The Philadelphia Union will look to extend their winning streak to three matches when they visit CF Montreal on Saturday night.
Philadelphia (6-3-1, 19 points) has won two straight matches by 3-0 scorelines. Saturday will kick off the team’s span of four matches in 12 days, including Wednesday’s U.S. Open Cup Round of 32 match against the USL Championship’s Indy Eleven.
For Union head coach Bradley Carnell, though, it’s one step at a time.
“(Montreal is) a tough trip, tough environment to go play at. And they’re trending in the right direction. So for us, all eyes are on Montreal,” Carnell said. “And everyone has to be … in the mindset and the right frame of mind to tackle that game in the right way.”
Ahead of a busy month, the Union received a boost to their lineup as midfielder Jesus Bueno saw his first action in nearly a month, starting and playing 62 minutes against D.C. United last weekend.
“I think (Bueno) played well in the last game out against D.C.,” Carnell said. “We’re trying to bring him back in a smart way, in a wise way. And we got him his 60 minutes roughly, which was good. It was massive for him to get that back under his belt because he hasn’t done it for a while.”
Meanwhile, CF Montreal (0-7-3, 3 points) still are winless in MLS play but captured their Canadian Championship preliminary round match against Toronto FC on Wednesday. After Giacomo Vrioni scored his first goal for Montreal in the 88th minute to make the score 2-2, the club won the resulting penalty shootout to advance.
“It’s just about playing well and giving everything on the field. It’s about consistency and trying to do the things that we are good at,” Montreal interim head coach Marco Donadel said. “I really only asked them to just show their quality on the field, and they really did a great job.”
CF Montreal have a short turnaround as they prepare to host the Union, albeit with new-found momentum.
“I know that they are resilient and I know that they don’t give up,” Donadel said. “They just did what they are able to do, and it’s just the beginning of this process.”
–Field Level Media
