Michael Lamarche
The Canadian Press
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This first meeting will see the Montreal team kick off its home season in MLS by hosting the Philadelphia Union at Olympic Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Four days later, CF Montreal will be in Mexico for the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final round against Cruz Azul, after which they will travel to Yankee Stadium to take on the defending Champions League champion. MLS Cup, New York City FC.
This will be followed by the return match against Cruz Azul at the Olympic Stadium on March 16 and a duel in Atlanta on March 19.
“The idea, and I’m not going to invent anything, is to take match after match. It is to see the state of freshness of the players and afterwards, to put in place the freshest possible team to try to bring back results, ”said Nancy by videoconference, Thursday afternoon.
“Indeed, the calendar is what it is. Before starting the Champions League, we suspected that the further we went, the more there was going to be a big challenge, ”he added.
While CF Montreal (0-1-0) will try to recover from a 2-0 loss in Orlando last Sunday, the Union (0-0-1) will also be looking for its first victory in 2022, after being limited to a 1-1 draw against Minnesota United at home 24 hours earlier.
Despite this result in front of her supporters, and despite the fact that she will have to play on the synthetic surface of the Olympic Stadium, which will be a first for her, the Pennsylvania team will not represent easy prey.
Last season, the Union finished second in the Eastern Conference with 14 wins, 12 draws and 54 points in 34 games, eight points more than the Montreal troupe.
Last season, Nancy had praise for head coach Jim Curtin and the process put in place there to ensure the success of the organization. However, on Thursday, you could feel that his opinion of his counterpart had not changed.
“A lot of respect. What I like is that he was able to have the time to put things in place. Each year, what I see from Philadelphia is that it is progressing in a specific area. There is always an evolution,” explained Nancy.
“He has been playing, yes, for some time, the same way, with the same system, but on the other hand, there are concepts which, little by little, are added to, precisely, improve the team. So it’s consistent. It is thoughtful work. There is a long-term vision,” also declared the head coach of CF Montreal.
The task will be all the more difficult since CF Montreal will not be able to count on Romell Quioto, who received a red card in the 66e minute of Sunday’s game. Quioto will also be sidelined in the first leg against Cruz Azul.
“It sure hurts to lose Quioto. He’s a good player, he helps the team a lot,” said midfielder Mathieu Choinière.
“We have a philosophy in place, everyone knows our system of play. So, no matter who will replace him, we know that he will bring something good to the team. So we’re not worried about that. Of course Rommel is an important player, we would have liked to have him, but no matter who will replace him in the next few games, he is ready to play,” added Choinière.
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Michael Lamarche
The Canadian Press
–
This first meeting will see the Montreal team kick off its home season in MLS by hosting the Philadelphia Union at Olympic Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Four days later, CF Montreal will be in Mexico for the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final round against Cruz Azul, after which they will travel to Yankee Stadium to take on the defending Champions League champion. MLS Cup, New York City FC.
This will be followed by the return match against Cruz Azul at the Olympic Stadium on March 16 and a duel in Atlanta on March 19.
“The idea, and I’m not going to invent anything, is to take match after match. It is to see the state of freshness of the players and afterwards, to put in place the freshest possible team to try to bring back results, ”said Nancy by videoconference, Thursday afternoon.
“Indeed, the calendar is what it is. Before starting the Champions League, we suspected that the further we went, the more there was going to be a big challenge, ”he added.
While CF Montreal (0-1-0) will try to recover from a 2-0 loss in Orlando last Sunday, the Union (0-0-1) will also be looking for its first victory in 2022, after being limited to a 1-1 draw against Minnesota United at home 24 hours earlier.
Despite this result in front of her supporters, and despite the fact that she will have to play on the synthetic surface of the Olympic Stadium, which will be a first for her, the Pennsylvania team will not represent easy prey.
Last season, the Union finished second in the Eastern Conference with 14 wins, 12 draws and 54 points in 34 games, eight points more than the Montreal troupe.
Last season, Nancy had praise for head coach Jim Curtin and the process put in place there to ensure the success of the organization. However, on Thursday, you could feel that his opinion of his counterpart had not changed.
“A lot of respect. What I like is that he was able to have the time to put things in place. Each year, what I see from Philadelphia is that it is progressing in a specific area. There is always an evolution,” explained Nancy.
“He has been playing, yes, for some time, the same way, with the same system, but on the other hand, there are concepts which, little by little, are added to, precisely, improve the team. So it’s consistent. It is thoughtful work. There is a long-term vision,” also declared the head coach of CF Montreal.
The task will be all the more difficult since CF Montreal will not be able to count on Romell Quioto, who received a red card in the 66e minute of Sunday’s game. Quioto will also be sidelined in the first leg against Cruz Azul.
“It sure hurts to lose Quioto. He’s a good player, he helps the team a lot,” said midfielder Mathieu Choinière.
“We have a philosophy in place, everyone knows our system of play. So, no matter who will replace him, we know that he will bring something good to the team. So we’re not worried about that. Of course Rommel is an important player, we would have liked to have him, but no matter who will replace him in the next few games, he is ready to play,” added Choinière.
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