CF Montreal bid to pick up steam vs. struggling NYCFC

Field Level Media|published: Fri 24th April, 13:53 2026

Apr 18, 2026; Montreal, Province of Quebec, CAN; Red Bull New York defenseman Dylan Nealis (12) defends against CF Montreal forward Prince Owusu (9) during the second half at Saputo Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Eric Bolte-Imagn Images

Under new leadership, CF Montreal are looking for their first set of consecutive wins this season when they host New York City FC on Saturday afternoon.

Following a 1-6-0 start, Montreal fired Marco Donadel on April 12. Interim head coach Philippe Eullaffroy helped lead the club to its first home victory of the season -- a 4-1 triumph over the New York Red Bulls last Saturday.

For Eullaffroy and company, the season is far from over, despite the lackluster start.

With the debut win behind him, the 62-year-old head coach wants to continue implementing a refreshed viewpoint ahead of Saturday's match.

"There's a word we've used perhaps most often; it was 'smile,'" Eullaffroy said. "We wanted to bring back the smile to all corners of the team and staff. The second word was 'intensity.' We wanted to be an animal, very intense, who does everything to win."

Last time out, Prince Owusu scored to extend his team lead to five goals in his second year with the club.

Wiki Carmona has added three goals for Montreal (2-6-0, six points), who still sit 13th in the Eastern Conference, ahead of only the Philadelphia Union and Atlanta United.

New York City FC (3-3-3, 12 points) will be out to snap a five-match winless stretch (0-3-2). The team won three of four to begin the year but has failed to build on the early-season momentum.

Head coach Pascal Jansen's group will be eager to remove the bad taste from a 4-4 draw versus FC Cincinnati after yielding a pair of second-half stoppage time goals. Jansen believes the team's current shortcomings began with a March 22 loss to Inter Miami CF.

"There's a few things that happened in the game against Miami which I've seen come back and it's been specifically addressed," Jansen said. "We've made ourselves aware of a couple things that have to be banned from our game in order to have the results that we're looking for and that we might even deserve. If you're very stubborn to learn from those moments, they will come back and haunt you at some point."

Paced by Nicolas Fernandez's MLS second-best eight goals, NYCFC leads the Eastern Conference with 19 goals on the year. Agustin Ojeda has scored three times for the struggling club.

--Field Level Media

Latest