CF Montreal will look to reverse a lopsided rivalry when they visit New York City FC on Wednesday.
A roller-coaster season has seen Montreal (11-12-2, 35 points) amass three separate three-match losing streaks, but a victory Wednesday would give the team its second four-match winning streak of the year.
The inconsistency can be boiled down to an all-or-nothing attack. CF Montreal are 11-1-1 when scoring at least one goal, and 0-11-1 when scoreless.
Fortunately for CF Montreal, George Campbell delivered the critical strike in the 86th minute of a 1-0 home victory over the New England Revolution on Saturday. Campbell’s goal rewarded Montreal’s control of the action, which included outshooting the Revolution 12-2 overall and 3-0 in shots on goal.
“In front of me, there are players giving their heart and soul to get these results,” Montreal goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois said. “There wasn’t a shot on target from New England, and that shows the character and solidarity of our team and our defensive effort.”
While Montreal is rolling, New York City (5-10-11, 26 points) is 1-8-8 in its past 17 regular-season matches.
However, that lone victory was a 1-0 road result against CF Montreal on July 1, continuing NYCFC’s longstanding dominance over the Canadian side. NYCFC are 10-2-5 in all-time regular-season meetings with CF Montreal, and New York City also eliminated Montreal from last season’s MLS Cup playoffs during the Eastern Conference semifinals.
NYCFC have only amassed 16 points at home this season while going 4-3-4 on their own pitch. Wednesday’s match is the first of five consecutive home dates that are crucial to New York City’s hopes of a late playoff push.
“We have two home games in three or four days, and that’s a great opportunity for us,” NYCFC coach Nick Cushing said. “We have to look forward, we have to recover and we have to embrace the challenge.”
New York City’s Santiago Rodriguez and James Sands are questionable after missing the Saturday match against FC Cincinnati due to lower-body injuries. Maxime Chanot didn’t play in NYCFC’s last two matches, and the veteran defender left the club to join AJ Ajaccio of the French Ligue 2 on Tuesday.
–Field Level Media