Orlando City
Orlando City vs. CF Montreal: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, and More
The Lions embark on the first of several road matches in a short period of time, returning to the place where they were knocked out of the 2022 playoffs.
Welcome to your match thread for a Saturday night matchup between Orlando City and CF Montreal at Stade Saputo (7:30 p.m., MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+). This is the first of two scheduled meetings set for the 2023 regular season, with Montreal making the return trip to Orlando on Saturday, Sept. 30.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of the match.
History
The Lions are 7-8-3 against Montreal in the all-time league series and 8-9-3 in all competitions since the club joined MLS. Orlando holds a 4-4-1 road record against Montreal, in the regular season, but one of those “road” wins came during the pandemic while the Canadian side was hosting games at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey. If you include the most recent meeting, which came in the postseason, Orlando City is 4-5-1 in Montreal.
The last time the teams met, CF Montreal knocked Orlando City out of the 2022 MLS playoffs by a 2-0 scoreline last October, with goals by Ismael Kone and Djordje Mihailovic — the latter coming extremely deep in stoppage time from the penalty spot.
Each team won at home in the two-game, regular-season series in 2022, with tonight’s hosts thumping Orlando 4-1 in Montreal on May 7. Joel Waterman, Mihailovic, Joaquin Torres, and Zachary Brault-Guillard did the damage on the scoreboard and Orlando City managed just two shot attempts, with Joao Moutinho’s goal on a set piece helping the Lions avoid a shutout. Orlando City did not have either starting center back for that match, and it showed. The teams also met on opening day of the 2022 season, when Orlando City captured a 2-0 home win behind second-half goals from Alexandre Pato and Benji Michel.
In 2021, the teams met in Montreal on Decision Day, with the Lions earning a 2-0 road victory at Stade Saputo to clinch a playoff spot. Sebas Mendez and Daryl Dike provided the goals. That season’s match-up at Exploria Stadium came on Oct. 20, 2021, with the visitors managing a 1-1 draw. Chris Mueller struck for the Lions just before halftime, but Rudy Camacho answered on a corner kick header shortly after the restart. The first meeting of 2021 took place Sept. 15 in Orlando with the Lions falling 4-2 and finishing the game with just nine men after both Nani and Andres Perea were sent off. Romell Quioto led Montreal with a goal and two assists. Mathieu Choiniere and Quioto put Montreal up 2-0 but despite already being down one man, Robin Jansson and Ruan tied things up. The visitors got two more from Lassi Lappalainen and Sunusi Ibrahim.
The teams met at Red Bull Arena in late 2020 as the then-Montreal Impact played home games in New Jersey due to the pandemic. Orlando City got a Dike goal in the 39th minute to win 1-0 on Nov. 1, 2020. It was the second meeting of the 2020 season, with Orlando also beating Montreal 1-0 in the MLS is Back Tournament knockout rounds on July 25 to advance to the quarterfinals. Tesho Akindele scored the game’s only goal on a Montreal defensive mistake. Orlando had controlled the game but was struggling to finish. Ultimately, the one goal was enough.
Orlando City snapped a six-game winless streak against Montreal (0-5-1) in MLS regular-season play dating back to 2016 when the Lions put the Impact to the sword in a 3-0 drubbing at Stade Saputo on June 1, 2019. Nani (penalty), Akindele, and Will Johnson supplied the offense that day.
The main reason the Impact had such success against Orlando the preceding few years was the play of its defense and of former talisman Ignacio Piatti. The Lions fell 3-1 at Exploria Stadium back on March 16, 2019, and Piatti was a big reason why, scoring his ninth and 10th career goals against Orlando, adding to a strike by Orji Okwonkwo. Dom Dwyer added a cosmetic goal late for Orlando City to spoil the clean sheet.
Montreal did not allow a goal against the Lions in 2018, sweeping the two-game set from Orlando, and the Impact shut out Orlando City in three of the six meetings in that 5-0-1 run. The lone draw in that time frame was a 3-3 shootout in Orlando in 2017, in which the Impact led deep in stoppage time, only to see Jonathan Spector’s well-placed header steal the Lions a point.
Orlando won the first two meetings in 2016 by a combined score of 6-2. The teams split three meetings in 2015, with each going 1-1-1.
Match Overview
The Lions enter this match after beating the LA Galaxy 2-0 last Saturday. That snapped Orlando’s three-game losing streak and 0-3-1 skid at home dating back to opening night. On the other hand, the Lions are 2-0-1 away from Exploria Stadium in league play and 2-0-2 on the road in all competitions in 2023.
Montreal enters tonight having won two consecutive league games after a 1-6-0 start to the year. Those two wins came by identical 2-0 scorelines against the New York Red Bulls at home and last weekend at Sporting Kansas City. Montreal is always difficult in its own building and its 2-1-0 record in Montreal against a 1-5-0 road mark in 2023 shows that.
There have been a lot of changes in Montreal since that playoff game last October. Wilfried Nancy left Montreal to become coach of the Columbus Crew, Kei Kamara asked for a transfer and is now in Chicago. Mihailovic transferred to AZ Alkmaar, goalkeeper Sebastian Breza left for Bologna, defender Alistair Johnston went to Celtic, Torres departed for Nashville SC, Kone transferred to Watford, and former Lion Kamal Miller is now with Inter Miami.
Montreal has added George Campbell from Atlanta, Aaron Herrera from Real Salt Lake, and Bryce Duke and Ariel Lassiter from Miami.
So, what’s stayed the same? Under Hernán Losada, Montreal still has a solid back line with center backs Waterman and Camacho, shielded by defensive midfielder Victor Wanyama. Honduran forward Quioto is still in the lineup, and Canadian midfielder Mathieu Choiniere continues to develop as a player, currently leading the team in goals (2) and assists (2).
The Lions are well acquainted with Losada’s controlled chaos tactics from his time in charge at D.C. United. Orlando City will likely have more of the ball and will need to take care of it to avoid giving up dangerous counterattacks.
“[Montréal is] a team that has a lot of physicality, speed, they’re very vertical. They’re very bold in their structure,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said. “We know them, they know us, and I think it’s going to be a matter of the intention of winning that is going to decide the game. We are two teams that know each other pretty well.”
The Lions will be without Luca Petrasso (thigh) and Mauricio Pereyra (thigh), while Duncan McGuire is off the availability report. Montreal’s availability report lists midfielder Samuel Piette (adductor) and forward Mason Toye (knee) as out.
Match Content
- Our most recent episode of The Mane Land PawedCast features our key match-ups and score predictions, along with an exclusive interview with Dagur Dan Thorhallsson.
- Our Ben Miller provided his three keys to victory for Orlando City in Montreal.
Official Lineups:
Orlando City (4-2-3-1)
Goalkeeper: Pedro Gallese.
Defenders: Kyle Smith, Robin Jansson, Antonio Carlos, Michael Halliday.
Defensive Midfielders: Cesar Araujo, Wilder Cartagena.
Attacking Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Facundo Torres, Martin Ojeda.
Forward: Ercan Kara.
Bench: Mason Stajduhar, Rafael Santos, Abdi Salim, Rodrigo Schlegel, Felipe, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, Gaston Gonzalez, Ramiro Enrique, Duncan McGuire.
CF Montreal (3-4-3)
Goalkeeper: Jonathan Sirois.
Defenders: Joel Waterman, Rudy Camacho, Gabriele Corbo.
Midfielders: Ariel Lassiter, Mathieu Choiniere, Victor Wanyama, Aaron Herrera.
Forwards: Sean Rea, Chinonso Offor, Bryce Duke.
Bench: Logan Ketterer, Robert Thorkelsson, George Campbell, Zachary Brault-Guillard, Lassi Lappalainen, Ahmed Hamdi, Romell Quioto, Sunusi Ibrahim.
Referees:
REF: Marcos DeOliveira.
AR1: Corey Rockwell.
AR2: Walt Heatherly.
4TH: Alex Chilowicz.
VAR: Carol Anne Chenard.
AVAR: Jeff Muschik.
How to Watch
Match Time: 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Stade Saputo — Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
TV/Live Stream: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+.
Radio: Real Radio 104.1 FM (English), Acción 97.9 FM and 810 AM (Spanish).
Twitter: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow along at @TheManeLand, as well as Orlando City’s official Twitter feed (@OrlandoCitySC).
Enjoy the match. Go City!