MONTREAL — It has been a difficult return to action from the international break for CF Montréal.
The club dropped its first Major League Soccer game after a three-week hiatus, falling 1-0 to visiting Austin, despite the Texas side playing the entire second half with just 10 men.
Montreal followed that performance with a 4-0 thumping at the hands of bitter rivals Toronto FC in the Canadian Championship semifinals. It was the club’s worst loss since March 30, 2019, when it was blown out 7-1 by Sporting Kansas City.
"Any way you cut it, it’s a difficult period that we’re going through, but we just need to keep our cool and not let this spiral out of control," defender Rudy Camacho said. "We have to turn our attention to the next game and make sure we come out strong and get the first goal."
Montreal will have a chance to right the ship on Saturday as the club hosts Charlotte FC for the first time ever at Stade Saputo. Montreal won the first meeting between the two sides five weeks ago 2-0 in North Carolina through goals from Djordje Mihailovic and Alistair Johnston.
There will be some differences between the two matchups with the surprise firing of Charlotte head coach Miguel Ángel Ramírez last month, but Montreal doesn’t expect a completely different opponent.
"There isn’t much that’s different about them since the last time we’ve played," said head coach Wilfried Nancy. "They play a lot less fluid now but they still have the same style and defend very well, so that’s still our challenge."
Injuries and a heavily rotated squad over the last two games has led to many small mistakes and a lack of offensive punch, something very uncharacteristic of the third-best offensive team in MLS.
Mihailovic, Kamal Miller, and Victor Wanyama have all missed time since the return from the break, and their absences have been missed. That leaves Montreal with the task of finding players to step into their roles for the next few weeks.
"We all just have to get back to the unit we were before," forward Kei Kamara said. "We have a lot of players and that’s the whole point of having a roster, other people can step in. Those guys are part of the engine that helps the team forward, but when some of the can’t play we have to be ready."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 24, 2022.
Elias Grigoriadis, The Canadian Press
