No one will deny it; CF Montreal players experienced stressful moments in the last 30 minutes of Saturday’s game against the Vancouver Whitecaps. To the point of relegating another solid performance from Djordje Mihailovic to the background. But barely.
The American midfielder once again proved to be the offensive engine of the Montreal team, collecting a goal and a decisive assist in the team’s 2-1 victory, Saturday afternoon at Saputo Stadium.
He scored from the first minute of the clash and orchestrated from scratch the net that would make the difference, that of Romell Quioto after only two minutes of play in the second half.
After seven games, Mihailovic has four goals, the same as his production for the entire 2021 season. It is also one goal less than the total of the Chicago Fire, his former team, in as many games in 2022.
Mihailovic also has three assists this season after amassing 16 last year, good for second place in the league.
His performance on Saturday earned him praise from two of his teammates. In fact, some remarks could worry the fans of the Montreal team more than reassure them.
“In my mind, Djordje is a great player. He is a very talented player. He’s on fire right now and if he continues that way, honestly I see him moving into the higher caliber leagues. He won’t be here with us for long,” said midfielder Victor Wanyama, himself a former star player in the UK Premier League.
” He plays well. He should continue to stay humble and give us the performances he is giving us right now,” added the former Kenya team captain.
The other flowers came from Canadian defender Alistair Johnston, who provided the assist on Mihailovic’s goal.
Although there are approximately six months left on the calendar and 27 games to play, Johnston has already begun to associate Mihailovic’s name with the Landon Donovan Trophy, awarded annually to his team’s most valuable player in MLS.
“I think if he keeps playing like that, and there’s no doubt in my mind that he will, he should be one of the favorites for MVP. And we need to promote that discourse collectively,” Johnston said.
“It’s up to the media in the north [au Canada] to talk about it so that it spreads because it’s an honor that is very promotion-oriented and where the statistics have a clear impact. But if you don’t have that contextual backbone working in your favor, it’s really difficult. We must therefore convey this discourse from the start because it deserves it. He certainly deserves to be included, at the very least, in the top-5 candidates for this title. »
By seeing him play on a regular basis, Johnston is able to see that Mihailovic could be offered a position with the United States national team in view of the FIFA World Cup, in which the Canada in November and December 2022.
Mihailovic has only played in six career games with the US national team and hasn’t appeared in any Concacaf third-round qualifying ties for the World Cup.
Johnston considers that he has the qualities to change the look of a meeting.
“I’ll put it this way: as a Canadian, I wouldn’t like to face him on a regular basis,” said Johnston, himself a Canadian national team player.
“Perhaps, in fact, it is better than [l’équipe des États-Unis] leave him out. So thank you Gregg [Berhalter, l’entraîneur-chef de l’équipe américaine] to keep it at home! Johnston joked.
“But he deserves [d’être invité] Johnston immediately added.
And that last sentence, she was sincere.