CF Montreal looks to take momentum into break as Minnesota visits Stade Saputo
MONTREAL — CF Montreal hopes to hold momentum right into a two-week break and cap off a run of 11 video games in simply 36 days with a win towards visiting Minnesota United on Saturday.
Montreal (6-9-1) began the stretch caught within the basement of Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference, however had gained their three earlier video games in all competitions. The workforce then prolonged that streak to 6 whereas reserving a spot within the Canadian Championship last and discovering its manner again into the East’s playoff image.
“The start was a little catastrophic, but what’s important is that we’ve somewhat recovered from it and doing better now,” mentioned defender Rudy Camacho. “There’s a bit of fatigue, but we’ve got one game left and we want to give the home fans a good show and get three points.”
At the start of the season, Minnesota (5-6-5) had earned a status as highway warriors, scoring three consecutive wins away from residence. Since then, the membership has taken factors away from simply one in every of their final eight highway video games in all competitions.
The return of star Emanuel Reynoso may give the Loons a much-needed enhance. After establishing himself as an elite attacking midfielder in MLS final season and selecting up 12 objectives and 6 assists, low season drama noticed the Argentine fail to report back to camp earlier than the beginning of the season.
That led to a prolonged suspension with out pay from the league which lasted till final week, when he got here off the bench towards Toronto FC.
“They are a team with a lot of individual quality, especially now that Reynoso is back. He’s a gamechanger,” mentioned Montreal head coach Hernan Losada. “They also don’t have the mental fatigue that we will have. They’ve had a whole week to prepare this game so it’s up to us to be ready.”
The psychological fatigue might have been exacerbated by a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps within the last of the Canadian Championship on Wednesday. After happening early within the second half by means of two avoidable errors, Montreal almost mounted a comeback within the last 10 minutes, solely to be denied by Whitecaps keeper Yohei Takaoka twice in stoppage time.
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Losada had not shied away from the significance of the Canadian Championship, because it was not solely a superb alternative to safe the membership’s first piece of silverware since 2021, however their most direct path to a berth within the CONCACAF Champions League.
“To be honest it won’t be easy, it was a long trip with a lot of emotions, so the focus is on recovery and having fresh legs,” mentioned Losada. “But we have to stick together and stay positive, that’s the only way we’ll get a result.”
After this weekend’s video games, MLS will acknowledge the worldwide worldwide break for 2 weeks, permitting many on the membership to lastly get some relaxation. This can also be a possibility for injured gamers like Samuel Piette and Romell Quioto to make headway of their restoration with out lacking any recreation time. The two Montreal stars have picked up important accidents to the adductor and hamstring muscle respectively and have performed little this season.
There are additionally two Montreal gamers who might be representing their nationwide groups throughout the break. Aaron Herrera was known as as much as the Guatemalan National Team whereas Robert Thorkelsson will return to the Icelandic Under-21 workforce.
