CF Montreal Looks For Road Success Amid Busy Schedule

The biggest weak point so far for CF Montreal this season has been playing away from home as they only have one win so far, but they’re looking to change the narrative.

Wednesday night will also be an incentive for Hernan Losada as he heads back to DC to face his former club at Audi Stadium looking for three crucial points.

“A difficult game,” Losada answered when I asked him what he was expecting on Wednesday night. “They are a very competitive team and it will be special. We’re in a special stadium with a special atmosphere, so it’s always special when you come back.”

When Losada was hired, a lot of media researched his background and found a lot of DC players didn’t like his coaching methods and found he was too intense – so Losada will want to prove them wrong.

Another interesting story from Saturday night is in the 71st minute Sean Rea came in as a sub, but near the end of the game in extra time was subbed off after not looking his best.

“I always think first in the collective and the team goes first and in that particular case we thought the game situation demanded something different that Rea couldn’t give. The game isn’t over until it’s over, and I am sure he is happy with his minutes.”

There was news he had injured his foot but Losada confirmed that it wasn’t the reason he was taken out of the game after barely playing 30 minutes.

Matko Miljevic, who recently came back from injury, was actually not on the roster for the last two games. Losada was asked about that and called it a rotation.

“I want to give minutes to everybody, we have four number tens with Sean and Matko, it’s impossible to play with everyone so it depends on the game and the situation.”

Some good news on Monday at practice as Mason Toye was practicing with the subs, while Samuel Piette did some jogging and told me last Saturday he was still two weeks away from returning.

Mathieu Choiniere, who has been a catalyst for the team’s success, has now played seven games in a row.I asked Losada if he would consider giving him some rest.

“I already gave him 20 minutes on Saturday so that’s unfortunately what I can give him,” came the response.

CF Montreal will now play three games in eight days, heading to DC and then Philadelphia on Saturday to face the Union before facing the Vancouver Whitecaps in the Canadian Championship Final next Wednesday at BC Place.

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Victor Wanyama doesn’t believe in giving Choiniere a night off, and mentions how valuable he is to the team.

“Mathieu is a good player,” Wanyama mentioned. “He can play any position and he has done well in every position and he’s a machine and does well whenever he is asked and we are glad to have him”.

Wanyama was asked about his team’s road woes and said his team needs to believe they can win.

“It’s more belief and we have done it before and we had a lot of players who were here last season and they have that experience so it’s just a matter of time.”

I asked Wanyama about the keys to not getting over fatigued with the long road trip ahead.

“It’s tough. I have never seen something like this before in England. It has always been two weeks but here it’s three or four weeks, and three games every three days are new to me. We need to take more rest.”

Ariel Lassiter continues to show that he is one of the best players on this team, and he was asked about his impact since joining his new club.

“It’s always positive,” Lassiter said. “It helps with the confidence and just try to keep that up and try to help the team in any way but that is the most important thing.”

Lassiter also spoke about the troubles and issues of winning on the road, but he feels the team can overcome it.

“I think it will be every match that we want to take points from home, and I think we are a different team than we are now and we have a lot more confidence going into this stretch of games.”

CF Montreal will face DC United on Wednesday night at Audi Field and kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 pm and can be seen on Apple MLS Season Pass, TSN, and RDS in French.

Header Image Photo Credit: CF Montreal