(Montreal) CF Montreal will face Santos Laguna in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
The history between the two teams dates back to 2009 when the Mexican club put a stop to the Cinderella journey of the Montreal team in the quarterfinals. After winning 2-0 at the Olympic Stadium, CF Montreal, at the time in the second division, collapsed in the second half in the return leg and lost 5-4 overall.
Wilfried Nancy’s troupe got their ticket to the competition when they were crowned Canadian championship winners last November. The team beat Toronto FC by a score of 1-0 at Stade Saputo.
The other Canadian club in contention, Forge FC of Hamilton, will also cross swords with a Mexican formation, Cruz Azul. The matches will be played in February, but the official dates are to be confirmed.
MLS schedule unveiled
CF Montreal will kick off the 2022 MLS season on February 27 in Florida, against Orlando City.
This game will take place on a Sunday at 1 p.m.
Canadian champions, the CF will start the local portion of their schedule on March 5 against the Philadelphia Union at Olympic Stadium.
It will be a Saturday at 4 p.m.
The Montreal club will face the opposition in New York City FC’s home opener on March 12. The NYCFC is the reigning MLS Cup champion.
The reigning champions will visit Montreal on July 30.
Each club on the circuit will play 17 matches at home and as many abroad.
A total of 13 of CF Montreal’s 17 home games will be held on a Saturday.
CF Montreal will face each opponent from the East twice and will play eight games against teams from the West.
The first game of the season at Stade Saputo will be played on Saturday, April 16 at 3 p.m., against Vancouver.
Toronto FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps will also launch their campaigns abroad.
Toronto will play against FC Dallas and the Whitecaps will be in Columbus.
On March 5, Toronto will host Dallas and Vancouver will host New York City FC.
The regular season will run until October 9.
Charlotte FC will play the first game of their inaugural season on February 26 at Audi Field, home of DC United.
Charlotte will make her home debut on March 5 against the LA Galaxy.
We could then see 74,000 people at Bank of America Stadium – that would be an MLS record (the mark was 72,548 on August 3, 2019 when Atlanta United hosted the LA Galaxy, at Mercedes-Benz Stadium).
On May 1, the 30,000-seat Nashville SC Stadium will be inaugurated. The Union will be there.
The circuit final will be presented on November 5, shortly before the World Cup begins in Qatar on November 21.