Orlando City vs. CF Montreal: Preview, How to Watch, TV Info, Live Stream, Lineups, Match Thread, and More

Welcome to your match thread for a Saturday afternoon matchup between Orlando City (3-7-1, 10 points) and CF Montreal (3-7-0, 9 points) at Stade Saputo (4:30 p.m., Apple TV). It’s the second of two scheduled meetings between the Eastern Conference rivals in 2026, wrapping up the regular-season series early.

Here’s what you need to know ahead of the match.

History

The Lions are 9-9-7 against Montreal in the all-time regular-season series and 11-10-7 in all competitions since they joined MLS. OCSC is 4-5-3 in MLS road games against Montreal in the regular season and 4-6-3 in all matches played away to Montreal (this includes a “road” match at Red Bull Arena during pandemic protocols).

The teams met earlier this season on March 14, with Orlando City winning 2-1 — the club’s first win of the season and its first victory in interim head coach Martin Perelman’s inaugural match at the helm. Duncan McGuire and Martin Ojeda scored on either side of a Prince Owusu goal with all of the scoring coming in the first half.

Prior to the start of the 2026 season, the most recent meeting was a 1-1 draw in Orlando on July 12, 2025. Ojeda gave the Lions a lead that appeared set to hold up, but Rodrigo Schlegel’s foul in the box on Owusu allowed the Montreal forward to level the match late from the spot. That was the second of two matches that failed to find a winner last year. The teams played to 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 met in Orlando in the 2024 Leagues Cup on July 26, with the Lions running rampant in a 4-1 home victory. Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, Facundo Torres, Ramiro Enrique, and 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 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 revenge for OCSC, after Montreal defeated Orlando City 2-0 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 spoiling the 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 with the Lions earning a 2-0 road victory on Decision Day 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 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.

Montreal did not allow a goal against the Lions in 2018, sweeping the two-game set, 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 is heading into its fourth consecutive road game in all competitions and is coming off a dramatic 4-3 comeback win over rival Inter Miami a week ago. Trailing 3-0, the Lions rallied behind Ojeda’s hat trick and Tyrese Spicer’s late winner to stun the Herons and become the first team to record an MLS win at Nu Stadium. Having a full week off between games for the first time since the second week of April might mitigate the natural tendency for a team to suffer a letdown after an emotional win, but the Lions have quietly won three of their last four matches in all competitions despite conceding nine goals in that span, because they’ve scored 14 of their own. Ojeda has scored five of his seven goals this season over that set of matches, climbing into the Golden Boot race, while Homegrown Justin Ellis has a four-match point streak in all competitions.

The Lions are still just 1-4-1 away from home in MLS play this season, so despite winning the first meeting back in March, they’ll need to stay focused for 90 minutes to get a result in Quebec.

Montreal, meanwhile, has gotten off to a rougher start than Orlando City this season. While the Lions sit 13th in the Eastern Conference with 10 points, Montreal is in 14th on nine points, but has a game in hand, is 2-1-0 in its three home matches this season, and has won its last two at Stade Saputo in league play and its last three on its home ground in all competitions. Tonight’s hosts are coming off a 5-0 home win over Alberta Premier League side Calgary Blizzard SC in the Canadian Championship on Wednesday using a mixed lineup of regulars and rotational players. CF Montreal last played an MLS match a week ago, lowing 3-1 at Atlanta United.

Owusu, who scored in the first meeting this season, is easily the biggest threat on the Canadian side, with six goals and four assists in 10 appearances. Wikelman Carmona has added three goals and two assists from the Montreal midfield.

To get the win tonight, Orlando’s defense must show up. The Lions can’t count on putting three or four goals in the net each game, especially as these consecutive road matches continue to add up. A better showing from the defense is needed, as the team continues to bleed goals and has surrendered a league-worst 32 in 2026. Montreal’s defense is fourth worst in the Eastern Conference having conceded 23 times in 10 games but held the Lions to two in Orlando in March.

“They changed their coach, so that changed a lot of things for them that we’ve analyzed, just like they’ve analyzed us,” Perelman said ahead of the match. “We’re going to prepare for the game like we always do, knowing they’re at home. We want to go there with a lot of energy, fighting as always for the points, because at the end of the day, that’s what we want.”

Orlando City will be without Joran Gerbet (knee), while Nolan Miller (knee) and Marco Pasalic (thigh) are listed as questionable. Montreal will be without Fabian Herbers (lower body), Owen Graham-Roache (lower body), Bode Hidalgo (lower body), Hennadii Synchuk (lower Body), Josh-Duc Nteziryayo (lower body), and Brayan Vera (suspension).

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: Maxime Crepeau.

Defenders: Adrian Marin, Robin Jansson, Iago, Griffin Dorsey.

Midfielders: Ivan Angulo, Braian Ojeda, Eduard Atuesta, Tyrese Spicer.

Forwards: Martin Ojeda, Justin Ellis.

Bench: Javier Otero, Tahir Reid-Brown, Zakaria Taifi, David Brekalo, Wilder Cartagena, Luis Otavio, Harvey Sarajian, Tiago, Duncan McGuire.

CF Montreal (4-3-3)

Goalkeeper: Thomas Gillier.

Defenders: Luca Petrasso, Efrain Morales, Brandan Craig, Dawid Bugaj.

Midfielders: Matty Longstaff, Samuel Piette, Victor Loturi.

Forward: Ivan Jaime, Prince Owusu, Wikelman Carmona.

Bench: Sebastian Breza, Dagur Dan Thorhallsson, Olger Escobar, Aleksandr Guboglo, Tomas Aviles, Frankie Amaya, Kwadwo Opoku, Noah Streit, Daniel Rios.

Referees:

REF: Marcos DeOliveira II.
AR1: Jeffrey Greeson.
AR2: Stefan Tanaka-Freundt.
4TH: Pierre-Luc Lauziere.
VAR: David Barrie.
AVAR: Mike Kampmeinert.

How to Watch

Match Time: 4:30 p.m.

Venue: Stade Saputo — Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

TV/Live Stream: Apple TV.

Radio: AM 810 FOX Sports Radio Orlando (English); Mega 97.1 FM (Spanish), Nossa Rádio 1160 AM-WRLZ (Portuguese).

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!