May 13, 2026
CF Montreal and Portland Timbers draw at Stade Saputo
CF Montreal welcomed the Portland Timbers to Stade Saputo this evening, for a clash between two squads that have been on a bit of a hot stretch of late. While spring has been late arriving, with this evening’s match again getting underway in the rain, there has been plenty to celebrate for the CF faithful recently.
Things seem to have turned around for CF Montreal since their coaching change, as the squad have won four of five matches since Philippe Eullaffroy became interim head manager.
See Also: Orlando City sunk by pair of late CF Montreal goals
Moreover, those four victories have come at home, where CF Montreal have been on a run of good form of late. They also earned a win in the Canadian Championship during this stretch, where they will will surely be looking for a bit of redemption, having being ousted by the Hamilton Forge FC of the CPL teams in a row. Their home win over the Calgary Blizzard FC, has then set to square off against Vancouver FC in the second round.
The Portland Timbers too have played well, coming off a seminal victory on May 9th, where their utterly trampled over Sporting KC, in a six goal barrage. While Sporting KC have struggle this season, any time you can handle a team at this level, in that manor – you’re doing something right.
Tonight, the cold and the rain made for a slick pitch and looked to have been the catalyst for several bad plays. Just eight minutes in, the Timbers had to substitute out José Caicedo due to an injury, replaced by José Caicedo. A half-hour later, CF Montreal too suffered an injury, and were forced to replace Older Escobar for Samuel Piette.
Once again, Montreal were a hard pressing team tonight, and had the Timbers hemmed into their own half for a large portion of the match. That played dividends early on, when Daniel Ríos opened the scoring in just the eleventh minute.
Matty Longstaff, who was an absolute bull all game long, found Ríos just outside of the eighteen-yard box, allowing Ríos to hit a superb right footed shot that curled neatly into the top right corner of the goal, and beyond Portland Timbers goalkeeper James Pantemis.
The lead would prove short lived, as the Timbers found an equalizer just ten minutes later. Brandon Bye sent a cross in from a corner, that lead to a chance from Alexander Aravena that was blocked, but the ball fell to Kevin Kelsy who was able to tap the ball passed CF Montreal goalkeeper Thomas Gillier from in close. Despite Montreal’s smothering play, the Portland Timbers had equalized.
Montreal retook the lead in extra time, right before the end of the first half, when Longstaff again made a brilliant pay, this time setting up Wiki Carmona. Longstaff had the vision to feed Carmona with a cracking through ball, that found Carmona all only with just the ‘keeper to beat, which he did by firing a left-footed rocket into the bottom corner. A minute or two later, Montreal could have added another tally, when Ríos placed a great shot towards the bottom right corner, that took a massive effort from Pantemis to keep the ball out of his net.
This time, the lead held more than a few minutes. Montreal held possession from a large portion of the second half, but for moments the Portland Timbers too had strong moments of possession where they were able to pressure their opponent.
In the seventy-ninth minute, one of the plays lead to a chance for Cole Bassett whose strike hit the right post just from outside the box. Unfortunately for ‘keeper Gillier, the ball found its way back to the boot of Bassett, who this time threaded the ball into the back of the goal. The Timbers had been lucky to find an equalizing goal yet that is exactly what had occurred.
The final quarter of an hour saw the the defenses on both halves of the pitch loosen up, in order for both offenses to press for a third goal. Neither squad were able to come up with anything convincing though, and referee Allen Chapman’s whistle would eventually call close to a match that Montreal really should have won. Instead, both teams wound up with a share in the points.
Read More:
>> FC Supra roll past Woodbridge Strikers at the Canadian Championship
>> CF Montreal demolish Calgary Blizzard in Canadian Championship
>> Late Cavalry goal sinks FC Supra in Laval
Fact is, CF Montreal’s run of late has been spectacular. So much so, that they now sit within striking distance of several teams. Another win would pull them level with seventh place D.C United. Furthermore, all of the teams that they could surpass, have played a game more than CF Montreal. A third of the way through the season, and CF Montreal are sitting pretty.
CF Montreal will host Joel Waterman and the Chicago Fire this Saturday, 4:30pm at Stade Saputo. The Portland Timbers are next in action this Sunday, when they play host to Lionel Messi and Inter Miami.
