Road warriors Montréal knock off Miami: “We’re building for the future”

Long road stretches at the start are part and parcel of CFM’s seasons in their MLS era. But this one feels different. Whereas last year they took nary a single positive result from their first five road games before Stade Saputo opened for business, putting first-year coach Hernán Losada in a huge hole right from the jump, today they’re undefeated in their first three, taking seven of a possible nine points (2W-0L-1D).

Courtois has quickly installed some useful tactical variations: After the game veteran holding midfielder Samuel Piette explained in some detail how many different shapes they can and do shift into, depending on the opponent and circumstances. But he’s also turned the schedule from a challenge into an opportunity, focusing on the extra bonding time and esprit de corps it can foster.

“I’m not going to lie. You see the quality that we have on this team and the preparation, the tactical savvy that we have this year, it’s, I would say on a different level than the last year,” said Piette. “No disrespect to anyone but yeah, I just think we really had a really good preseason, getting everybody on board, on the same page. We knew last year, our points, our record away was pretty bad, and we needed to change that, we needed to change that mindset.

“And yeah, this is the change of saying, OK, yeah, we’re away. Yes, we will probably suffer a little bit more, like we saw today; at times you will suffer. We have to make sure we stay solid, compact as a team and then do the hard work, and with the quality that we have, then we’ll be able to punish the other team. We did that obviously off of set pieces, we had two more chances with Matías [Cóccaro] today where we could have killed the game, and we have to be better at that. But that’s part of the game … Yes, it’s tough to be on the road, but you got to collect points, whether it’s one or three. And then you move on.”

While Piette confessed to some ambivalence about missing out on a chance to face off with Messi & Co. – who wouldn’t be interested in a chance to lock horns with the GOAT? – that was more than balanced out by Montréal’s desire to mark another milestone in their rebuild under Courtois, and the recognition that Miami’s CCC campaign and resulting schedule congestion could help them in that regard.

“They have the ConcaChampions, so they have also other games to play,” said CFM defender Fernando Álvarez, who opened the scoring with a corner-kick header, his first career MLS goal. “We’re thinking about us, so we’re not thinking about the other team. We respect them. But the best way to respect them is to play our game. So it doesn’t matter if they’re playing or not, we always try to win. If they play with all the best players that they have, we will play them the same way.”