This is a big one.
Toronto FC will make the short trip across the provincial border for a Saturday night clash with CF Montréal at Stade Saputo.
The derby against Montréal is inherently full of drama, but this one carries a little extra with both teams tied on 27 points sitting in the final two playoff spots in the Eastern Conference. MLS will pause for the 2024 Leagues Cup following Saturday’s action and when play resumes in August the sprint to the post-season will begin.
Toronto will have eight matches remaining on the other side and with seven teams separated by just three points vying for those two spots every game, every point will be impactful.
Throw in that TFC won the last meeting 5-1, dismantling Montréal at BMO Field in May and another element comes into the mix: pride.
Toronto were up 3-0 inside of 19 minutes with Matty Longstaff, Federico Bernardeschi, and Prince Owusu all scoring. Bernardeschi would complete his hat-trick with a pair of goals separated by two minutes in the second half.
That was then and this is now, but that memory will have left a mark.
“Maybe for them in a motivational sense; for us, confidence wise, we were to capitalize using our quality and our identity, but there's been a lot of water under the bridge,” began John Herdman on Thursday. “When you have players coming back in you’re now rebuilding chemistry, players that are integrating back into rhythm and getting used to each other again.”
“From when we played Montréal way back a few months ago, it's actually a different team now. There will be a different lineup, players are rebuilding that chemistry,” he continued. “You've seen that in the game against Miami, the triangles we'd set up on the sides, you could still feel, with guys that hadn't played together consistently, it was a little bit clunky. Hopefully, we're a bit more cohesive against Montréal and we have a performance that's disciplined. We have to bring the fight.”
Saturday’s 3-1 loss away to Inter Miami CF was the first time since the opening game of the season in February that Herdman had Lorenzo Insigne, Bernardeschi, Jonathan Osorio, and Richie Laryea all in the starting XI.
Injury, suspension, and international duty have all conspired to deny TFC from fielding their best side all season long. The side is still missing a few pieces – Alonso Coello, Tyrese Spicer, and Brandon Servania remain out – and there are several knocks, but when filling out the team sheet Herdman has options.
“It's a gift and a curse,” he balanced. “The gift is you can be a bit more flexible with the approaches. We set up in a 4-4-2 [against Miami], which allowed us to attack out of a different shape, give a different look to our opponents and break the monotony of that style of play, but at the same time it gives us the ability to go back to a back three and change the emphasis where they're a more direct front two in the last 20, 30 minutes to the game.”
“We came into the game with an in-game change strategy at the 60-minute mark. The third goal was the killer,” lamented Herdman. “If we kept it within that two margin, I did think we had enough energy in the team and with people like [Jahkeele] Marshall-Rutty, who is in good form, Longstaff, Prince, Kosi Thompson, those players coming in could have give us that little bit of edge to either finish the game defensively or to go and grab something. They nearly did.”
“It was a loss. I can't paint over that, but you lose in the right way,” he continued. “That's something that I've said to the players: you're not going to win every match in MLS, not yet anyway, but we've got to lose the right way. Those boys did the right way last night.”
Montréal come into the match on the back of a 2-2 draw, with Josef Martínez scoring both goals, away to the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday night. They are riding a three-game unbeaten run with a draw against Vancouver Whitecaps FC and a win over Atlanta United in their last two at home.
Laurent Courtois’ side are unbeaten in seven at Stade Saputo.
Sunusi Ibrahim leads the side with six goals on the season, though Martínez and Matías Cóccaro have five and four, respectively. Ariel Lassiter’s seven assists top that category, while full-backs Ruan (six) and former Red Raheem Edwards (four) have contributed as well.
Toronto are well aware of what this game means.
“It's going to be a big game for the lads,” said Herdman. “It's an away performance, there's got to be a control, a discipline around that performance. We know that they're in better form than when we met them last time, their squad depth has increased so they've been able to gain that rotation. This is going to be a hungry Montréal team.”
“Not only is it points on the line, there's other narratives that draw into this. We have to just stay focused on our process,” he continued. “We had a bit of a formula against them last time. We learned from that game as well. Having watched that back, we had some good moments in that game, but also so did they. They didn't capitalize and with the form Martínez is starting to hit, that's going to help them.”
“For the fans and for the city, it's an important game,” Herdman closed. “We recognize that and we'll take that on. And for the league and our goals, it's an important game. We've got enough motivation to turn around in this tight window and go out there and give it our all.”
