It's Decision Day in Major League Soccer, which means New York City FC are north of the border to close out the 2024 MLS regular season against CF Montréal at Stade Saputo — a venue where NYCFC have never lost a game.
Both teams have targets they're aiming for on Decision Day, and both teams need good results from this 34th and final MLS match of the 2024 season.
If New York City want to finish in Fourth Place and have home-field advantage in Round One of the MLS Cup Playoffs, they need to win and hope that Orlando City lose at home to Atlanta United FC. Montréal need a win to guarantee one of the final two playoff spots in the MLS Eastern Conference.
Hudson River Blue Staff
• Matchday 34: CF Montréal vs New York City FC
• Date and Time: Saturday, October 19, 6 pm ET
• Venue: Stade Saputo
• Forecast: Sunny and not too cold or windy, 59F/15 C
• Watch: MLS Season Pass on Apple TV
• Apple Broadcast Team: Joe Tolleson and Greg Sutton (English), Jesus Acosta and Carlos Suarez (Spanish), Frédéric Lord and Vincent Destouches (French)
• New York City FC Radio: Glenn Crooks and Matty Lawrence (English), Roberto Abramowitz and Ariel Judas (Spanish)
• Officiating Crew: Allen Chapman (referee), Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho and Matthew Nelson (assistant referees), Filip Dujic (fourth official), Edvin Jurisevic (VAR), Craig Lowry (assistant VAR)
• Kits: New York City will wear the black 24/7 Kit; Montréal will be in their light blue La Main Kits
New York City enter Stade Saputo scorching hot, winners of three straight matches and unbeaten in their last four. Montréal saw their own run of three straight wins come to an end in the last match before the international break, a 2-0 loss on the road against Charlotte FC.
Both teams have collected three wins, one draw, and one loss across their last five MLS matches, and Montréal is on a run of three straight wins at home at Stade Saputo since suffering a humiliating 0-5 loss to bottom-of-the-conference New England Revolution in the first match played after Leagues Cup on August 24.
Hudson River Blue Staff
New York City vs Montréal H2H
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 | 13 | 5 | 2 | 37 | 14 | 23 |
The head-to-head between these two clubs heavily favors New York City.
NYCFC's 13 wins against Montréal are the most they have against any team (the 12 against DC United is second), and the goal differential of +23 is the highest (topping the +17 versus DC). New York City's record against Montréal as the away team is a spectacular 6W-2D-1L.
In fact, NYCFC have never lost in Montréal. That lone New York away loss was on July 7, 2021, when the team's summer swoon had the fans calling for head coach Ronny Delia's head — and it took place in Orlando, not Montréal, due to the Canadian MLS teams not hosting games in Canada until later in the 2021 season due to Covid-19 pandemic border crossing restrictions.
Last year, Montréal accounted for two of New York City's nine wins, three of the team's 36 goals, and the one single road victory Nick Cushing's team earned all season.
New York City
• Player Availability: Malachi Jones remains out as he recovers from leg surgery.
• Decision Day has historically been very kind to New York City. The team has a record of 6W-2D-1L on the MLS regular season's final match day with a +7 goal differential. The club's only Decision Day loss was its first-ever to close out the inaugural 2015 season, a 1-3 home defeat to New England. NYCFC has won all three away matches the team has played on Decision Day, the most recent a 2-1 win over Atlanta United at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to close out the 2022 season.
• Will Justin Haak find a place back in the Starting XI, as a midfielder or a central defender? He's shown off his versatility in 2024, which our senior writer Matthew Mangam highlighted in this piece on Haak's Swiss Army Knife role for NYCFC.
• Alonso Martínez has 16 MLS goals this season and could inch higher in the final Golden Boot standings if he has a big match in Montréal – that would mean extending a run of form since Leagues Cup that's seen him play like the absolute best striker in MLS.
Andrew Leigh
Montréal
• Player Availability: Nathan Saliba is out serving a yellow card accumulation suspension.
• Saliba is a miss for the hosts, as the 20-year-old Canadian midfielder placed #14 on this year's MLS 22 Under 22 list and, at a young age, has grown into a regular starter in the central midfield for Laurent Courtois's side. Saliba ranks in the 86th percentile of MLS midfielders this season with both his 1.42 successful take-ons (dribbling past a defender) and his 1.69 clearances per 90 minutes.
• The short passing game is a strength. Montréal is fifth in MLS this season with a 83.8% pass completion rate while also attempting the second-fewest long passes in the league, with only the Columbus Crew playing fewer long passes this season.
• The Crew and Montréal share stylistic similarities in part because Montréal head coach Laurent Courtois worked as an academy and MLS NEXT Pro coach for Columbus from 2019 until he took over Montréal this season.
• Josef Martínez has 10 goals in 22 appearances for Montréal this season, a rate of 0.69 goals per 90 minutes that's good for ninth-best among MLS players this season. Martínez has a history of scoring against NYCFC with six goals scored against the Boys in Blue in 12 career appearances across the MLS regular season and playoffs.
• For more on what to expect from Martínez and the rest of his Montréal teammates, read the latest installment of Oppo Research with Elias Grigoriadis of The Ball is Round Montreal who breaks down the five biggest things to know about CFMTL.
Matthew Mangam
