CF Montreal is hoping the two-week international break will be just what the doctor ordered and help them right their floundering season when they visit the Houston Dynamo on Saturday.
Montreal (1-11-5, 8 points) remains last in the Eastern Conference and is just one point out of the basement in the MLS table overall. The Canadian side is 0-3-2 since notching its lone win on May 10, including a 3-0 loss to the New England Revolution in their most recent match on May 31.
“It was huge,” Montreal defender Jalen Neal said of the pause. “It was a small recharge for us physically and mentally — get our heads right for the rest of the season and get our bodies right.
“There were a lot of guys going through little knocks. … A recharge like that is crucial, and especially heading to Houston, too, where it’s difficult to play.”
The club has struggled to keep the ball out of its net over the past four matches, conceding 15 goals. It’s a stark drop defensively after giving up 17 goals through their first 13 matches.
“We worked each day (during the break) on specific areas, especially on defense,” Montreal interim coach Marco Donadel said. “In the last four matches … I don’t think our concentration has been the same. We worked a lot on that.”
Montreal has scored a league-low 12 goals, with eight of those coming in the past seven matches.
Houston, meanwhile, returns to the pitch looking to pick up where it left off before the break.
The Dynamo (5-7-5, 20 points) had their four-match point streak snapped with a 3-1 setback against Sporting Kansas City on May 31. They were 3-0-1 during their streak and had lost just twice in their previous 10 matches (5-2-3).
“The important thing,” Houston coach Ben Olsen said after the loss to Kansas City, “is we keep building and getting better. … We have everybody now, and we know who we are. Now it is about putting this puzzle together, putting our best team out there and continuing to grow.”
Dynamo winger Lawrence Ennali made his season debut in the defeat, coming on as a substitute in the 81st minute. Ennali, who is in his second season with Houston, tore his ACL on Aug. 31, 2024 — the same match in which he scored his first MLS tally.
“You can see what Lawrence Ennali brings to us and what a miss that has been,” Olsen said. “He is a guy with real juice and speed.”
–Field Level Media
