CF Montréal are back at Stade Saputo for a three-match league homestand.
First up is an Orlando City side coming in off an emotional high of their biggest win of the season, but one whose defence has been the most porous in MLS so far in the 2026 campaign.
Philippe Eullaffroy's men are looking to get back in good form in the league after their two-match winning streak was snapped last week in Atlanta, though a 5-0 dismantling of the Calgary Blizzard midweek in the Canadian Championship has the side in better spirits.
Last time out
Saturday's encounter will be the second of two matches between these two sides this regular season, with the first coming back in March in Orlando.
There, the hosts walked away with a 2-1 victory, with first-half goals from Duncan McGuire and Martín Ojeda enough to give Orlando what was their first win of the season.
Both teams have continued to struggle since then, with them entering this week's contest sitting 13th and 14th in the Eastern Conference, respectively.
How CF Montréal enter the match
In all competitions, it's now three wins from four under Eullaffroy, though the win over the semi-pro Blizzard side is not exactly the same calibre of opponent as they'll find in MLS.
The lone blemish under the interim boss came last weekend in Atlanta, where turnovers and a few defensive lapses led to three goals against on the road, as the Impact let an early 1-0 lead slip.
This week, they'll look to take advantage of the dysfunctionality of Orlando's defence and use the in-form duo of Prince Owusu and Matty Longstaff to keep up their recent goal-scoring exploits.
The Bleu-blanc-noir have played mostly against the ball since Eullaffroy's takeover, and have had some success in transition, and in their wins have been able to keep the space between the lines pretty tight in order to prevent chances against.
To succeed this weekend, they'll probably need to have a bit more comfort to be in control of the ball in possession, and limit the giveaways and missteps defensively that faulted them both last week and in the March affair against Orlando.
How Orlando City enter the match
The Lions are coming off what was just their third win of the MLS campaign, but one of the most memorable in team history.
Down 3-0 away to bitter rivals Inter Miami, Orlando stormed back level thanks to a Martín Ojeda hat trick, before former Toronto FC top SuperDraft pick Tyrese Spicer scored the winner deep into stoppage time.
While this win will surely lift the spirits of a team that has desperately been looking for positives all year, the defensive issues once again showed.
Not only did they allow three goals in the first 33 minutes to their archrivals, but they also allowed 26 shots, 10 on target, for 3.14 expected goals against by Miami. If not for Canadian goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau, the game could've gotten so out of hand that any comeback would've been out of the cards.
But, they just about stayed within touching distance, and put up a memorable second half to hopefully get their season back on track.
Like Montréal, Orlando is another side who don't look to possess too much of the ball, sitting 26th in the league this season in average possession. They'll look to get the Impact in transition the same way they did at Inter&Co Stadium earlier in the season, which has also been the way they've scored most of their goals in 2026.
But, in the end, this is still a team that's allowed 32 goals in their first 11 league games, five more than the second-bottom tally so far this season. Until they figure out how to stop shipping chance after chance every week, they will stay at the bottom of the table.
Availability
For Montréal, Brayan Vera's late red card last weekend will see him suspended this week, while Hennadiy Synchuk, Bode Hidalgo and Sunusi Ibrahim are expected to remain out with their respective injuries.
For Orlando, DP winger Marco Pasalic has been missing for the past few weeks due to injury, but was spotted in training this week, so he may return to the bench this weekend. Midfielder Joran Gerbet should remain out as he recovers from an ACL tear in November of 2025.
Projected XIs
TrueNorthFoot projects Montréal to go with a mostly full-strength lineup this weekend, after they split the squad a little bit with last week's two games. Orlando, on the other side, will line up similarly to how they played the second half in Miami.
CF Montréal (4-3-3): Thomas Gillier; Dawid Bugaj, Efrain Morales, Jalen Neal, Luca Petrasso; Matty Longstaff, Samuel Piette, Victor Loturi; Wiki Carmona, Prince Owusu, Iván Jaime
Orlando City (4-4-2): Maxime Crépeau; Griffin Dorsey, Iago Teodoro, Robin Jansson, Adrián Marín; Iván Angulo, Braian Ojeda, Eduard Atuesta, Tyrese Spicer; Martín Ojeda, Justin Ellis
Game information and how to watch
📆 Saturday, May 9, 2026
⏰ 4:30 pm ET / 1:30 pm PT
📺 Apple TV
🧑⚖️ Marcos de Oliveira
🏟 Stade Saputo, Montreal, Canada
