There's just one more weekend of MLS play to go before the league goes on pause for the World Cup, and it's a big one for CF Montréal.

A trip to face D.C. United is in order, a team that sits four spots and four points ahead of the bleu-blanc-noir heading into the last match of May, having played one more game.

Being able to steal three points on the road would go a long way for Montréal's hopes of staying in and around the playoff bubble the rest of the way, while D.C. has an outside shot of jumping into the top five in the conference with a win of their own.

This will be the first time these two foes meet in 2026, while both of last season's encounters ended in draws as both teams sat at or near the bottom of the East.

How Montréal enter the match

There's enough data now to really split the Impact's season so far into two portions. The Marco Donadel era and the Philippe Eullaffroy era.

Under Donadel, Montréal held a 1W-0D-6L record, the worst in MLS. They scored just eight goals and conceded 19, while their underlying numbers were also at the bottom of the league. On the pitch, the team was a total mess, playing under a man-marking system that seemed far out of their comfort zone and led to countless chances against from teams just tearing them apart.

Under Eullaffroy, things are looking up. Their record is 3W-1D-2L in MLS play under the interim boss, scoring 10 and conceding eight across the six matches. While neither the record nor any underlying expected goals numbers are elite, the team has performed at the level of a solid MLS team that deserves to be fighting amongst the playoff spots, especially in a relatively weak Eastern conference.

While last week's affair against a very good Chicago Fire team at home didn't go quite to plan, there were definite signs of life, a far cry from some of the losses Montréal faced earlier in the season. They don't have the firepower (mostly due to spending) that a top team like Chicago does, but they can absolutely hang with them.

If the Impact can manage to take three, or even just one point on the road against a D.C. side that is solid, but not spectacular, it will put them in a very solid spot for the back half of the season, which will be much appreciated after how poor the season started.

How D.C. United enter the match

The first full season under head coach René Weiler has certainly been an up-and-down one for United, though lately they've been in pretty decent form, going 2-4-1 since a pretty embarrassing U.S. Open Cup loss at the hands of USL League One side One Knoxville.

The team is set up in a pretty standard pressing 4-4-2, with DP centre forwards Tai Baribo and Louis Munteanu supposed to be the danger men, with the front two combining for 11 of the club's 17 goals so far this season.

What's interesting about this duo, though, is how they haven't really clicked together yet. Baribo scored a good portion of his goals at the start of the season, before Munteanu was acclimated and ready to start. Then, he got hurt, and Munteanu got on the pitch more and scored a handful of goals himself.

The pair have started just twice together, the past two matches at home. In those games, they lost handily to Chicago and drew a pretty poor St. Louis side, scoring just twice, once from Baribo and once from João Peglow.

There's not too much special about the rest of this roster, as their back line is fairly average and their midfield probably a bit below that, while former Toronto FC goalkeeper Sean Johnson is a veteran between the sticks.

For United to keep their playoff spot, they're going to need to get their striker duo firing again.

Availability

For Montréal, it appears unlikely either of Bode Hidalgo or Fabian Herbers will be fit ahead of the World Cup break, though those are the only first-teamers who should be out due to injury this weekend.

On D.C.'s side, Sean Nealis and Gabe Segal's injuries are expected to keep them through the World Cup break as well.

Projected XIs

TrueNorthFoot projects both sides to remain unchanged from last week, with both managers going full strength with the long break upcoming.

CF Montréal (4-3-3): Thomas Gillier; Luca Petrasso, Brayan Vera, Jalen Neal, Dawid Bugaj; Matty Longstaff, Samuel Piette, Victor Loturi; Iván Jaime, Prince Owusu, Wiki Carmona

D.C. United (4-4-2): Sean Johnson; Keisuke Kurokawa, Kye Rowles, Lucas Bartlett, Silvan Hefti; João Peglow, Brandon Servania, Matti Peltola, Jackson Hopkins; Tai Baribo, Louis Munteanu

Game information and how to watch

📆 Saturday, May 23, 2026
⏰ 7:30 pm ET / 4:30 pm PT
📺 Apple TV
🧑‍⚖️ Filip Dujic
🏟 Audi Field, Washington, United States