The Fire return to Soldier Field on Saturday for a date with CF Montréal with just eight games remaining in the 2022 MLS regular season.
Montréal have been red hot as of late - unbeaten in their last seven - and look poised to make a proper run at second place in the Eastern Conference as Philly continue to run away with the top spot.
Here’s what to look for in the Gerber Collision and Glass Scouting Report…
OUT OF NOWHERE
When you think of the top teams in the East over the past several years, Montréal typically don’t come to mind. They haven’t finished higher than fifth in the last six seasons, and their best finish in the East was third back in 2015
When you look at their roster and lack of true “star power” (just one Designated Player), you scratch your head and start to ask yourself…”How is this team in second?”
It boils down to a few different things, the first being head coach Wilfried Nancy. Nancy has proven to be a very good coach. He took over for Thierry Henry after the Arsenal legend left the position for family reasons early last season. Nancy took charge and never really looked like an “interim” head coach.
Nancy has a clear game plan of counter attacking football, and has gotten a lot of different players from around the world to gel and express themselves in the final third.
Another big reason for their success is Romell Quioto. The Honduran has already bagged 14 goals this season and has been a killer in front of goal. This club has been ruthless on the break, and do an excellent job of getting him in isolated situations.
They also have guys who have very defined roles that they excel in. Samuel Piette is by no means a player a lot of MLS fans will have heard of, but he is a ball-winning defensive midfielder that doesn’t need to be on the ball at all and thrives at his position. Lassi Lappalainen and Alastair Johnston provide width and good defensive cover as the wingbacks in a 3-4-2-1 (3-4-3) while Djordje Mihailović is in a perfect play-making role just behind Quioto. He’s been lights out. So much so that Dutch first division side AZ Alkmaar is buying him for six million dollars. The Fire, having signed Mihailović out of their academy in 2017, will get a sell-on percentage (10%) that can be converted into GAM.
Short and sweet, this is just a good team that understands how to play together and are in a serious groove.
FINAL THOUGHTS
This game, along with the other two remaining home games for the Fire, are “must-wins”. This isn’t the type of “must win” that Tony and I used to joke about back in May. These games are must-haves, unless you want to try and go steal three points on the road in places like New England, Cincinnati, and Columbus.
The Fire will obviously have to make some adjustments after the season-ending injury to Gastón Giménéz, and Ezra Hendrickson mentioned the possibility of Jairo Torres moving into a more central role. Hopefully, Carlos Téran will be available and ready to go as he picked up a knock against NYCFC as well.
Defending Montréal is not easy. They throw a lot of numbers at you, and love to sit in a deep block, turn you over, and go with pace the other way. This will require a lot of communication along the back line and tremendous ball security.
As we’ve seen from this Fire group on a number of occasions, when their backs are against the wall they usually find a way. This time, though, their backs are against the wall for the remainder of the season. I expect a proper response from this group following a lackluster performance last Sunday.
It’s a three-man booth once again, and we’ll have you covered from Soldier Field on Saturday at 7 p.m. CT on WGN and CF97 Live.
