CF Montreal Recap: It's a Disgrace - (July 22nd 2026)

Montréal

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Nashville SC

CF Montreal lost 1-0 in their second match of the break as they took on the best team in MLS, Nashville SC, on a Sam Surridge penalty that drew a lot of controversy.

CF Montreal Coming In.

Montreal comes off an uninspiring draw vs Toronto FC where Hennadiy Synchuk looked like a completely different player under Philippe Eullaffroy.

Prince Owusu draws back into the squad today, which can provide some much-needed offensive support for Synchuk up top. Prince sits at 9 goals and 5 assists on the season, which is leading in both categories for CF Montreal.

Currently, Eullaffroy sits at 3W-3D-2L, which is respectable, and three wins from three in the Canadian Championship looks stellar than what the team was doing beforehand. The shift in coaching always allows for

Nashville SC Coming In.

Nashville comes off a shaky win vs Atlanta United, where a 79th-minute Shak Mohammed header allowed them to come away with the 1-0 win.

But let's be honest. This team is having the most success season in the MLS as currently they are first in the entire league, followed by a run to the semi-finals in the Concacaf Champions Cup. It's no surprise they are this talented with the roster that they have in front of them, and see this matchup vs a mid table CF Montreal side as another pushover.

BJ Callaghan has done an excellent job in his current role for the club and they will seemingly feel like they will be in the drivers seat for this matchup.

Lineups

Nashville SC (4-4-2): Brian Schwake; Daniel Lovitz, Maxwell Woledzi, Jeisson Palacios, Josh Bauer; Alex Muyl, Edvard Tagseth, Matthew Corcoran, Shak Mohammed; Sam Surridge, Hany Mukhtar

CF Montréal (4-3-3): Thomas Gillier; Luca Petrasso, Brayan Vera, Jalen Neal, Dawid Bugaj; Victor Loturi, Fabian Herbers, Matty Longstaff; Noah Streit, Prince Owusu, Hennadiy Synchuk

The Game

Oh boy, this CF Montreal game would be a rough watch for someone who wanted to see some offensive pressure from Les Bleus.

CF Montreal played VERY defensively throughout the entire game to try to control all the chances produced by this incredibly talented Nashville SC side.

The encouraging part was that this Nashville SC side wasn't able to generate any kind of proper offensive chances in the first half, as, despite having the large majority of possession, a lot of it was in the centre of the field, which allowed the CF Montreal side to play overly defensively and not allow for chances to get through into the box.

Noah Streit chases after a loose ball into the box that Sam Surridge was able to have a break on in front of him, and Surridge gets lightly shoved, and a penalty is called. There was no VAR review on the call, and Surridge converts the penalty shot to make it 1-0 for Nashville.

After this chance, the game was pretty much decided as CF Montreal started to push on some pressure but weren't able to convert on any of their chances

There was, however, one good chance on goal from Prince Owusu, as he got a header in the 74th minute that was saved by Nashville SC goaltender Brian Schwake.

Finally, in the 85th minute, the ball went to Owusu in the box, but he wasn't able to convert it, and the game was over.

The Penalty Call

I feel like I need to mention this first. This game was highlighted mostly by this penalty call on Noah Streit.

If you want my utmost honesty, this is not a penalty. Noah was going in to fight for the ball and had perfectly legal contact with Surridge, then dove to the ground and got the penalty.

The referee didn't signal for a VAR check, which is utter insanity, and I feel like some MLS refs should be held accountable for their actions, or at least MLS should allow for more VAR checks in the future.

Sam Surridge, if we are being very nitpicky, could've been booked for diving and received a card. It's just increasingly annoying to see a game be decided on a very undeserving penalty call.

Prince Owusu

Our Prince was back in action today after his suspension for accumulating a red card and in all honestly, there was nothing he could've done differently.

Due to the game being heavily defensive throughout, he mostly supported the defence from midfield and did his job.

Once the penalty shot was coverted Prince was starting to generate some offense and he was able to get a good chance to where Schwake made an unbelievable save.

This game had little positive for CF Montreal, but it's good to see that Owusu was able to still be clinical when possible after the lengthy break.

Jeisson Palacios.

To talk briefly about the other team, Jeisson Palacios was clinical on both sides of the ball. He was back in the Nashville SC lineup today and looked like the most important player in the backline for Nashville.

It's not too rare nowadays we are able to see defenders have actual importance on attack but Jeisson was incredibly clinical on both defense AND offense, by being able to drive and build up play when they needed it most.

He basically generated almost all of the passing progressions for the Nashville side and seemed as cool as ever passing and carrying the ball out of the defensive zone. It's no surprise that people are labeling Palacois one of the best defenders in the league. Tonight was a true showing of his class.

Upcoming Match

CF Montreal will take on Inter Miami on Saturday, July 25th, 2026 at 7:30 est at Saputo Stadium.

Inter Miami could potenitall be without both Rodrigo De Paul and Lionel Messi, but Casemiro could make his debut for the club.

CF Montreal are still awaiting for the return of Wiki Carmona.

We will see you Saturday Night.