CF Montreal looking to break through against NYCFC

CF Montreal will look to reverse a lopsided rivalry when they visit New York City FC on Wednesday.

A rollercoaster season has seen Montreal (11-12-2, 35 points) put up three straight three-game losing streaks, but a victory on Wednesday would give the team its second four-game winning streak of the year.

Inconsistency can be reduced to an all or nothing attack. CF Montreal is 11-1-1 when scoring at least one goal and 0-11-1 when not scoring.

Fortunately for CF Montreal, George Campbell scored the decisive goal in the 86th minute of a 1-0 home win over the New England Revolution on Saturday. Campbell’s goal rewarded Montreal’s control of the action, which included outscoring the Revolution 12-2 on aggregate and 3-0 in shots on goal.

“In front of me are players who have given their hearts and souls to achieve these results,” Montreal goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois said. “There was no shot on New England goal, and that shows the character and solidarity of our team and our defensive effort.”

As Montreal advances, New York City (5-10-11, 26 points) is 1-8-8 in its last 17 regular-season games.

That lone victory, however, was a 1-0 away result against CF Montreal on July 1, continuing NYCFC’s longstanding dominance over the Canadian team. NYCFC is 10-2-5 in all-time regular-season meetings against CF Montreal, and New York City also knocked Montreal out of last season’s MLS Cup playoffs during the Eastern Conference semifinals. .

NYCFC have only collected 16 points at home this season in a 4-3-4 home court. Wednesday’s game is the first of five straight home dates that are crucial to New York City’s late playoff hopes.

“We have two home games in three or four days and that’s a great opportunity for us,” NYCFC head coach Nick Cushing said. “We have to look forward, we have to bounce back and we have to rise to the challenge.”

Santiago Rodriguez and James Sands of New York City are in doubt after missing Saturday’s game against FC Cincinnati with lower-body injuries. Maxime Chanot hasn’t played in NYCFC’s last two games and the veteran defender left the club to join French Ligue 2 side AJ Ajaccio on Tuesday.

—Field-level media