Wilfried Nancy’s men string together second consecutive road win
It wasn’t the ideal start to the season for Wilfried Nancy’s men.
After losing their three opening games of the season, CF Montréal went into Atlanta knowing it needed a good result in a place where points are hard to come by, and managed a 3-3 draw, a solid result on most days, but a result that felt like a loss nonetheless considering the circumstances.
There were now two games left on the road before their return to Stade Saputo; a trip to Ohio to take on FC Cincinnati, followed by another to New York to take on the Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena, where Montreal only has one regular-season win since 2012.
And despite going down early in both those games, Montreal managed to come from behind in back-to-back games, adding six precious points to the standings.
“I don’t believe in luck,” said head coach Wilfried Nancy. What happened these past two games were a consequence of the positivity within the team. It’s about the fact that the players believe in the project and our style of play. I think the players did something great against New York because it’s hard to win here. I’m really happy for them.”
The Montreal side has now taken seven of its last nine points, all on the road, and is set to finally make its return to Stade Saputo this Saturday at 3pm, where they’ll be taking on the Vancouver Whitecaps and looking for a third straight win.
"This team is resilient. Against Cincinnati and New York, we went down, but we know that we can come back and win games on the road,” said defender Joel Waterman. “It’s massive for our squad to get another three points and we want to keep this form going.”
Montreal now sits just outside the playoff picture in the East after five games, only three points off their last opponents, the New York Red Bulls, in third.
Montreal has been one of the league’s highest-scoring teams thus far this season, currently third league-wide with 11 goals, even though they’ve played just one home game. Nancy’s men have been firing on all cylinders but have struggled a little more defensively.
The backline bounced back on the weekend with a solid performance against an offensively productive Red Bulls side, allowing just one goal, which ended up being a deflection.
“We felt like ourselves,” explained Waterman. “It’s all about guts against this team. We finally got back to what we used to do last year, being on the front foot. We want to keep improving every game. We’re a collective unit defensively and we all played our part today.”
It all points to a side that’s been growing in confidence since the beginning of the season. Despite many things not having gone the Club’s way, what with injuries to key players and a difficult travel schedule, Montreal has managed to stick to the plan and come out unscathed.
“I don’t think we’ve reached our peak yet,” said Waterman. Coach has us playing a style that’s really fun to play. We need certain players to play this style we do and have the identity we have, and we have those guys in the locker room. We just have to keep growing and building on each performance. It’s about trusting the process. This team has massive potential to do something good this season. We’ve strung some wins together, and now we want more.”
