Opinion: CF Montreal Is A Team Currently In Shambles

CF Montreal continues to show a lack of consistency and results and looks like a team that won’t make the playoffs this year.

Last year was a dream year for CF Montreal finishing in the top two in the Eastern Conference, yet at the final transfer window they made zero acquisitions to augment a team that needed an extra boost.

Everyone had them as a team that could make it to the MLS Cup Finals back then, but a shocking loss at home to NYCFC in the quarterfinals sent the team backwards.

We’ve now seen a year that saw their best players like Djordje Mihailovic, Alistair Johnston, and Ismael Kone get scooped up by teams in Europe, and saw CF Montreal earn a record amount of transfer money.

I asked Olivier Renard, the team’s technical director, what was the plan for the money last year but he always gave me the same response.

“It’s not like we will get everything at once, and we will only deal with the money we have currently.”

After investing so much ,it looks like Joey Saputo is very hesitant to spend despite the fact he continues to push he wants a competitive team on the pitch.

Back in 2016, he said the team had all the potential to win the MLS Cup in five years and we are currently seven years later. He was rebutted with a question about the pressure.

“It’s five years”, Saputo responded. “We have lots of time”.

Sportico most recently released a ranking of all the teams in North America in all five major sporting leagues in terms of money spent, and CF Montreal was dead last in 152nd place with just over 10 million spent.

After a shocking result and a summer that saw its head coach Wilfred Nancy depart due to an altercation with Saputo, Hernan Losada was brought in for a fresh start despite his reputation in DC.

The team’s plan was to develop and play younger players, byut every time the media attempted to criticize he always responded with a ‘let’s not be negative, we have a very young team.’

Then there was the story with Kei Kamara, who was acquired last season and became a beloved player and teammate who looked set to finish his career in Montreal.

Kamara, as confirmed to me by a fellow journalist, only made $90,000 last season and was looking for a raise so he could bring his family and buy a house.

Negotiations went sour and he was eventually traded when the two sides couldn’t come to an agreement, and it left a bitter taste for his former teammates.

Rudy Camacho even went on social media to respond and says he knew why he was leaving and he was furious with the team. In regards to Camacho, he was traded to Columbus this month due to the fact the team wasn’t going to offer him a contract next season.

Camacho, who was arguably was the team’s best central defender, will now be reunited with Nancy in Ohio. The team made some notable additions when they acquired Ariel Lassiter and Bryce Duke for Kamal Miller but still, the team has lacked consistency.

There are games where it seems they have it all together and games where the game has been absolutely horrible to watch. Another issue is Romell Quioto.

The Honduran, who scored 15 goals last year, got injured early in the season and went back to Honduras for his recovery, which didn’t sit well with Renard.

Quioto apparently posted pictures and videos on Instagram of him in Miami to which we got the following response from Renard.

“I don’t know why he is in Miami, he should be here recovering and trying to get ready to get back and play.”

Quioto recently returned to Montreal last week, but still won’t be ready to play till mid-September. With the lack of spending and consistency, the rest of the season looks bleak for them.

CF Montreal had a serious chance to do well in Leagues Cup but after beating Pumas UNAM on penalties, they lost to a DC United side who seem to have their number.

The team is now on hiatus until August 20, when they will travel to Toronto to face TFC in hopes to restart the MLS season against a team that is hands down the worse team in the league right now.

Losada seems dead set and not making any drastic changes, which could have been the right idea given the time off they have to build a new formation and identity.

With all these factors is it safe to say the Losada project in Montreal isn’t working, and to that matter maybe it’s time for Joey Saputo to move on and sell the team to someone who actually truly cares.

With the MLS making changes every year it’s safe to say maybe a new rule comes in where a team is obligated to spend to a cap or ceiling.

There is also a notion that when expansion comes to an end, someone might be interested in buying CF Montreal to move it elsewhere.

The Quebec Nordiques moved to Colorado back in 1995 and won the cup the following year, the Montreal Expos moved to Washington and won the World Series two years ago.

These are the issues circulating around the team and one wonders if things will ever get better, or if it will continue to go downhill from here.