Marked for Brayan Ceballos
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad26 Jun 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrew Tarbell
111 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.
Match24 Jun 2028
No end in sight to CF Montreal's wait for a win
5 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
Words at CF Montreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riqui Puig 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.
Squad26 Jun 2028
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. CF Montreal told Wikelman Carmona something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Player ratings26 Jun 2028
Riqui Puig runs at them all day
Successful dribbles: 12. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 May 2028
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrew Tarbell
150 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.
Market22 May 2028
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.
Squad22 May 2028
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.
Market22 May 2028
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.
Squad22 May 2028
Riqui Puig 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.
Player ratings22 May 2028
A performance of 8.08 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad22 May 2028
Yarden Cohen gets it from the manager
“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.
Player ratings22 May 2028
Successful dribbles: 11. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad1 May 2028
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” CF Montreal may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Squad1 May 2028
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.
Squad1 May 2028
Words at CF Montreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Riqui Puig 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.
Loan watch1 May 2028
“I did not go to Real Salt Lake to sit and watch. I want to come back to CF Montreal and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 8 matches say the rest.
Squad1 May 2028
The manager makes an example of Brayan Ceballos
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Match29 Apr 2028
0‑2 to New York City, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad13 Sep 2027
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.
Squad13 Sep 2027
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.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Marked 7.35. Ask anyone leaving the ground what settled it and you will get one name, which is the only award that has ever really counted.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Hernán Gautier, and the manager let it.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mauro Luna Diale trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad26 Apr 2027
Samuel Piette breaks a bone — 86 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 86 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces26 Apr 2027
Anger at CF Montreal spills outside the ground
It has stopped being a mood in the stands and started being something organised. Boards can ignore a bad atmosphere for a long time; they cannot ignore this stage of it for very long at all.
Squad26 Apr 2027
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.
Market26 Apr 2027
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Daniel Pereira wants continental football; whether CF Montreal can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad26 Apr 2027
Words at CF Montreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Prince Owusu 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.
Squad26 Apr 2027
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Brayan Ceballos, and the manager let it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad29 Mar 2027
Samuel Piette breaks a bone — 117 days out
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 117 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
The terraces29 Mar 2027
The mood at CF Montreal has turned into something else
Supporters who sing when it goes badly are supporters. Supporters who gather afterwards are a problem, and everybody inside the building knows which of the two this now is.
Market29 Mar 2027
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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at CF Montreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Brayan Ceballos 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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
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.
Squad29 Mar 2027
“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.