such quality that I didnt think they gave him the credit he really deserved for an over-the-shoulder left-foot volley." "But thats Timmy," he added. "Timmys been scoring those type of goals his whole career. Thats why New York is so lucky to have him." Toronto has two injury concerns in winger Daniel Lovitz (concussion) and Brazilian striker Gilberto (hip flexor). Cheap Jerseys From China . Moments after his Brooklyn Nets teammates ran out onto the court to congratulate him following their 100-98 overtime win over the Phoenix Suns on Friday night, Johnson could only shake his head at scoring only 13 points on 6-of-19 shooting. Fake China Jerseys . - Skiing far more aggressively than in her season debut a day earlier, Lindsey Vonn was in provisional 10th place after the first 45 skiers in a World Cup downhill on Saturday. https://www.chinajerseyscheap.us/. Long snapper Patrick Mannelly announced Friday that he is retiring after a 16-year-career with the Bears, a span in which he played in a team record 245 games and snapped the ball 2,282 times. China Jerseys Cheap .Hoffenheim forward Anthony Modeste opened the scoring on a counterattack in the 15th minute, shooting though Jaroslav Drobnys legs after Lewis Holtby lost the ball in midfield. China Jerseys Stitched . On the day the club activated Casey Janssen from the 15-day disabled list, his return from a strained oblique that cost him the first six weeks of the regular season, it announced Sergio Santos would be placed on the disabled list on Monday with discomfort in his right forearm.(SportsNetwork.com) - The Toronto Maple Leafs return home from a disappointing road trip with a new look on their bench Wednesday night as they take on the Washington Capitals. The Maple Leafs were outscored 8-2 in losing the final two contests of a seven-game swing to Minnesota and Winnipeg, with the defeats on back-to-back days wrapping up a 2-5-0 road trip. Toronto has lost seven of its past nine and owns just a one-point lead over the Boston Bruins for the Eastern Conferences second wild card, but despite currently having a playoff spot head coach Randy Carlyle was fired on Tuesday. It just fell into place that this is where were at. If this would have happened and we felt we were trending this way a month from now we would have done the same thing, said Maple Leafs general manager Dave Nonis. Earlier in the season we had some pretty good stretches where we thought we were going to be the consistent team we wanted to be. That didnt happen and we couldnt wait longer. At this point we felt we needed to make this change. Carlyle was hired by the Maple Leafs during the 2011-12 campaign, not long after being relieved of his coaching duties by the Anaheim Ducks, and led Toronto to the postseason the following campaign. That snapped a franchise- worst seven-season span without a playoff appearance, but Toronto failed to make it back to the 2014 postseason. Assistants Peter Horachek and Steve Spott will handle coaching duties on an interim basis beginning tonight. Horachek previously served as an interim head coach for the Florida Panthers beginning in November of 2013 before joining Toronto the following summer and also spent 10 seasons in Nashville as an assistant under current Capitals head coach Barry Trotz. Spott spent a season coaching the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League prior to his promotion to an assistant coach in July. The Maple Leafs try to pick up the pieces folllowing a 5-1 loss to the Jets on Saturday.dddddddddddd James Reimer gave No. 1 netminder Jonathan Bernier a breather and was peppered with 40 shots, allowing all five goals. Mike Santorelli recorded Torontos only goal 2:19 into the second period when he batted in James van Riemsdyks cross-ice pass into the back of the net. Maybe we were a little tired, but I dont want to give that as an excuse, Reimer said. Were professionals, and we have to find ways to win these games. Toronto has been able to pick up some wins over Washington as of late, winning each of the previous three meetings. The Maple Leafs took the first of three meetings with the Capitals this season 6-2 at home on Nov. 29. Bernier made 35 saves and is 3-1-0 with a 2.01 goals against average and .932 save percentage versus Washington. Tyler Bozak scored twice. Justin Peters played the first and third periods in net for Washington, allowing three goals on 11 shots. Braden Holtby took over in the second and gave up three scores on 12 shots. Peters has not started since and Holtby is likely to make his 16th straight start tonight. He is 2-1-1 versus the Leafs with a 1.76 GAA and .943 save percentage in four meetings, including three starts. Holtby came up with 29 saves in Sundays 4-3 win over the Florida Panthers. It marked the Capitals sixth victory in eight games and improved them to 10-1-3 in their past 14 games. We are doing a lot of the right things and playing sometimes a boring style of hockey, but its the winning style of hockey and its way more fun playing that way for us, Caps defenseman Karl Alzner told NHL.com. Alzner, Brooks Laich and Andre Burakovsky all scored and Alex Ovechkin tallied and added an assist for his third multi-point game in a row. Ovechkin has three goals and six points over that span, which includes a win over the Chicago Blackhawks in the Winter Classic on New Years Day. ' ' '