February 21, 2026
CF Montreal embarrassed in season opener in San Diego
While Montreal remains frozen and under snow, CF Montreal began their 2026 campaign tonight in San Diego, where things rapidly went from bad to worse, as San Diego FC ambushed CF Montreal with a five-goal romp.
Montreal underwent a revamp on their squad, as promised by its front office, but the results on the field very much continued to show the same level of play that lead to the squads worst season in MLS last year, as Marco Donadel’s men were outworked and outplayed all over the pitch.
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In the 14th minute, Anders Dreyer crossed a ball in from a corner kick, that found an unmarked Christopher McVey, who was able to the thread a sneaky header down and through a muddle of legs, like a needle in a haystack and into the wide open left side corner of the net. San Diego FC had their early lead and CF Montreal appeared visibly stunned.
Just two minutes later, a series of passes found Dreyer all alone in the center of the box, but he riffled his shot clear over the crossbar and into the crowd.
Into injury time of the first half, San Diego FC found the CF Montreal high up the pitch, and sent a flick-on header in for Dreyer who now found himself screaming down the pitch with just one defender, Tomás Avilés, between he and his team Amahl Pelligrino. Dreyer’s shot was parried away by CF Montreal goalkeeper Thomas Gillier, but the ball fell right to the boot of Pelligrino who tapped the ball into the empty net. San Diego FC were now two goals up going into the half.
With the second half underway, while already down by a pair, Avilés received a straight red card in the 48th minute for a dangerous tackle, leaving CF Montréal to play with ten men for the remainder of the match. Avilés lunged into San Diego FC’s Pelligrino with a straight leg sideways tackle that didn’t come close to touching the ball, instead smashing into the ankle of Pelligrino, sending him to the ground. Originally assessed a yellow card, video review urged referee Joseph Dickerson to upgrade the call to a deserved straight red card.
San Diego FC wasted no time in making CF Montreal pay for going down a man, as Onni Valakari found himself with oodles of space with which he walked in and placed a low hard shot passed passed Gillier from just outside the box.
Marcus Ingvartsen scored in the 59th minute with a left-footed strike just under the crossbar from the center of the box off a crisp pass from Dreyer to further rub dirt in CF Montreal’s wounds. Montreal’s defense were being picked apart even before Avilés was sent off and now were in a world of pain, as San Diego FC ran rampant over them.
Eighteen year old Bryan Zamblé, making his MLS debut, dummied defender Bode Hidalgo with some swift footwork, before burring the ball past Gillier to put San Diego FC up by five with just minutes to go in the game.
Another debutant, goalkeeper Duran Ferree, earned the clean sheet and only had to face two low-chance shots to do so, as San Diego FC firmly thump CF Montreal.
Read More:
>> San Diego FC hosts CF Montreal in 2026 season opener
>> CF Montreal acquires Wikelman Carmona, signs Noah Streit
>> CF Montreal acquire defender Tomás Avilés on loan from Inter Miami
Former CF Montreal fan favorite Bryce Duke, now a member of San Diego FC, spent the match on the bench as a substitute.
CF Montreal next visit Soldier Field where they take on Chicago Fire FC next Saturday. San Diego FC hosts St. Louis next, at home on March 1st.
