Wednesday will represent a sort of homecoming for Alistair Johnston. It’s appropriate to say “some kind”, because instead of Nissan Stadium, the Canadian defender will rather tread the lawn of the brand new home of Nashville SC, the club with which he spent his first two seasons in MLS before being traded to CF Montreal in December.
Four days after playing an eighth game in a row without suffering defeat, on Saturday evening, in front of more than 33,000 spectators in the hostile environment of Bank of America Stadium, in Charlotte, Johnston and his teammates will discover Geodis Park. It is an enclosure that has 30,000 seats and which may not be much more welcoming than the one that CF Montreal (6-3-2) visited on Saturday.
Never mind, Johnston can’t wait to set foot there. “I’m excited,” Johnston admitted during his scrum with Montreal media Monday noon. “It will be fun to see the crowd again. I’m excited to see this new stadium. He looks handsome. It is something that is deserved. The fans have been amazing from Day 1. I know that’s exciting for the whole city. »
Johnston says he maintains good relations with several of his former teammates, and he does not hide that he will be happy to see them again. Moreover, he also recalled an essential element: CF Montreal has a mission to accomplish. “We’re going there on a business trip, and we’re going to want to come away with more points in the standings and keep fighting for the top spot in the East. »
A nomadic calendar
Now part of the MLS Western Conference, a move that followed Charlotte FC’s inclusion in the Eastern Conference, Nashville SC (4-4-3) tied for sixth with three other teams, with 15 points . It’s a record to say the least respectable when you know that the formation of Tennessee had to play its first eight meetings abroad, the time that the Geodis Park is able to accommodate it.
Since then, the team has played two games in front of its fans (1-0-1) before returning to the road last weekend, where it suffered a 2-0 loss against the Houston Dynamo.
Coming off their long streak away from home to kick off their season, Nashville SC were 3-3-2, a performance Johnston considers impressive.
“People don’t realize that Nashville is in Tennessee, which is next to North Carolina, which borders the Atlantic Ocean. Because the team plays in the Western conference, most trips are like flying from Montreal to Vancouver,” said Johnston. “That this team has played so long away and collected all these points, it gives you an idea of how difficult it is to overcome. It’s something we know. It is his identity. It’s been like that since he came to the league. It’s a really dangerous team. »
Montreal on a roll
If any group of athletes can confirm that, it’s Johnston’s current teammates. To hope to extend their streak of success overall (6-0-2) and on the road (3-0-2) – two team records – CF Montreal will have to find a way to collect points against a rival that he has never beaten in four attempts (0-2-2).
Strangely, the Montreal team did better in Nashville, where they scored draws during their two stops last season. Moreover, according to MLS statistics, CF Montreal is the only MLS team to have played two or more games in Nashville without suffering at least one defeat. In both cases, however, CF Montreal squandered 2-0 and 1-0 leads by conceding second-half goals only to settle for draws.
If he said he was happy on Monday to go and play a match in a “super stadium”, Wilfried Nancy knows very well that the task will not be easy on Wednesday evening against a club which did not lose at home during of his last 21 attempts (11-0-10), including the playoffs, since November 2020. “We played against Charlotte, which is a possession team. There, we are going to play against Nashville, a team which is physical, which is also capable of keeping the ball, of course, but which is a little more direct, with deep runs, with players who are a little more athletic, even a lot more athletic. It’s a different style of play. We’re going to put something in place to try to play a good game there. »
Moreover, when Charlotte returned, CF Montreal learned some pretty good news since the injury suffered by Romell Quioto at the very end of the first half on Saturday did not seem too serious. ” It’s okay. It’s more fear than harm, actually. It will be operational,” said Nancy.