Wild Card round begins tonight
CF Montréal host Atlanta United tonight at 7:30 pm ET in the Eastern Conference Wild Card. The winner moves on to face Inter Miami in a Round One Best-of-3 Series. You can watch for free on Apple TV.
San Diego FC first match, home opener unveiled
San Diego FC's first match and home opener were unveiled Monday. San Diego FC will begin their inaugural season at the LA Galaxy during MLS is Back weekend (Feb. 22-23) of the 2025 MLS season. Following their MLS debut, San Diego FC will host St. Louis CITY SC on March 1 (10:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass). Their inaugural home match will be held at Snapdragon Stadium.
The playoffs are here. It all starts tonight with CF Montréal hosting Atlanta United in the first of two Wild Card games this postseason.
Josef vs. Atlanta
Josef Martínez has been on a tear lately. He’s found the back of the net six times in his last four starts. That includes a brace against Atlanta United just a couple of weeks ago in Atlanta.
He didn’t celebrate those goals. A notable amount of Atlanta fans cheered. At the time, it seemed like Josef had delivered a killing blow to his former team in the midst of a playoff-less season. Instead, they’ve both found their way into the postseason in a true win-or-go-home scenario that likely hinges on whether or not Atlanta can slow Josef down.
It’s… super weird for everyone involved. A totally unimaginable scenario just a few years ago. First, the idea that Josef would be on a totally different team in the East, then the idea Atlanta United would be celebrating sneaking into the playoffs in ninth place to avoid missing the playoffs for the second time in three years. Now, Josef will be the focal point for an Atlanta side looking to kickstart a miracle run.
We’ll see what kind of Josef we get. He went 73 minutes in Montréal’s impressive 2-0 win over New York City FC on Saturday. Montréal can’t really afford not to start him in this kind of form, but they’ve typically been pretty cautious with his minutes in midweek games over the last month. It’s probably not a coincidence they picked up two losses and a draw in the last three games Josef began the game on the bench. It’s also probably not a coincidence Josef hasn’t gone a full 90 since August 24. How many minutes does he actually have in him tonight?
A quick turnaround
And how many minutes does anyone have in them tonight? Both teams played intense, meaningful games on Saturday. Atlanta got two days of light practice before having to travel. This game feels like it could be defined by whose legs give out first.
If that’s the case, the circumstances probably favor CF Montréal. Being the home team has its perks. Montréal have been at home since a road loss to Charlotte back on October 5. Atlanta traveled to Orlando over the weekend, spent a large majority of their time there defending a lead with their lives and now have to travel again.
Both sides should have plenty of energy coming out of the gate. It’s not clear what this game will look like once the adrenaline wears off.
Scoring first is important (duh, but still)
When Atlanta United scored twice inside the first 16 minutes of Saturday’s win over Orlando, they bumped their season total for goals inside the first 30 minutes of matches up to six.
Getting out in front has been a massive issue for the Five Stripes this year. Heading into Decision Day, only Chicago Fire FC had spent less time in a winning game state. To be fair, they didn’t spend a ton of time in losing game states either, but so many of their issues have stemmed directly from getting off to slow starts in attack. That’s no way to live.
It varies from league to league, but teams that score first in a match tend to win about 70% of the time. Atlanta scored first in 14 of their 34 games this year and all 10 of their wins came when scoring first. If they go down early tonight while playing on tired legs, that could very well be a season wrap on the Five Stripes.
Montréal still have doubters to prove wrong
A few weeks ago, Montréal were left for dead. A 5-0 loss to New England should have been the end. Their 4-1 loss to FC Cincinnati the very next game felt like throwing an unnecessary amount of dirt on a grave. Somehow, they only lost once in their next seven games.
Gut call here, that probably has a lot to do with Caden Clark.
Clark arrived in Montréal in August after being cast off by Minnesota United. That’s not how anyone envisioned Clark’s career going after he burst onto the scene in 2020 with New York and secured a move to RB Leipzig. It’s working out just fine so far though. Clark has four goals and four assists in his last six starts for his new club. They won five of those matches. Clark is suddenly in the most productive form of his career and Montréal are in a playoff spot.
That’s not how anyone expected Montréal to get here. At the start of the year, Montréal were set to be led by new TAM guys like Matías Cóccaro and Mahala Opoku. Now injuries and strange circumstances have led to Clark and Josef leading a stunning charge to the end.
It’s a remarkable story. There are still some concerns.
Montréal have averaged 1.78 points per game since Leagues Cup. That’s the seventh-best mark in MLS in that stretch. Per American Soccer Analysis, their expected points total based on the chances they’ve created and allowed in that span is 1.00 points per game, the worst mark of any team in the league not named Toronto FC.
Are they hot at the right time? Or are they just lucky at the right time? And does that even matter?
I guess we’ll find out.
Austin FC sign Obrian to contract extension: Austin FC have signed winger Jáder Obrian to a contract extension through 2026 with an option for 2027. The Colombian attacker was Austin’s joint top scorer in 2024, with eight goals across all competitions and also contributed four assists. He appeared in all 34 of the team’s regular-season matches (30 starts).
Messi named Player of the Matchday: Lionel Messi's Decision Day heroics off the bench have earned him MLS Player of the Matchday presented by Michelob Ultra honors for Matchday 38.
- Here are the young players who stepped up in Matchday 38.
- CF Montréal and Atlanta United are set to clash.
- Here’s your MLS Team of the Matchday presented by Audi.
- Take a look at what you need to know about every Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs team.
- Voting is now open for the 2024 MLS Save of the Year and the 2024 AT&T MLS Goal of the Year.
- Matt Doyle explained what we learned about the Philadelphia Union and what we learned about D.C. United in 2024.
- Here’s a refresh on the Wild Card round.
Good luck out there. Why do something the easy way when it could be so much cooler.
