Going up against an opponent who has previously beaten you 5-0 is nothing to look forward to on paper. However, with the final of the Canadian Championship with the Vancouver Whitecaps, CF Montreal has the perfect opportunity to redeem itself.
Some will remember the difficult day of April Fool’s Day that the Montreal eleven had experienced at the start of the season. The figures are quite evocative: 29 shots allowed, including nine on target, five goals conceded between the 38th and 59th minutes and a red card for Rudy Camacho.
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This is undoubtedly the most embarrassing setback of the season, but we quickly wiped the slate clean for CF Montreal. At BC Place, a trophy at stake this time.
“I don’t think our performance was bad until we got 10 to 11. At even strength, it was a tight game,” head coach Hernan Losada said Monday in a press briefing. . […] You learn from every game, especially the ones you lost. This particular match was marred by events that don’t happen all the time, like losing your captain [Samuel Piette] after five minutes or receive a red card after 25 minutes.”
“We don’t want to go back there and repeat what happened,” added midfielder Mathieu Choinière. We know it’s a final. We want to arrive with a good state of mind and win, of course.
For prestige
From his first season at the helm, Losada can boast of having reached a final. In Belgium, the Argentinian has known others as a coach, but also as a player.
“Finals are not for everyone. When you have the chance to play one, you must first take advantage of it. Then you have to play as if you would never be in the final again,” he said.
“We work very long for moments like Wednesday.”
It should also be remembered that the team that wins that day will get a ticket to the CONCACAF Champions League. In this tournament bringing together the best clubs in North America, Montreal reached the quarter-finals in 2020 and 2022.
“It’s a big opportunity. We want to win this final and go play in the Champions League. It would mean a lot to win this trophy and be able to be considered the best team in Canada,” assured Choinière.
At home, the Whitecaps are ungenerous hosts, at least in Major League Soccer. The British Columbia organization has lost only once in nine games at home.
CF Montreal continues its grueling series of games. They lost their last meeting with the Philadelphia Union on Saturday by a score of 3-0.
The rivalry sets in
In a completely different vein, the Whitecaps sent a small spade to the Bleu-Blanc-Noir on social networks on Tuesday. At one of the stadium’s restaurants, the Montreal-style smoked meat sandwich was rebranded for the occasion. In English, this specialty of the Quebec metropolis has become the “Vancouver Smoked Meat Sandwich”.
Will the “Caps” regret having tackled this classic?