Orlando City
Orlando City vs. CF Montreal: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More
The shorthanded Lions look to get back in the win column when Montreal visits.
Welcome to your match thread for a Saturday night matchup between Orlando City (9-5-7, 34 points) and CF Montreal (3-13-5, 14 points) at Inter&Co Stadium (7:30 p.m., MLS Season Pass on Apple TV). It’s the second of the two scheduled meetings between the Eastern Conference rivals in 2025.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of the match.
History
The Lions are 8-9-6 against Montreal in the all-time regular-season series and 10-10-6 in all competitions since they joined MLS. OCSC is 4-4-3 in home MLS games against Montreal and 6-4-3 in matchups held in the greater Orlando area — this includes wins in Leagues Cup and the MLS is Back Tournament knockout rounds.
The most recent meeting was a scoreless draw in Montreal on April 19. The Lions’ efforts at bringing home a road win took a hit in the second half when Rafael Santos was sent off.
The teams last met in Orlando in the 2024 Leagues Cup competition nearly one year ago on July 26, with the Lions running rampant in a 4-1 home victory. Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, Facundo Torres, Ramiro Enrique, and Martin Ojeda staked Orlando to a 4-0 lead. Josef Martinez scored for Montreal, although his bid for a brace was denied when Pedro Gallese stopped his penalty kick attempt.
The two sides met in Montreal on April 20, 2024 trading goals back and forth in a 2-2 draw at Stade Saputo. Mason Toye opened the scoring early, but Torres equalized from the spot a few minutes later. Ariel Lassiter appeared to win it late in normal time for the hosts, but Ivan Angulo struck in stoppage time to earn Orlando City a road point. 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.
The teams met twice in 2023, completing the season series on Sept. 30, 2023, with Orlando winning 3-0 in dominant fashion. Jonathan Sirois’ own goal opened the scoring, and Thorhallsson and 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 played their biggest game against each other 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 team then known as the 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.
Overview
Orlando City enters this match on a two-game winless streak after a 2-2 come-from-behind road draw at Charlotte FC a week ago. The Lions enter having given up two goals in each of the last three matches — six in all — and things aren’t set up for success tonight with both Jansson and Gallese suspended for yellow card accumulation. Orlando City is 5-3-2 in home matches this season, however two of those three losses have come in the team’s last two games in Inter&Co Stadium. In order to stop that skid, the Lions will have to tighten up the defense. If he starts in his first match since the end of the Concacaf Gold Cup, Alex Freeman’s return could help.
Montreal is last in the Eastern Conference with just three wins and 14 points this season. But it bears repeating that one of those points came at Orlando’s expense. Additionally, two of Montreal’s three wins on the season have come in the past four MLS matches. Add in that two of the club’s three victories have been road wins (2-7-2), and tonight’s visitors may be feeling a bit more confident than they’ve shown for much of this season. CF Montreal did, however, play a midweek match at home, finishing in a 2-2 draw against Forge FC in Canadian Championship action.
To get the win tonight, Orlando will have to get back to playing sound defense. If the Lions can stay organized, they can get out in transition where Marco Pasalic, Enrique, and Ojeda can be dangerous.
“It is part of our DNA that we don’t play with any context of the teams — not how they’re doing in the standings or how they are doing at the moment. It’s something that is not our problem,” Orlando City Head Coach Oscar Pareja said ahead of the match. “If we play against another team that is really bright, we don’t care either. It’s first about trying to be ourselves while trying to get the initiative and plan the game model — trying to do our things the way we plan it, with the energy that our fans deserve. The respect that we have for not just the game but for the jersey — all of those things don’t change, regardless of the moment or the opposition. The only way I know how to win games in my life is to take it the best way possible on Saturday at 7:30.”
Orlando City will be without Jansson (suspension), Gallese (suspension), Joran Gerbet (thigh), Duncan McGuire (shoulder), Wilder Cartagena (Achilles), and Yutaro Tsukada (knee). Per Montreal’s game notes, every player is available. Montreal will be without Jalen Neal (ankle), while Samuel Piette (illness) and Giacomo Vrioni (elbow) are questionable.
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 (4-4-2)
Goalkeeper: Javier Otero.
Defenders: Rafael Santos, Rodrigo Schlegel, David Brekalo, Alex Freeman.
Midfielders: Martin Ojeda, Eduard Atuesta, Cesar Araujo, Marco Pasalic.
Forwards: Luis Muriel, Ramiro Enrique.
Bench: Carlos Mercado, Kyle Smith, Zakaria Taifi, Thomas Williams, Colin Guske, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, Ivan Angulo, Nico Rodriguez, Shak Mohammed.
CF Montreal (4-3-3)
Goalkeeper: Jonathan Sirois.
Defenders: Luca Petrasso, Brendan Craig, Fernando Alvarez, Dawid Bugaj.
Midfielders: Joel Waterman, Victor Loturi, Samuel Piette.
Forwards: Caden Clark, Prince Owusu, Hennadii Synchuk.
Bench: Sebastian Breza, Aleksandr Guboglo, Tom Pearce, Owen Graham-Roache, Olger Escobar, Fabian Herbers, Bryce Duke, Dante Sealy, Sunusi Ibrahim.
Referees:
Ref: Ramy Touchan.
AR1: Jeremy Kieso.
AR2: Rhett Hammil.
4th: Natalie Simon.
VAR: Shawn Tehini.
AVAR: Joshua Patlak.
How to Watch
Match Time: 7:30 p.m.
Venue: Inter&Co Stadium — Orlando.
TV/Live Stream: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV.
Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English); Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish).
Social Media: For rapid reaction and live updates, follow us on Bluesky Social at @themaneland.bsky.social or follow Orlando City’s official Twitter (@OrlandoCitySC) or Bluesky (@OrlandoCitySC) feed.
Enjoy the match. Go City!