CF Montreal seeks their first win of the season Saturday, and to get one at home against defending Eastern Conference champion Philadelphia Union, they’ll need to score — which is something they haven’t done in the first three games.
Montreal (0-3-0, 0 points) is one of three MLS teams without any standings points in 2023, and the only team in the East that has yet to find the back of the net.
A fourth similarly frustrating result Saturday would match a record for futility, as the Impact would join 2007 Toronto FC as the only teams in MLS history to open a season with four consecutive scoreless defeats.
At least Montreal won’t have to face one of the league’s top goalkeepers, as Philadelphia (2-1-0, 6 points) will be without Andre Blake due to a non-contact injury he sustained last weekend in a 1-0 win against Chicago.
“Good news is that it is a Grade 1 adductor strain, which is the lowest grade possible,” Union coach Jim Curtin told the MLS website, and indicated that Blake could return as soon as next weekend.
“He won’t be a part of the Montreal game because he hasn’t trained yet this week. Of all the news we could have gotten, that is as good as it we could get.”
The Union are unbeaten in the last six meetings with Montreal (three wins and three draws).
But the Union has just two wins in its last eight games on the road.
Montreal will be without defender Kamal Miller and forward Romell Quioto, who have been called in by their national teams (Canada and Honduras) for their last matches of the CONCACAF Nations League group stage.
Montreal lost 2-0 at Nashville SC last week and has been outscored 5-0 in three matches this season.
“I want a team with less possession and more verticality and aggression,” head coach Hernan Losada said. “We manage to cross, but we are not in the right place in the penalty box … We manage to shoot, but they are not on target.”
–Field Level Media
