Fresh off their first victory of the 2025 MLS campaign, CF Montreal face the Columbus Crew for the second time this season on Wednesday at Saputo Stadium.
An early second-half strike over the weekend was enough for Le CFM to defeat New York City FC 1-0, while the Crew came back to claim a 2-2 draw with the Philadelphia Union.
Match preview
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It must have felt like an albatross was lifted off the back of Marco Donadel, who finally claimed his first win as Montreal's interim head coach this past weekend.
This team had been so close for weeks, claiming two points in their six league contests before Saturday and losing four fixtures over that stretch by a single goal.
While a win is nice, there is plenty of work to do as they look to get back into the playoff picture, currently bottom of the Eastern Conference table and 11 points below the post-season line.
Donadel can win his first home contest as Le CFM manager on Wednesday, as this team are without victory in three league affairs this year at Saputo Stadium, one fewer than their longest stretch from 2024.
A lack of quality in the attacking third has hampered them at home throughout the campaign, netting just one regular-season goal in Montreal this year.
Le CFM have won their last five regular season matches at home when netting multiple times and are unbeaten in their previous seven league fixtures at Saputo Stadium when doing so.
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It was another strong reaction from the Crew this past weekend as they fell behind on two occasions but managed to earn a point for a third successive league game.
Wilfried Nancy's men have now collected seven points in the league this season when conceding the opening goal and are yet to lose a game in 2025 after drawing first blood.
Thanks to that determination, they are in the thick of the Supporters' Shield race, just two points below the Vancouver Whitecaps for first overall and only behind FC Cincinnati for first in the East on account of having one fewer win.
With 25 points after 12 matchdays, it is their best start to a season since their 2020 MLS Cup-winning campaign, when they claimed 27 points at this stage of the year.
Columbus conceded the second-fewest goals in the East in 2024 (40) and have remained rock-solid defensively early into this year, with the joint second-fewest goals allowed in their conference so far (12).
Nancy has never lost to his former club, while the Crew are unbeaten in their previous four visits to Montreal, winning those previous two games by a combined margin of 7-3.
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Team News
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In their opening victory of the season, Montreal were once again missing Hennadiy Synchuk and Bryce Duke, who are both dealing with lower-body injuries.
Prince Owusu netted his team-leading third goal of the domestic campaign on Saturday, and Jonathan Sirois stopped the only two shots that he faced to preserve the three points, while collecting his third clean sheet in MLS this year.
On the Columbus side, Andres Herrera and former Montreal defender Rudy Camacho were sidelined against Philly as they were both suffering from thigh issues.
Maximilian Arfsten scored his third of the season just beyond the hour mark last Saturday, with a 93rd-minute strike by Sean Zawadzki enabling them to pick up a point, his second goal of 2025.
CF Montreal possible starting lineup:
Sirois; Bugaj, Neal, Waterman, Petrasso; Sealy, Saliba, Piette, Clark; Vrioni, Owusu
Columbus Crew possible starting lineup:
Schulte; Moreira, Zawadzki, Cheberko; Farsi, Chambost, Nagbe, Arfsten; Russell-Rowe; Gazdag, Rossi
We say: CF Montreal 0-1 Columbus Crew
Montreal earned a well-deserved three points over the weekend, but Nancy knows that team like the back of his hand and how to beat them in various ways.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Joel Lefevre
