“So I have a little chance,” said Jim Carrey’s character in the cult film The Bell and the Idiot.
Thirty years later, CF Montreal is clinging to this “small chance” of participating in the playoffs in the Eastern Conference and is not yet ready to let it slip away.
Some already have the luxury of watching the last month of the season unfold without even worrying about their fate. However, this is not the case for the Bleu-blanc-noir.
Currently 13e In the East, Laurent Courtois’s team is only two points from the ninth and final place giving access to the series. The problem is that six other teams are coveting it and that several points will be on the table for each of them.
“Mathematically in the race”
According to Playoff Status, CF Montreal only has a 13% chance of making the playoffs. But within the team, soccer is played on the field, not in Excel spreadsheets.
“As long as we’re mathematically in the race, that’s all that matters. No matter what our percentage of chances are to make the playoffs, it doesn’t change anything,” said goaltender Jonathan Sirois on Friday before a practice at the Nutrilait Centre. “We won on Saturday and we came from behind to get a point on Wednesday. The atmosphere is good in the locker room.”
Montreal also experienced this pressure last year. At this time in 2023, they were in eighth place in the East, but they were instead looking to resist the assaults of the opponents behind them.
In the current race, the desire to get something seems a better source of motivation.
“Last year we had more of that mentality of not losing. In our situation right now, we have to go get results and points, we have to score more goals. That’s the mentality we want for the upcoming games. If we have a lot of energy and aggression, like in the second half against the Revolution [mercredi]we can achieve good results,” Sirois said.
“Applying Pressure” Against the Fire
This energy and combativeness will not be too much for the home game on Saturday evening, against the Chicago Fire (7-15-8).
The Fire is one of those teams chasing the Philadelphia Union in ninth place. With a win at Saputo Stadium, they would even be ahead of CF Montreal (7-12-10) in the Eastern standings.
The first game plan has already been established.
“We’ll keep an eye on the weather, just in case,” Courtois said with a laugh.
The head coach is right to do so, because in the first meeting between the two clubs, on March 16, a violent gust of wind allowed Kellyn Acosta to score the winning goal from his own zone. The Fire thus triumphed 4-3.
Even though that chaotic ending is still fresh in the memory of the Bleu-blanc-noir – and its supporters – the duel dates back so far in time that it no longer has much relevance tactically. Courtois prefers to rely on what he recently saw of his men’s victory against Charlotte FC and their second half in Foxborough.
“We have clear ideas and there are no excuses. We know what we don’t want to see and we just have to repeat what we are capable of doing. We want the energy and the certainties that we found in the second half, whether it’s to defend or to project ourselves forward. Then, there is also the management of certain key moments,” he observed.
Montreal seemed hesitant in the first half against the Revolution and let the game come to them. They paid the price by allowing two goals. The intensity of the second half, however, turned things around and the sustained pressure will be repeated against the Fire.
“We applied pressure higher up the pitch. They were shaken and they gave us the ball back. We wanted to force mistakes and we were able to take advantage of that by going forward. You can’t give the ball to your opponents and stay back. Especially at home. Our pitch is smaller than in Foxborough so we have to be able to apply pressure,” defender George Campbell said.
Courtois said defender Joel Waterman and midfielder Victor Wanyama will be available for Saturday’s game. Waterman missed the last two games with a hamstring injury while Wanyama did not travel to Massachusetts.