Orlando City
Orlando City vs. CF Montreal: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More
The Lions kick off their 10th MLS season at home with a match against CF Montreal.
Welcome to your match thread for a Saturday opening night matchup between Orlando City and CF Montreal at Inter&Co Stadium (7:30 p.m., MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+). This is the first of the two scheduled meetings set for the 2024 regular season, with the Lions making the return trip to Stade Saputo on April 20.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of the match.
History
The Lions are 8-9-3 against Montreal in the all-time regular-season series and 9-10-3 in all competitions since the club joined MLS. Orlando is just 4-4-2 at home against Montreal and 5-4-2 in all competitions held in Central Florida.
The teams last met on Sept. 30, 2023, with the Lions winning 3-0 in dominant fashion. Jonathan Sirois’ own goal opened the scoring, and Dagur Dan Thorhallsson and Facundo Torres added strikes for Orlando City. That was a good measure of revenge for OCSC, after Montreal defeated Orlando City 2-0 and handed the Lions their first road loss of the 2023 MLS season on May 6 at Stade Saputo. A Robin Jansson own goal got Montreal started in the second half and Romell Quioto added a second goal four minutes later.
These two sides met in the 2022 MLS playoffs, with CF Montreal knocking Orlando City out of the postseason by a 2-0 scoreline on Oct. 16, with goals by Ismael Kone and Djordje Mihailovic — the latter coming deep in stoppage time from the penalty spot.
Each team won at home in the two-game, regular-season series in 2022, with Montreal thumping Orlando 4-1 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 matchup in Orlando 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. 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, 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 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 Lions fell 3-1 at Exploria Stadium back on March 16, 2019, and Ignacio 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 went 4-0-1 in preseason and enter this match fresh off a 3-0 win over Cavalry FC in Concacaf Champions Cup play on Wednesday night in British Columbia. Torres provided a brace after Duncan McGuire’s opening goal. As the Lions played during the midweek with mostly a first-choice lineup, it’s logical to expect some rotation for this match, including a change in defense as Rodrigo Schlegel serves his suspension for the red card he picked up in the playoff match against Columbus at the end of the 2023 season.
Orlando City comes off a 2023 campaign that saw the club go 9-3-5 in league play, 0-0-1 in Concacaf Champions League, 1-0-1 in Leagues Cup, and 1-1-0 in the playoffs at home. The Lions are 3-0-6 all-time in league openers (all at home), are 2-0-2 under Head Coach Oscar Pareja in openers, have won their last two straight, and are 1-0-0 in MLS openers against Montreal.
Tonight’s visitors have yet to play a competitive match in 2024 under their new head coach, Laurent Courtois, and went 0-3-1 in the preseason, which doesn’t usually mean much. The club was dreadful on the road in 2023, finishing 2-13-2 away from home. That terrible road record largely prevented the Canadian side from making the postseason. Montreal finished just two points out of the playoff places, ending up 12-17-5 and in 10th place in the Eastern Conference.
Looking to improve from scoring just 36 goals during the 2023 season — tied for third worst in the Eastern Conference — Montreal has added former Inter Miami and Atlanta United striker Josef Martinez. He’s always a handful, and Orlando City will not only be without Schlegel, but as of Friday the club was still waiting for the international paperwork for new center back David Brekalo, who has been training with the Lions. Likewise, the paperwork had not yet arrived as of training on Friday for new striker Luis Muriel, so either McGuire will need to play on short rest or Ramiro Enrique could get the start.
The visitors tonight will feature a familiar face as former Lion Ruan is now with CF Montreal after spending last season with D.C. United. Other new faces for Montreal include Uruguayan striker Matias Coccaro, midfielder Dominic Iankov, and fullback Raheem Edwards.
“We’re feeling good. The boys have approached the match in a very professional manner this time when we have been busy, but we were missing the competition, so it’s good,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said. “After the result in Canada, we came up with big expectations of ourselves. The opener, being in front of our fans, and having a good start. So, we’ll get optimistic and it’s going to be a long journey, like always, but we’re ready to do it.”
The Lions have no one listed on their availability report. Schlegel will miss the match with his suspension, and it remains to be seen if Brekalo and/or Muriel will be cleared to play. Montreal will be without Róbert Thorkelsson (adductor) and Lappalainen (ankle), while Nathan Saliba (bone bruise) and Joaquín Sosa (lower leg) are day-to-day.
Match Content
- Our most recent episode of The Mane Land PawedCast features our key match-ups and score predictions for tonight’s game.
- Our David Rohe provided his three keys to an Orlando City victory over Montreal.
Official Lineups:
Orlando City (4-2-3-1)
Goalkeeper: Pedro Gallese.
Defenders: Rafael Santos, Robin Jansson, David Brekalo, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson.
Defensive Midfielders: Cesar Araujo, Wilder Cartagena.
Attacking Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Nico Lodeio, Facundo Torres.
Forward: Duncan McGuire.
Bench: Mason Stajduhar, Kyle Smith, Michael Halliday, Abdi Salim, Felipe, Jeorgio Kocevski, Martin Ojeda, Ramiro Enrique, Jack Lynn.
CF Montreal (3-4-3)
Goalkeeper: Jonathan Sirois.
Defenders: Gabriele Corbo, Joel Waterman, George Campbell.
Midfielders: Ariel Lassiter, Mathieu Choiniere, Samuel Piette, Ruan.
Forwards: Bryce Duke, Matias Coccaro, Dominik Iankov.
Bench: Sebastian Breza, Raheem Edwards, Fernando Alvarez, Ousman Jabang, Victor Wanyama, Rida Zouhir, Kwadwo Opoku, Sunusi Ibrahim, Josef Martinez.
Referees:
REF: Rafael Santos.
AR1: Andrew Hanks.
AR2: Albert Kyei-Mensah.
4TH: Amin Hadzic.
VAR: ?.
AVAR: ?.
How to Watch
Match Time: 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Inter&Co Stadium — Orlando.
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!