Team aiming to finish strong as season winds down
It may be hard to believe, but there are already just eight games left in the MLS regular season. Eight games to go before the start of the MLS Cup playoffs.
Through the first 26 games of the season, CF Montréal has been one of the top sides in MLS. Their 47 goals scored are good for fifth in the league and they’re fourth in the Supporters’ Shield race. In the East, they’re ranked second, five points behind the Philadelphia Union in first, who has played one more game than Montreal.
With eight games to go, the prospect of aiming for the top seed in the Eastern Conference suddenly becomes realistic.
And this team knows that. A team that performs like this has high expectations for itself, as is it often voiced by their leaders during the team’s media availabilities.
“We try to stay as close to Philly as possible,” said centre-back Kamal Miller. “They took points from us early in the season in Montreal, before we caught our stride. Now that we’re having a good run at the moment, we just need to keep it going and make sure they feel the pressure.”
And why shouldn’t they be confident. They just beat the New England Revolution decisively at home 4-0, a team that was unbeaten in its last five games. It’s their seventh consecutive game unbeaten, a streak that includes five wins.
To add to that, head coach Wilfried Nancy’s men are one of the best road teams in MLS this season, with seven wins and just two losses away from home, breaking the Club’s previous record of road wins in a season. They now have four consecutive wins on the road heading into Saturday’s game in Chicago against the Fire.
The squad actually has an identical record on the road as it has at home, and that’s because this team has an identity, a style of play, that they rarely stray from. Wilfried Nancy’s vision of how he wanted his team to play when he first took the head coaching position before the start of the 2021 season is coming to life before our very eyes.
“The big picture isn’t to make the playoffs, it’s to play well so that we can go as far as we can,” said head coach Wilfried Nancy. “When I say play well, it’s about recognizing moments. The key word is process. It’s a very meaningful word to me. When you believe in the project, you’re able to do good things.”
This team likes to keep the ball and patiently build its offense, which comes in wave after wave most times. There’s a reason they’re the fifth highest-scoring team in the league, led by striker Romell Quioto, who has 11 goals in his last 10 starts, and five in his last three.
If they suffered defensively at the start of the year, they’ve righted that ship as well; the team has added three clean sheets in their last seven games, allowing just six goals in the process.
It therefore shouldn’t be surprising that this team is chasing the top seed in its conference. Considering the way they are playing at the moment, they deserve to be in the position they are in. This team is good enough to beat just about anybody in the league, and they know it.
“We’re heading in the right direction,” added Nancy. “Like I often say, ambition, confidence, but with humility, and we’ll see for the rest.”
