Tag: CF Montreal

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Soccer Sports

CF Montréal: New year, new coach, new hopes.

Graphic by Carleen Loney

CF Montréal hopes to bounce back after a disappointing 2023 season.

In 2023, CF Montréal narrowly missed the Major League Soccer (MLS) playoffs on the last day of the season, and lost the Voyageurs Cup final—a cup competition between all professional and some semi-professional Canadian clubs—to the Vancouver Whitecaps. This disappointing season resulted in the club parting ways with head coach Hernán Losada after just one season, citing differing visions concerning the club’s future and style of play. 

On Jan. 9, CF Montréal president Gabriel Gervais unveiled Laurent Courtois as the team’s new head coach and clearly outlined the club’s sporting objectives. “We want to make the playoffs and have the opportunity to fight for the MLS Cup. We want to win the Canadian championship and return to the CONCACAF Champions League,” said Gervais when presenting Courtois.

Laurent Courtois: “It’s almost an adult dream.”

For the past two seasons, Courtois was the head coach of Colombus Crew’s reserve team. There, he led the team to two MLS NEXT Pro Cups, of which they won one. His experience coaching youth teams and developing players was an advantage compared to other candidates for his newly acquired position, considering that CF Montréal had the fourth youngest squad in MLS last season.

However, CF Montréal is a notoriously difficult place for managers, with Courtois being the team’s 10th head coach in 13 years since joining the MLS. Despite having signed a two-year contract, he hopes to stay with the team for a long time, although he knows about the team’s history of quickly firing coaches. “I have promised [the club] two things: an identity and energy. So [whether I stay for] six months, three years, 10 years, I hope, I want the players, the club, the people I work with to develop each other,” he said in his inaugural press conference.

Courtois has clear objectives in terms of what he wants to achieve in Montreal. “What I want to emphasize is individual player development […] especially with that pool of players,” he explained during his inaugural press conference. He also wants his team to have an attractive and recognizable style of play that can clearly be attached to Montreal.

Who’s in, who’s out?

CF Montréal’s squad has changed quite a bit since the end of last season, although it is not quite the exodus of talent as was seen last year. The team’s most significant loss is forward Romell Quioto, off to Tractor S.C. in Iran. Despite an injury-plagued 2023 season, he was still an important player, having scored 38 goals in 94 games for the club. Although he is yet to be numerically replaced, CF Montréal has presumably found their new forward. The club might be considering Uruguayan striker Matías Cóccaro, whom they are heavily linked with. Cóccaro has even already said his goodbyes to the fans of his previous club, Club Atlético Huracán, in Argentina, on social media.

However, CF Montréal’s main changes have come in the wingback positions. On the left, the club has spent US$400,000 in 2024 General Allocation Money (GAM) for former Canadian international Raheem Edwards, who is back in Montreal after a short spell in 2018. On the right, the team has traded Aarón Herrera to D.C. United in exchange for their right wingback, the Brazilian footballer Ruan and US$500,000 GAM in 2024. Both Edwards and Ruan are expected to be starters and improve what was one of CF Montréal’s weaknesses in 2023.

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Sports

Thierry Henry: The living legend

Henry brings his talent on and off the field

Filling up trophy cabinets was common for former football player Thierry Henry. Unfortunately, Henry’s time as a head coach of CF Montreal did not reflect his career as a player, and had to come to a premature ending.

The all-time top goal scorer for France with 51 goals, he started his professional career in Monaco, where he spent five years. There, he won his first major trophy during the 1996–97 season, lifting up the Ligue 1 trophy and crowning Monaco as French champions.

Henry’s talents were not left unnoticed, and after an uneventful year playing for Italian giants Juventus for the 1998–99 season, he moved to London, where his career with Arsenal would engrave him forever in not only the history of the club, but also the sport.

While playing for Arsenal, Henry changed his play style and became a central offensive player rather than playing out on the left wing. This made a huge difference in Henry’s goal scoring record, where his mentality of quickly controlling the ball and shooting on net became evident and ruthless.

Henry played for Arsenal from 1999–2007, and saw his club lift the Premier League Cup twice. During the 2003–04 season, the London-based club won the Premier League without losing a single game, earning them the title of ‘The Invincibles’ and lifting up a golden trophy; the only team in the history of the Premier League to ever do so.

Henry’s time with Arsenal came to an end in 2007, as he joined famous Catalonian club F.C. Barcelona — the club he had lost to in the Champions League Final in 2006.

Henry’s time with Barcelona surpassed expectations. The striker became champion of Spain in his second year there, and created history once again as Barcelona won six trophies in a calendar year: the Supercopa de Espana, UEFA Super Cup, Club World Cup, La Liga, La Copa del Rey, and the most famous Champions League. Henry’s influential career with Barcelona came to an end in 2010, when he shockingly joined Major League Soccer (MLS) team the New York Red Bulls.

His player career in the MLS was different from his European past. Henry became a role model for all his teammates, and his influence was greater than ever, a source of discipline, confidence and rigour. Winning only the Supporters’ Shield with the Red Bulls in the 2012–13 season for having the best record in the league, Henry retired in 2014 and meddled in a managerial career soon after.

He became the head coach of CF Montreal in 2019, but unfortunately left his coaching duties this February 2021. During his time in Montreal, the Frenchman continued to elevate the standards of his team, leading CF Montreal to the playoffs for the first time since 2016, but was eliminated by the New England Revolution. Henry’s record for the Montreal-based club is nine wins, 16 losses and four draws for both the 2018–19 and 2019–20 seasons. Although these statistics may not seem impressive, Henry’s goal was to build the team from the ground up; a plan which demands time and effort.

Henry had to leave his position last month for family reasons, but his coaching career is nowhere near finished. The Frenchman’s departure has made clubs such as AFC Bournemouth from the England second tier division keen on signing the legend into their coaching spot, whenever he’s ready.

 

Graphic by Sarah Alouani

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Sports

The Club de Foot Montreal aims to change its image and find its identity

New branding, new head coach and eight new players bring hopes that the upcoming season will be better than the last one

The Club de Foot (CF) Montreal has signed eight players this off-season, the greatest number of contracts given by the club since 2015. That year, the team made it to the Concacaf Champions League final. So, what can fans, players, and coaches expect for the upcoming season?

Let’s start by remembering what happened in 2015: the club started its season with seven new players on the starting lineup, and made it to the Champions League final and the Major League Soccer (MLS) quarter-finals. This season was arguably the greatest campaign since the club joined the MLS in 2012.

Compared to 2015, last season is one to forget for CF Montreal fans. Their favourite club was eliminated from the Champions League, finished ninth in the MLS Eastern Conference. Fortunately, the club drastically changed over the winter, in all ways possible.

The club changed its name and logo, Head Coach Thierry Henry left his coaching duties for family reasons and has been replaced by Wilfred Nancy, and eight new players have been signed to the team.

The 2021 season starts on April 17, with the team facing a lot of uncertainty. The lineup that finished last year on the pitch is expected to be very different from the one that will start this season. From the eight new players, four came from free transfers (Zorhan Bassong, Erik Hurtado, Bjørn Johnsen, and Aljaž Struna), two came on loan (Ahmed Hamdi and Joaquín Torres) and two were bought in exchange for allocation sums (Djordje Mihailovic and Kamal Miller).

From all those athletes, two names drew a lot of attention from the media. Mihailovic and Johnsen are the two players raising the most hope for this upcoming season. Mihailovic is a 22-year-old offensive midfielder who played for the Chicago Fire last season. His success will depend on his capacity to work with Samuel Piette and Victor Wanyama to create a solid central midfield. Johnsen is a tall and muscular striker. Last season, he played for Ulsan Hyundai in South Korea. He has a game volume similar to Jozy Altidore.

Since Ignacio Piatti left in January 2020, the club has been searching for a player who is able to regularly create goal opportunities. Mihailovic will probably play as a number 10 behind Johnsen. This offensive duo could become the best attack the club has had since Piatti and Didier Drogba.

So which Montreal FC players can expect to start the season on the field? Clément Diop will surely be the starting keeper, as there is very little competition for his spot. From left to right, the defensive line should be composed of Mustafa Kizza, Luis Binks, Struna, and Zachary Brault-Guillard. MFC should align two defensive midfielders, Piette and Wanyama. The two wingers should be Romell Quioto and Lassi Lappalainen. The offensive midfielder will surely be Mihailovic and the striker should be Johnsen. Whatever the lineup may be, fans can look forward to an exciting season like they haven’t seen in quite some time.

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