The Philadelphia Union aim to end a six-match winless stretch when they visit CF Montreal on Saturday night.
The Union have dropped three straight matches following three consecutive draws and haven’t left the field victorious since beating the New England Revolution 3-0 on May 18.
Philadelphia (4-7-8, 20 points) was blanked 2-0 by visiting Charlotte FC last weekend. Both goals came in the second half.
“We know that half of a season does not define this group,” Union coach Jim Curtin said. “Again, we’ve been together for a while. We trust each other, we know who’s here, who’s not here.
“We also know that the end of the Charlotte game was not acceptable. So we’ll learn from it, we’ll get better from it, and we’ll move on now to a new test.”
Philadelphia is hopeful of having Daniel Gazdag (10 goals) back after its leading scorer was away playing for the Hungarian national team. He missed all three of the consecutive setbacks.
“We’ll determine what he’s ready for, but he’ll certainly play in the game,” Curtin said of Gazdag. “That is for sure. I’m not going to have Dani Gazdag fly back and then have him watch a soccer game in Montreal.”
Gazdag scored one of Philadelphia’s goals when it played Montreal to a 2-2 home tie on June 1. Mikael Uhre scored the other Union goal, while Sunusi Ibrahim and Samuel Piette scored the Montreal goals.
Montreal (4-8-7, 19 points) also has experienced a winless June, going 0-1-3 during the month.
Montreal was crushed 4-1 by the host Colorado Rapids last weekend. The only Montreal tally came on a Colorado own goal.
“We can all be disappointed,” Montreal goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois said. “We gave the Rapids too much respect. We weren’t aggressive enough.”
Montreal coach Laurent Courtois was surprised at the club’s dismal effort.
“The players were not tired. We lacked the collective personality to play our game both in defense and attack,” Courtois said. “We didn’t do what we wanted to do. The little we tried was too timid and poor in quality. I can’t explain the first half.
“The lack of discipline on set pieces was also difficult. I hope the players will be more accountable for their individual actions in the future.”
Montreal has allowed 41 goals, third most in MLS. The goal differential of minus-15 is second worst. Piette is away playing for Canada in Copa America.
–Field Level Media
