Faced with the need to win their last two games of the regular season to hope to make the playoffs, we understand head coach Wilfried Nancy and his CF Montreal players to feel a sense of urgency.
The Montreal club will alternately host the Houston Dynamo on Wednesday and Orlando City on Sunday at Saputo Stadium. Nancy is hoping for everyone’s contribution, including that of the supporters, to make it through.
“The only thing I know is that we have to win this game on Wednesday. And on Saturday we still have to win to have a chance of making the playoffs. That’s just what interests me, launched Nancy, Monday afternoon, by videoconference after training at the club.
“I know Wednesday’s game is at 7:30 pm, a weekday when people are working, the kids are going to school. But we are fighting for a place in the playoffs and we need everyone. ”
And to hope to win them, the team will have to find a way to score goals – they’ve been limited to two goals in their last three games in MLS. And that will require finding a way to get more shots on target – just six in the last four games.
“We need to be more specific in the final third,” admitted the coach. The idea is to attack the penalty area. We had a bit of a hard time attacking him because we lack specific players like Mason (Toye) and Romell (Quioto) who like to do deep races.
“Suddenly, we attack the surface a little less lately, which explains the statistics of the last games. ”
Midfielder Joaquin Torres admits that it is necessary to be more opportunistic.
“There is room for improvement at this level. It’s a facet of the game we’re working on. We don’t have much time to fix that, but the important thing is to know how to take advantage of opportunities when they arise. ”
Nancy has confirmed that Quioto, who has missed the last five games, will be available for Wednesday’s game. The same goes for midfielder Victor Wanyama, in uniform but not the starting XI on Sunday against the Red Bulls.
Nancy, who chose Sebastian Breza over James Pantemis on Sunday, refused as usual to confirm the identity of her starting goalkeeper on Wednesday.
“I felt I had to make a change,” he said of his decision. Not especially after Sebastian’s match against the Forge (Ottawa in the Canadian championship) but in terms of the dynamics in relation to my decision. We have two games left, or more I hope, we will see game after game what will happen with our goalkeepers. ”