TORONTO – FC Montreal will play its final road game of the season against Toronto FC II, on Saturday, at 3pm, at the Ontario Soccer Centre. The game will be available via web streaming at www.impactmontreal.com/fcmontreal.
The Bleu-blanc-noir travels to Toronto with the intention of forgetting its last result, a 6-0 loss to the City Islanders in Harrisburg. They also haven’t score in their last three games.
“I think we have to go back to the basics, play a simpler way and following the game plan the coaching staff wants us to apply,” explained winger Alessandro Riggi. “We have to do our overlaps, cross to the first and second post, follow the ball into the box, and after, chances will come and we will have to finish.”
The team will conclude the season with the objective of giving more playing time to younger players to prepare for next season. This way, the most recent signing, 18-year-old Cameroonian Fabrice Mbvouvouma, as well as a few of the recent U18 signings in July, will be with the team in Toronto. The two players with the most minutes this season, defenders Zachary Sukunda (1765) and Janouk Charbonneau (1627), are only 20 years old.
“The youngest players slowly take their place in the lineup,” said head coach Philippe Eullaffroy. “That’s where we will go in the future, while keeping a certain balance on the field. We already had a young team, but we want the new players who signed with us to be included in the group.”
Against Toronto, Montreal has a 2-1-0 record this season. Toronto won the first meeting of the season on March 28, but FC Montreal won the following two. The Reds haven’t won in their last three home games, with two losses and a draw.
“We lead this series 2-1 against Toronto and we want to finish with the upper hand,” said Riggi. “We will do everything we can to guarantee we get three wins against them.”
“Every game against TFC is important,” added Eullaffroy. “It will be the fourth meeting and it would be great to win the series and have a good performance. But we can’t forget about our last game as well. It’s a triple motivation. We want to win the game, beat TFC, and forget about our last result.”
FC Montreal will play its next game on Wednesday, September 9, at 6:30pm, against the New York Red Bulls II, at Stade Saputo.
