Orlando City
Orlando City vs. CF Montreal: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More
The Lions look to keep building momentum as they visit Stade Saputo.
Welcome to your match thread for a Saturday night matchup between Orlando City (2-3-2, 8 points) and CF Montreal (3-3-1, 10 points) at Stade Saputo (7:30 p.m., MLS Season Pass on Apple TV+). This is the second of the two scheduled league meetings set for the 2024 regular season, however, the Lions will host CF Montreal in the Leagues Cup group stage on July 26.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of the match.
History
The Lions are 8-9-4 against Montreal in the all-time regular-season series and 9-10-4 in all competitions since the club joined MLS. Orlando is 4-5-1 in away matches against Montreal in MLS play, although one of those “road” games took place at Red Bull Arena in New Jersey during the pandemic. The Lions are 4-6-1 in all competitions on the road against Montreal.
These teams opened the 2024 season against each other in Orlando and played to a 0-0 draw. The Lions dominated the stat sheet but had a goal waved off for offside and simply weren’t lethal enough in front of goal.
The teams met twice in 2023, completing the season series 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 are coming off a 3-2, come-from-behind victory on the road against D.C. United last Saturday. Orlando City has a modest 2-0-1 unbeaten streak going entering tonight’s match, but just a 1-2-0 road record. The defense has been leakier on the road, conceding nine goals in three games. Even though five of those goals came in one match, it’s not a good look for last year’s MLS road warriors to concede multiple goals in every away match so far, and Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja knows he’ll have to find a way to shore up things on the defensive end. This isn’t just on the goalkeeper or back line, as the entire defense has lost shape or gotten caught repeatedly during 2024 road matches.
Pareja will also want his Designated Players to start scoring. This is the eighth match of the MLS season for Orlando and none of the three DPs has yet found the net.
Montreal will be playing just its second home game of the year, after going 2-3-1 in a long road trip to start the season. The Canadian side played its home opener one week ago and claimed a 2-1 win over last year’s Supporters’ Shield winner, FC Cincinnati. First-year CF Montreal Head Coach Laurent Courtois has already shown his side is improved. Montreal has already equaled its road wins total and attained half of its road draws total from a year ago. The Quebecois team went 2-13-2 away last year, so 2-3-1 is a big step in the right direction unless the wheels completely fall off.
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 has two goals and a co-team-high three assists to his credit already in 2024, meaning he has contributed to half of Montreal’s 10 total goals this season. Uruguayan striker Matias Coccaro leads Montreal with three goals, while Choiniere has paced Martinez with three goals so far on the season.
“Certainly, we played against them already in a very good match here with a tie. Now we need to go to their place,” Pareja said. “We know they’re having good results too. That’s a team that has a new coach and has been gluing together. We’re very optimistic. We can go to Montreal as well and look forward to our victory.”
The Lions have only Ramiro Enrique (ankle) listed as out on the availability report.
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: Kyle Smith, Robin Jansson, David Brekalo, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson.
Defensive Midfielders: Cesar Araujo, Wilder Cartagena.
Attacking Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Nico Lodeiro, Facundo Torres.
Forward: Luis Muriel.
Bench: Mason Stajduhar, Rafael Santos, Michael Halliday, Rodrigo Schlegel, Jeorgio Kocevski, Felipe, Martin Ojeda, Jack Lynn, Duncan McGuire.
CF Montreal (3-4-3)
Goalkeeper: Jonathan Sirois.
Defenders: Joaquin Sosa, Joel Waterman, George Campbell.
Midfielders: Raheem Edwards, Mathieu Choiniere, Samuel Piette, Ruan.
Forwards: Ariel Lassiter, Bryce Duke, Mason Toye.
Bench: Sebastian Breza, Lassi Lappalainen, Gabriele Corbo, Victor Wanyama, Rida Zouhir, Ousman Jabang, Nathan Saliba, Dominic Iankov, Sunusi Ibrahim.
Referees:
REF: Jon Freemon.
AR1: Nick Uranga.
AR2: Gianni Facchini.
4TH: Filip Dujic.
VAR: Jorge Gonzalez.
AVAR: Craig Lowry.
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), Mega 97.1 FM (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!