CF Montreal will look to build off a commanding mid-week win in the Canadian Championship when they host Orlando City on Saturday afternoon.
Montreal dominated the Calgary Blizzard SC on Wednesday night, picking up a 5-0 win to advance to the quarterfinals.
“For all the players who have been playing a few minutes, it’s good that we had a lot of minutes today, so I’m really happy that we were able to win tonight,” said forward Daniel Rios.
“We’re working on getting our rhythm and the fine details of getting better each game.”
Montreal (3-7-0, 9 points) returns to MLS play looking to rebound from a 3-1 loss at Atlanta last weekend though they have won two of three overall (2-1-0).
German forward Prince Owusu paces Montreal with 10 goal contributions (six goals, four assists) in 10 MLS starts this season.
Saturday is the second and final MLS regular-season meeting between Montreal and Orlando. The Lions picked up a 2-1 home win on March 14 with midfielder Martin Ojeda scoring the decisive goal in the 31st minute.
Orlando (3-7-1, 10 points) travels north of the border looking for back-to-back wins after edging host Inter Miami 4-3 last Saturday. The Lions rallied from a three-goal deficit.
“We have analyzed them like they analyzed us,” said Orlando interim head coach Martin Perelman of Saturday’s match against Montreal. “We are going to prepare the game like we always do, knowing they are at home. We want to go there with a lot of energy, fighting like always for the points, because at the end of the day, it’s what we want.”
Orlando is 4-5-3 in Montreal, having not won since Decision Day in 2021.
Ojeda, who recorded a hat trick in the win over Miami, leads the Lions with seven goals through 11 starts this season. Ojeda has now recorded hat tricks in consecutive seasons.
The Argentine became just the third player in club history to reach the 40-goal mark across all competitions, joining Cyle Larin and Facundo Torres as the only Lions to achieve the feat.
–Field Level Media
