CF Montreal will pay a visit to Nissan Stadium on Saturday for the first time as they look to keep Nashville SC winless in the Major League Soccer season.
In their opening match, Montreal surprised everyone by beating a long-time MLS powerhouse in Toronto FC 4-2, while Nashville came back to draw 2-2 with FC Cincinnati in their home opener.
Match preview
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After an exceptional season defensively in 2020, Nashville discovered how quickly things can change, conceding two goals in the first 12 minutes of their opening match last weekend.
If anything, that may have been a wake-up call to them that they have to stay sharp throughout 90 minutes if they want to succeed in this league.
While Gary Smith will not be happy with how his team started last week, his side showed some resilience in fighting back from two goals down to earn a point, which they were never able to do last season.
While they struggled defensively in the early stages of their opener, they did show a greater desire to play attacking football, firing a club-record 32 shots.
They have never lost to Montreal in the regular season, beating them 1-0 in their only meeting in 2020.
Montreal silenced many critics last week by scoring four times at home and winning, a rarity last season for this team who only won three games at Saputo Stadium.
Another victory this weekend would mark the first time since 2016 that they have won their opening two games of an MLS campaign.
It is still very early, but Wilfried Nancy could not have asked for a better debut to his managerial career as his side's four-goal output matches the most this team scored in a single match last season.
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Team News
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Nashville striker Jhonder Cadiz has goals in back-to-back MLS regular-season games dating back to 2020.
Randall Leal, meanwhile, moved into a tie with teammates Hany Mukhtar and Daniel Rios for most regular-season goals in franchise history last time out.
Strikers Dominique Badji and Abu Danladi both have muscle injuries and are unlikely to play on Saturday.
Montreal winger Mathieu Choiniere is the only injury concern on the opposite side as he missed the opening game with an ankle injury.
Newcomer Djordje Mihailovic put his money where his mouth is by scoring on his Montreal debut, while full-back Zachary Brault-Guillard was a rock at the back as both players made the MLS Team of the Week.
Nashville SC possible starting lineup:
Willis; Johnston, Zimmerman, Romney, Lovitz; McCarty, Godoy, Muyl, Mukhtar, Leal; Cadiz
CF Montreal possible starting lineup:
Diop; Waterman, Camacho, Miller, Brault-Guillard; Piette, Wanyama, Sejdic, Mihailovic; Quioto, Toye
We say: Nashville SC 1-0 CF Montreal
As good as Montreal were in their opener, they played a depleted Toronto team with numerous injuries. This week, they will face a much stiffer defence who will want to prove the first 12 minutes of their opener will not happen again.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Nashville SC win with a probability of 48.72%. A draw had a probability of 25.8% and a win for CF Montreal had a probability of 25.48%.
The most likely scoreline for a Nashville SC win was 1-0 with a probability of 12.01%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (9.28%) and 2-0 (9.1%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (12.24%), while for a CF Montreal win it was 0-1 (8.08%). The actual scoreline of 2-2 was predicted with a 4.7% likelihood.
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