Three days after edging Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1 in the Canadian Championship semi-finals, CF Montreal return to league action looking to carry that confidence into a match they badly need to win on MLS terms. The problem is that Columbus Crew arrive in Montreal off a 2-1 US Open Cup semi-final win over Orlando City SC, giving both sides a short-term boost before a long-term reality check: neither team currently sits inside the Eastern Conference’s nine playoff spots, and time is running short. Interim coaches Philippe Eullaffroy and Laurent Courtois are both trying to arrest worrying league form and keep their clubs mathematically alive in what remains a crowded standings battle.
What’s at stake
Both clubs are outside the Eastern Conference playoff places heading into Matchday 26. CF Montreal sit 15th with 21 points from 25 games, while Columbus Crew are 13th on 23 points, level on the table with Atlanta United FC directly below them. The ninth and final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference belongs to FC Cincinnati, who have 32 points. New York Red Bulls are tenth on 30. The gap from Columbus to the playoff line is nine points; for Montreal it is eleven. Neither club can afford to keep dropping points in league play.
A win for Montreal would close the gap to Columbus to just two points and inject genuine energy into an interim coaching stint that has so far failed to produce MLS results. For Columbus, three points would move them ahead of Atlanta United on goal difference and at least keep them in conversations about an unlikely late run. A loss for either side, given the scale of the points deficit above them, would make the mathematics feel increasingly uncomfortable.
How they got here
Montreal’s recent MLS record is poor. Their last five competitive matches show a win over Vancouver in the Canadian Championship sandwiched around three straight league losses, to Colorado Rapids (0-1 away), Charlotte (1-2 at home), and Philadelphia Union (0-2 away). Their goals-against column in MLS tells the real story: 51 goals conceded in 25 games is the kind of defensive output that makes points accumulation almost impossible. Columbus have not been much better in the league. Their last five include a 3-0 win over Colorado and a US Open Cup victory over Orlando City, but either side of those results they lost to New England Revolution (1-3), DC United (1-2), and New York Red Bulls (0-1). Three league losses in their last four MLS games is not the form of a team ready to charge up the table.
Columbus sit 13th in the Eastern Conference on 23 points, Montreal 15th on 21. Nashville SC lead the conference on 54 points, with Inter Miami second on 45 and New England Revolution third on 43. The top three are well clear; the playoff conversation really begins from seventh place downward, where Philadelphia Union (33 points) and New York City FC (32) represent the practical ceiling for both clubs tonight.
Key battle to watch
With Montreal conceding 51 goals this season, the duel between Columbus’s attacking options and whatever defensive shape Eullaffroy sets will be central to the result. Columbus have Josef Martinez in their squad, a striker with an established MLS pedigree, and Anass Zaroury as a wide threat. If Montreal’s back line gives Columbus the same kind of space they have been yielding in recent weeks, Courtois’s side have the personnel to exploit it. Montreal’s best chance is to keep it tight early and use the cup momentum to make Saputo Stadium uncomfortable for visitors who are themselves low on league confidence.
Key Stats
Match Context
Standings
Head To Head
Our Prediction
History slightly favors Columbus, who have won five of the last ten meetings against Montreal and beat them earlier this season in August. That said, Montreal have home advantage and a cup performance to draw on, while Columbus’s league form has been inconsistent at best. The most likely outcome is a tight, low-scoring match decided by a single moment, with Columbus’s experience in this fixture making them a narrow favorite to take something from Saputo.
CF Montreal
Columbus Crew