The Fire face the team that gave them their first win of the season looking for a win and three points over CF Montréal in another matchup between two teams that are hoping against increasingly long odds to battle their way into the postseason.

Since the Fire last played CF Montréal, the team has both developed a tactical identity under first-year Head Coach Laurent Courtois, while at the same time showing the limitations of one of the least-expensive rosters in the league.

Note: For a more general overview of the Red Bulls tactics and style of play, check out the tactical preview from when the Fire played them back in April, available here.

CF Montréal

Montréal, je ne t’aime plus

Montréal, whether because of the organization or the city’s unique place as one of the largest francophone cities in the world and the largest by far in North America, has frequently found itself in the enviable position of having a lot of talent at its disposal.

And the team has been remarkably good at disposing of it.

After the 2022 season, Wilfred Nancy, who had led the team to second place in the East, and just three points shy of a Supporters Shield title, departed the team for the Columbus Crew after an apparent falling out with owner Joey Saputo.

Earlier this year, Mathieu Choinière, a rare bright spot on the roster who had been with the club more than half of his life between the academy and first teams, asked – semi-publicly – for a move away from the team. He eventually landed at Grasshopper in the Swiss Super League for a reported transfer fee that is considerably smaller than what might be expected for the Canadian international.

Brazilian defender Ruan was brought in to the team in December; he was traded away essentially for nothing in August.

After being the team’s second leading scorer last year (albeit, with four goals to his credit), former Fire player Chinonso Offor permanently left the club after being loaned out in June – understandable if the team had brought in high-end attacking talent in his stead, but while Matías Cóccaro is certainly more talented than Offor, it hasn’t exactly been night and day.

The team also bolstered its attack by bringing in Josef Martínez, and while bringing in a MLS Golden Boot winner is nothing to scoff at, few were under any illusions here: He left Atlanta after

Combined with rumors of the way the club has worked behind the scenes and a lack of investment, with the team having one of the smallest payrolls in the league (quite possibly the smallest given moves in the summer window by other low-spending clubs), and it doesn’t paint a very pretty picture of the situation in Montréal, whos fans have been some of the most dedicated in the league, despite a neglect from ownership that has felt something decidedly less than benign.

Taking possession of the team, slowly but surely

Before being named as Montréal’s new head coach in the offseason, Laurent Courtois had previously been the head coach of the Columbus Crew 2 in MLS Next Pro, and was one of the first coaches in that nascent league to get his team playing a coherent style of football with a unique tactical identity. In a league where being quick in transition and playing against the ball is the norm, the Crew 2 played distinctly differently – with the ball, building up through possession.

When his appointment to the head job in Montréal was made, Courtois was often described playing Wilfred Nancy-inspired soccer, but Courtois predated Nancy in Columbus; instead, the two French coaches have similar views on the game and it was expected that when Courtois arrived in Montréal, that he’d bring those ideas with him.

When the Fire last played CF Montréal, however, Head Coach Laurent Courtois was just getting his sea legs under him with his first games as the team kicked off its season with a lengthy road swing.  Between the pressures of playing numerous road games and the need to acclimate his squad to playing with the ball after Hernán Losada emphatically did not want the team to do that in 2023, Courtois was pragmatic, and in the early going, the team conceded possession in exchange for field position.

Since then, however, his ideas have started to take hold and the team has increasingly won games through possession and holding the ball: Of the team’s seven wins this season, they’ve had at least 50% possession in five of them, with the two exceptions coming in early March.

The team wants to build up, they want to play tactically complex football; the issue has been that the squad – which has only one Designated Player in Victor Wanyama, doesn’t really have the ability to compete. Wanyama has played a grand total of 406 minutes this year and started just four times.

Because of the talent deficit, strong tactical play doesn’t result in goals often enough. As a result, the team has just 37 of them on the year (notably, one more than the Fire), but no player has scored more than six goals so far. (Ariel Lassiter, now with the Fire, remains fourth in team scoring; Choinière and Ruan, both of whom have also left the squad, are six and seventh in scoring for the team).

CF Montréal Starting Lineup Prediction

The team has been largely playing out of a 3-4-3 formation. The lineup was mostly healthy though had some rotation on Wednesday – center back Joel Waterman was listed as questionable but I think for a home match at this point in the season, he probably plays if he’s able. Gabrielle Corbo and George Campbell are the most likely to complete the trio.

On one hand, they’ve got a decent skill level as a defending group; on the other, they seemed completely unmotivated to do anything and were pure spectators on New England’s two first-half goals midweek, leaving GK JOnathan Sirois out to dry.

Ahead of them, playing as wingbacks are likely to be Tom Pearce and Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty – the length of the latter’s name challenging the format of our lineup graphic.

Samuel Piette has been serving as captain out of the central midfield; with Choinière an increasingly distant memory, Nathan Saliba has been playing next to him.

In the forward corps, Mattías Cóccaro is the best option up top; he’s normally supported by two players playing as wingers-slash-second-strikers. Bryce Duke, formerly of Inter Miami, is typically one. Josef Martínez – also acquired from Miami – hasn’t been a consistent starter but may well start this one, after playing just six minutes as a late sub midweek.

Chicago Fire

Rotating 360

With their third match in a week, this would be the normal time to talk about rotation. The issue is, the squad, which we thought was healthy going into last Saturday’s game against the New York Red Bulls, has been snakebit all but literally, with several players unable to make the lineup unexpectedly.

Some of the absences are understandable – Hugo Cuypers and his wife just had a baby boy – some, the kinds of things you expect over the course of a season (injury-plagued Carlos Terán seeming to re-aggravate his leg injury during a match) – but taken together (three players ruled out sometime between Friday and kickoff last Saturday), it’s almost comical.

Regardless, in a week where the Fire play three times, there is a need to rotate; the issue is that the Fire’s short bench really limits options for Fire Head Coach Frank Klopas.

The rotation for this game is going to involved laying the players that are available. Will Cuypers travel to Montréal? Is Gutiérrez good to start? We don’t know.

The Closer You Get, The Farther You Are

Against Nashville, the Fire dominated possession, outshot them 10 to five and had more shots on target.

None of the shots – from either team – were particularly great, and the combined xG for the match is 0.86, with the Fire slightly edging Nashville out.

Earlier this season, the issue was the Fire weren’t taking shots in the box. In this match, they had seven shots inside the penalty area, burn one inside the six yard box and too many of the shots the Fire did have came late, after Nashville had time to set up on defense, or off of crosses where the Fire players didn’t really have time to settle the ball. That is a big part of why of those seven shots inside the box, only two were on target.

I’m still a proponent of taking more shots, because the math just works in your favor, but to get in, they have to get on target.

The Fire looked “dangeresque” against Nashville – they were getting into the right areas, they were almost doing the right thing to score goals but when push came to shove, they weren’t able to get truly good chances off.

It’s something that Frank Klopas was also aware of, telling reporters after the game: “The speed of play had to be better. When you have 10 guys behind the ball, then you have to move the ball quicker. We put guys that are better with the ball, we have guys that are better taking guys on in 1v1 situations but then they needed to do it in moments where they get those opportunities. We needed to get crosses in. We needed to get bodies in the box. So yeah, it's always difficult when you're on the road and you give up the first goal, but look how the goal came. I think we could have done much better all around as a team. We had our moments. We didn't take advantage of it.”

Chicago Fire Starting XI and Formation Prediction

Against Montréal’s 3-4-3, I’d expect the Fire to continue to play three center backs; likely with two wingbacks, two forwards and a midfield trio.

I don’t know if Hugo Cuypers will be available for this one – for his sake, I hope he’s not, for the team’s sake, I hope that he is, since he’d both have created more opportunities midweek and been more much more likely to bury some of the shots that the Fire had sail wide.

I am doubtful that the Fire are going to rush Andrew Gutman or Carlos Terán back into service since both are locked up to long-term deals with the Fire and putting their recurring injuries firmly in the rearview mirror before the start of the 2025 season is likely goal #1 with them, and since neither were in the lineup Wednesday, I don’t believe they’ll be starting for this one. The same goes for Rafael Czichos, whose deal is expiring.

Brian Gutiérrez came on at the start of the second half for the Fire; I wouldn’t be surprised if he started this one. That means someone in the midfield would have to come off. Fabian Herbers, who played well but went the full 90 minutes midweek, is most likely.

The Fire still have things to play for: A win combined with a St. Louis victory means the team is guaranteed to be spared the indignity of a Wooden Spoon, and even if the postseason hopes are entering “fever dream” territory, a win at least makes the chance more realistic.