New York City FC begin a five-game homestand, which could determine their playoff fate, as they host CF Montreal at Yankee Stadium on Wednesday.
The Pigeons remain six points back of a postseason berth in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer following a 3-0 loss at FC Cincinnati, while Le CFM are nine points above them, defeating the New England Revolution 1-0 in their previous encounter.
Match preview
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A week after creating tons of scoring chances in a loss to Minnesota United (2-0), the Boys in Blue could not get into any rhythm at Cincinnati, suffering their worst defeat of the regular season.
The underlying numbers may suggest this team should be a lot better than their 26 points, but the results continue to elude them, with New York winning just one of their previous 17 MLS affairs.
That lone triumph came against Montreal when these teams last met on Canada Day (1-0) in what was the first domestic clean sheet for this side since June 10 (0-0 draw at Real Salt Lake), while that victory extended the Pigeons' unbeaten run against Le CFM to five matches in all competitions.
NYCFC have only suffered one regular-season defeat at Yankee Stadium to a Canadian opponent, losing 3-2 versus Montreal in their inaugural MLS campaign (2015).
Wednesday will be their first encounter in the Bronx since playing the Columbus Crew to a 1-1 draw in June, with the Pigeons going winless in their previous four matches played there in this competition after winning their opening two fixtures at Yankee Stadium this season.
Nick Cushing's men have not scored an opening-half goal at Yankee Stadium in the regular season since netting twice in a 3-2 victory over DC United last March.
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It appears that Hernan Losada has used the nearly one-month layoff that his team had to good use, with Le CFM winning three successive domestic encounters, including back-to-back games since their Leagues Cup campaign ended at the end of July (1-0 loss to DC United).
One of those victories came away from home, a rarity for this team in 2023, as they have only triumphed on two occasions outside of Montreal this season after leading the league in road victories over the previous campaign (11).
While they have looked virtually impenetrable defensively in Montreal this season, posting eight clean sheets domestically at Saputo Stadium, this team have looked fragile along the back end away from home, conceding multiple strikes in nine league fixtures.
The three goals they scored in Toronto two weeks ago were as many as this side had netted in their previous five MLS road matches combined.
Le CFM have only led in one of their last 15 encounters versus the Pigeons in all competitions, when a 73rd-minute strike by Romell Quioto in 2021 helped propel them to a 2-1 triumph in a match played behind closed doors at Exploria Stadium in Orlando.
Montreal are 2-0 when leading at the half away from home this year, having only been in front in two MLS road contests in 2023.
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Team News
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James Sands and Santiago Rodriguez were late omissions for NYCFC over the weekend with lower-body injuries, though the latter has been cleared to play on Wednesday with Sands being listed as questionable, while Andres Perea and Julian Fernandez made their first starts as members of the Boys in Blue versus Cincinnati.
Alonso Martinez debuted for New York City on Saturday, coming on late for Braian Cufre, while Maxime Chanot, the longest serving player for this club with 199 games played across all competitions has officially departed for Ajaccio in Ligue 2.
A wonder strike from Matias Pellegrini back in July was all the Pigeons would need to claim all three points against Le CFM, with Luis Barraza making three stops for his fourth clean sheet of the campaign.
Ariel Lassiter missed the previous Montreal encounter for an undisclosed reason, Romell Quioto remains sidelined because of a hamstring injury and Aaron Herrera did not feature at all, the first time he had been absent from an MLS encounter since July 12.
Samuel Piette has started the previous three domestic encounters after the Montreal captain missed plenty of action early on this season with a left leg injury, while Nathan-Dylan Saliba and Jules-Anthony Vilsaint have featured in the starting 11 on back-to-back occasions.
George Campbell notched his first as a member of this team last Saturday, while Jonathan Sirois did not have to make a single stop between the sticks for his 10th clean sheet of the campaign, as he is currently tied with Steve Clark and Roman Celentano for second in the league in that department and one behind Stefan Frei.
New York City FC possible starting lineup:
Barraza; Gray, Martins, Risa; Parks; Ilenic, Morales, Rodriguez, Moralez; Bakrar, Martinez
CF Montreal possible starting lineup:
Sirois; Campbell, Waterman, Corbo; Brault-Guillard, Piette, Saliba; Choiniere; Duke; Offor, Opoku
We say: New York City FC 2-0 CF Montreal
The Pigeons always seem to have their way with Montreal, and we expect to see them assert their dominance against a side who have looked a lot more vulnerable on the road when compared to their defensive record at home.
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Top tip
Joel Lefevre
