It's not exactly a dead rubber, but it might as well be.

Montréal and Atlanta United face off in a battle of the bottom two teams in the Eastern Conference, who both sit far outside the playoff places as the 2026 season winds to a close.

This meeting at Stade Saputo marks the second and final matchup between these two sides in 2026, with the first being an Atlanta win back in early May.

How Montréal enter the match

It was a massive collapse in the Canadian Classique over the weekend, which put the final nail in the coffin of the Impact's MLS campaign.

At the end of August, it seemed as though momentum could be building, and with the club supercharged by the signing of Alexis Sánchez, a push back into the postseason could've been in the cards. 

From there, it's been nearly all downhill. A 7-1 loss away to Inter Miami started a run of five straight defeats in the league, and while winning with an extremely shorthanded side over Cincinnati during the international break was a nice feel-good story, any positive vibes were immediately clobbered when Toronto's second goal hit the back of the net on Saturday.

Now, with six league games to go, there are essentially two goals remaining in the season. Priority one is to win the Canadian Championship, and priority two is to not finish last and win the Wooden Spoon.

With the cup final now just over a week away, it's probably fair to say Philippe Eullaffroy's side will be more focused on Forge than other non-playoff sides in MLS.

How Atlanta enter the match

It's been another year of disappointment for Atlanta United.

As usual, there was some optimism coming into the season, with club legend manager Tata Martino returning to the sideline to try and turn around a franchise that's put up underperforming season after underperforming season.

The hopes of a return to the successes of the late 2010s have not come to fruition, with just seven wins from 28 games, and another year outside the playoff picture.

There's been plenty of roster turnover as the season has gone south, with the most notable change sending disappointing big-money striker Emmanuel Latte Lath out on loan to Union Berlin, and Breel Embolo coming through the door from Monaco to replace him.

However, the club's fortunes have really not changed with Embolo, and the Swiss international has just one goal and one assist in six appearances in his new home.

In all, it's another lost season in Atlanta, and unlike Montréal, it cannot be saved with a cup final, and they're just counting down the days until the offseason comes this winter.

Availability

Montréal missed Brayan Ceballos and Thomas Gillier through injury on the weekend, and it's probably safe to say they won't be fit to play a part in Wednesday's match. Meanwhile, Bode Hidalgo remains injured with an ailment that is expected to keep him out for the season.

Prince Owusu, Jalen Neal and Brandan Craig each were absent from training this week, which might put their availability into question. Brayan Vera is suspended due to yellow card accumulation and will therefore miss Wednesday's match

On Atlanta's side, the bill of health seems pretty clear, with only Will Reilly expected to be ruled out due to injury, while Tomás Jacob is suspended through yellow card accumulation.

Projected XIs

It's a bit difficult to get exact predictions for a midweek game with no implications, but there likely will be a small amount of rotation from each side with the calendars filling up in the coming weeks.

CF Montréal (4-3-3): Sébastian Breza; Luca Petrasso, Efrain Morales, Jalen Neal, Dawid Bugaj; Fabian Herbers, Victor Loturi, Matty Longstaff; Dante Sealy, Daniel Ríos, Hennadiy Synchuk

Atlanta United (4-3-3): Lucas Hoyos; Elías Báez, Junior Alonso, Enea Mihaj, Matthew Edwards; Tristan Muyumba, Mauricio Amaro, Giuliano Galoppo; Miguel Almirón, Breel Embolo, Aleksey Miranchuk