Foreign Exchange: Three questions with TFC Republic's John Molinaro
As a fan of a Western Conference team, you may not know a lot about Toronto FC. We asked someone dedicated to covering the Canadian team some questions.
Austin FC heads to Canada to face Toronto FC at an absurdly early kickoff time (noon CT) on Saturday, and to help learn more about it, we reached out to John Molinaro, who puts out the excellent TFC Republic, to answer some questions ahead of the match.
To be fully transparent, we were thinking about reaching out to him when he reached out first to set up an interview to learn more about Austin. You can hear the audio of that here. (Do be forewarned that did the interview right before the Open Cup match on Tuesday, when I was still optimistic about that tournament.)
To the questions!
Much of Toronto FC's offseason has been about the pursuit of Josh Sargent — now that he's arrived, how is he integrating and performing?
He’s slowly coming into form with a goal and an assist in four appearances, including three starts. He hadn’t played a competitive game for Norwich since early January, so TFC were very cautious about working him into the lineup until he was match fit. He’s looked really good while pressing defenders high up the pitch, but hasn’t exactly benefited from great service as of yet.
Djordje Mihailovic is sidelined with a pelvic stress fracture for a number of weeks (which sounds painful) — how much will Toronto miss his presence, and who's most likely to step into his role?
They’re going to miss him a lot. Mihailovic is Toronto's chief creator and midfield orchestrator, and has been the team leader in goal contributions since last summer’s trade from Colorado. So much of what they do from an attacking perspective flows through him and they don’t have another player like him. So, guys like Jose Cifuentes, Jonathan Osorio and Alonso Coello will all have to step up to make up for his absence.
It's weird to not see Dániel Sallói in SKC blue ... how has he been as an addition to the club, and is there a particular need that he's filled?
Salloi has been of the club’s best off-season additions. What this team badly missed last season was directness in its attack — someone who could take defenders on one-on-one and run right at them. Salloi has done that this season while effectively linking up up with Mihailovic. He’s also proven to be quite versatile by playing in different roles.
Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) wherever you get your podcasts.
Austin FC head coach Nico Estévez thought there were more goals in Tuesday's match for his team. But he also acknowledges that the team's first-half performance did them in.
Austin FC's tough Open Cup draw against a top USL Championship team manifested in a 2-1 loss to knock them out of the tournament. That's two first-round losses in four seasons.
Austin FC plays Louisville City on Tuesday at 6 pm CT to start its 2026 Open Cup campaign. The match comes at a moment in which the team's league form is far from ideal.
Austin FC heads to Canada to face Toronto FC at an absurdly early kickoff time (noon CT) on Saturday, and to help learn more about it, we reached out to John Molinaro, who puts out the excellent TFC Republic, to answer some questions ahead of the match.
To be fully transparent, we were thinking about reaching out to him when he reached out first to set up an interview to learn more about Austin. You can hear the audio of that here. (Do be forewarned that did the interview right before the Open Cup match on Tuesday, when I was still optimistic about that tournament.)
To the questions!
Much of Toronto FC's offseason has been about the pursuit of Josh Sargent — now that he's arrived, how is he integrating and performing?
He’s slowly coming into form with a goal and an assist in four appearances, including three starts. He hadn’t played a competitive game for Norwich since early January, so TFC were very cautious about working him into the lineup until he was match fit. He’s looked really good while pressing defenders high up the pitch, but hasn’t exactly benefited from great service as of yet.
Djordje Mihailovic is sidelined with a pelvic stress fracture for a number of weeks (which sounds painful) — how much will Toronto miss his presence, and who's most likely to step into his role?
They’re going to miss him a lot. Mihailovic is Toronto's chief creator and midfield orchestrator, and has been the team leader in goal contributions since last summer’s trade from Colorado. So much of what they do from an attacking perspective flows through him and they don’t have another player like him. So, guys like Jose Cifuentes, Jonathan Osorio and Alonso Coello will all have to step up to make up for his absence.
It's weird to not see Dániel Sallói in SKC blue ... how has he been as an addition to the club, and is there a particular need that he's filled?
Salloi has been of the club’s best off-season additions. What this team badly missed last season was directness in its attack — someone who could take defenders on one-on-one and run right at them. Salloi has done that this season while effectively linking up up with Mihailovic. He’s also proven to be quite versatile by playing in different roles.
Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) wherever you get your podcasts.
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