Billets en vente ce lundi à midi! 🎟️
— x - CF Montréal (@cfmontreal) October 10, 2022
Tickets for our first #MLSCupPlayoffs game on sale this Monday at noon.@BMOfr #CFMTL pic.twitter.com/Igik8NFBwp
CF Montréal is the lone MLS Canadian team to make the 2022 MLS playoffs. The Vancouver FC Whitecaps playoff hopes were alive on Decision Day. Toronto FC? Not so much.
Club de Foot Montréal finished with its best ever MLS record. CF Montréal finished 20-9-5 for 65 points with a +13 goal differential (63-50). The team won 6 more games and had 14 more points than any previous squad.
Interestingly, CF Montréal was 11-4-2 on the road. The only place they would travel to is Philadelphia, the top seed in the East.
Club de Foot Montréal had 15 single-goal wins, just behind the record of 18 set by New England in 2021.
Wilfried Nancy, who has been the CF Montréal coach since 2021, will get serious consideration for the coach of the year.
Club de Foot Montréal had a slim shot at finishing first in the Eastern Conference but finished short of the Philadelphia Union. CF Montréal hosts the #7 seed Orlando City SC, a team coming off a late goal over the Columbus Crew. CF Montréal had a 9-5-3 home record in 2022 while Orlando City SC was 5-6-6 on the road.
CF Montréal plays at 8 pm Eastern at Stade Saputo on October 16 on ESPN and ESPN Deportes in the United States, TSN and TVA Sports in Canada.
The teams split in the regular season, each winning at home. Orlando posted a 2-0 shutout on February 27 while CFL Montréal won handily 4-1 on May 7.
The Vancouver Whitecaps FC stuck around longer than expected. The Whitecaps had 3 home wins down the stretch, including a 2-0 win over Austin FC. Vancouver finished 12-15-7 for 43 points.
The home/road splits were astonishing: 10-4-3 at BC Place and 2-11-4 on the road. The goal differential of -17 almost made the playoffs, sharing a similar goal differential with San Jose (last place in the Western Conference) and Toronto FC.
The last road win for Vancouver in 2022 was June 18 when Vancouver blanked Dallas FC 2-0 in the Lone Star State.
The Whitecaps were the lone Canadian team in the 2021 MLS playoffs.
Toronto FC finished at 9-18-7 for 34 points with a current 293-minute scoring drought. The Reds could have helped out CF Montréal on Decision Day against Philadelphia yet lost 4-0. Toronto FC didn't even record a shot on goal in Philadelphia.
The Reds didn't finish last in the Eastern Conference (thanks DC United). Toronto FC was a decent 7-7-3 at BMO Field but a rancid 2-11-4 on the road.
Vancouver Whitecaps FC eliminated from 2021 MLS playoffs
2021 MLS playoffs preview: Vancouver Whitecaps FC as the #6 seed
CF Montréal hasn't played a home playoff game since the all-Canadian matchup in 2016 against Toronto FC. The team's last playoff game was a forgettable 2-1 loss in New England in 2020.
Toronto FC was the last Canadian team to win a MLS playoff game over Atlanta FC in the 2019 Eastern Conference final.
There is a push for CF Montréal to have a very successful MLS playoffs in 2022.
CF Montréal midfielder and captain Victor Wanyama won’t be back in 2023. The team's sole designated player has been with the team since 2020.
The team will also lose midfielder Djordje Mihailovic after the season to Eredivisie side AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands. There is considerable speculation that midfielder Ismaël Koné will also leave after the playoffs.
2022 MLS Canadian teams preview
CanadianCrossing.com soccer coverage
MLS kept the Canadian MLS teams off of U.S. television in English and Spanish for the third year in a row. The 2020 tournament in Orlando was a grand exception.
Quite a surprise for CF Montréal to draw an actual appearance in English in the United States. The Vancouver Whitecaps in 2021 had a playoff game without a live English audio feed, which was just mean.
We would love to be highly critical about those MLS television practices. However, the league has decided to dump all of its local telecasts in 2023 for Apple TV. We don't know how this will apply to TSN in Canada since all of the TSN telecasts are national. Watching local announcers say goodbye is exactly the kind of publicity the league shouldn't want.
Toronto FC, CF Montreal get to cross back into Canada
This was a good test for the MLS Canadian teams since the 2022 season marked the first time since 2019 that the teams played half their games on Canadian soil at home.
MLS Canadian teams playoffs results
Year | Date | Teams | Winner | Score |
2022 | October 16 | Orlando City SC @ CF Montréal | TBD | 0-0 |
2021 | November 20 | Vancouver @ Sporting Kansas City | Kansas City | 3-1 |
2020 | November 24 | Nashville @ Toronto | Nashville | 1-0 (ET) |
2020 | November 20 | Montréal @ New England | New England | 2-1 |
2019 | November 10 | Toronto @ Seattle | Seattle | 3-1 |
2019 | October 30 | Toronto @ Atlanta | Toronto | 2-1 |
2019 | October 23 | Toronto @ New York City FC | Toronto | 2-1 |
2019 | October 19 | D.C. United @ Toronto | Toronto | 5-1 (ET) |
2017 | December 9 | Seattle @ Toronto | Toronto | 2-0 |
2017 | November 29 | Columbus @ Toronto | Toronto | 1-0 |
2017 | November 21 | Toronto @ Columbus | Tie | 0-0 |
2017 | November 5 | New York Red Bulls @ Toronto | NY Red Bulls | 1-0 |
2017 | November 2 | Vancouver @ Seattle | Seattle | 2-0 |
2017 | October 30 | Toronto @ New York Red Bulls | Toronto | 2-1 |
2017 | October 29 | Seattle @ Vancouver | Tie | 0-0 |
2017 | October 25 | San Jose @ Vancouver | Vancouver | 5-0 |
2016 | December 10 | Seattle @ Toronto FC | Seattle | 0-0 (5-4 PK) |
2016 | November 30 | Montréal @ Toronto FC | Toronto FC | 5-2 (ET) |
2016 | November 22 | Toronto FC @ Montréal | Montréal | 3-2 |
2016 | November 6 | Montréal @ New York Red Bulls | Montréal | 2-1 |
2016 | November 6 | Toronto FC @ NYCFC | Toronto FC | 5-0 |
2016 | October 30 | NYCFC @ Toronto FC | Toronto FC | 2-0 |
2016 | October 30 | New York Red Bulls @ Montréal | Montréal | 1-0 |
2016 | October 27 | Montréal @ D.C. United | Montréal | 4-2 |
2016 | October 26 | Philadelphia @ Toronto FC | Toronto FC | 3-1 |
2015 | November 8 | Portland @ Vancouver | Portland | 2-0 |
2015 | November 8 | Montréal @ Columbus | Columbus | 3-1 (ET) |
2015 | November 1 | Vancouver @ Portland | Tie | 0-0 |
2015 | November 1 | Columbus @ Montréal | Montréal | 2-1 |
2015 | October 29 | Toronto FC @ Montréal | Montréal | 3-0 |
2014 | October 29 | Vancouver @ Dallas | Dallas | 2-1 |
2013 | October 31 | Montréal @ Houston | Houston | 3-0 |
2012 | November 1 | Vancouver @ LA Galaxy | LA Galaxy | 2-1 |
Twitter capture: @CFMontreal
logo credit: CF Montréal
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