Marked for Brayan Vera
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad28 Dec 2026
Elliot Panicco damages knee ligaments — 15 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 15 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad28 Dec 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CF Montreal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Words at CF Montreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brayan Vera is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad21 Dec 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Elliot Panicco
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CF Montreal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Samuel Piette was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
In brief
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Squad
Brayan Vera falls out with a teammate over standards
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad7 Dec 2026
Elliot Panicco damages knee ligaments — 38 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 38 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Market7 Dec 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad7 Dec 2026
Words at CF Montreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Jaime is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad9 Nov 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Elliot Panicco
69 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CF Montreal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Dagur Dan Þórhallsson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at CF Montreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Jaime is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Oct 2026
Elliot Panicco damages knee ligaments — 86 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 86 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad26 Oct 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Market26 Oct 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at CF Montreal, and it is not being withdrawn.
In brief
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Squad
Words at CF Montreal training over how hard people work
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Squad
Too much change too quickly at CF Montreal
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad12 Oct 2026
A knee injury of the worst kind for Elliot Panicco
101 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. CF Montreal lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Brayan Vera in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CF Montreal this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Words at CF Montreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Samuel Piette is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Market28 Sep 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at CF Montreal, and it is not being withdrawn.
Match26 Sep 2026
No end in sight to CF Montreal's wait for a win
4 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at CF Montreal has to find a result from somewhere.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Both jobs done by Daniel Ríos — 6.47
A midfielder is measured on whether the team functions when he is on the pitch, which is nearly impossible to see and completely obvious in retrospect. 16 actions, 6.47, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Dagur Dan Þórhallsson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market28 Sep 2026
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Tomás Avilés wants continental football; whether CF Montreal can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at CF Montreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Iván Jaime is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad10 Aug 2026
There were 8 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market10 Aug 2026
Burnley come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and CF Montreal did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Brooks Lennon gets the move he always wanted
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Brooks Lennon has just signed for CF Montreal, and for once the answer mattered.
Market10 Aug 2026
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around CF Montreal they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Matty Longstaff has pre-agreed a move away, which means every appearance between now and June is made by a man the club can no longer sell, and somebody upstairs will be asked why the contract was allowed to get here.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Iván Jaime and CF Montreal agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Dagur Dan Þórhallsson was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market10 Aug 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Match8 Aug 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market3 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and CF Montreal did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad3 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Samuel Piette and CF Montreal agree another 3 years.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Sebastian Breza was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market3 Aug 2026
The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.
Squad3 Aug 2026
Iván Jaime falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Market3 Aug 2026
Sebastian Breza is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at CF Montreal has been clear about where Sebastian Breza stands, which is more than many ever get.