“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CF Montreal can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad14 Feb 2028
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.
Boston Billups 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.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at CF Montreal, another week without a signature from Noah Streit.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Noah Streit trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at CF Montreal can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Boston Billups and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Matheus Nascimento's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
Squad7 Feb 2028
Jalen Neal 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.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bode Hidalgo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at CF Montreal. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at CF Montreal would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
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.
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.
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.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at CF Montreal. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Stal Mielec did not take him to make up a number: they want him playing. For Owen Graham-Roache that is worth more than another season of watching from CF Montreal's bench, and everyone involved has said so out loud.
Daniel Pereira and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad17 Jan 2028
Words at CF Montreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Ríos 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CF Montreal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and CF Montreal have no good answer.
The least glamorous thing a foreign signing ever does and the one that decides most of them. A player who can hear the shout behind him is a different footballer from one who cannot.
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.
Squad10 Jan 2028
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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CF Montreal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at CF Montreal has been clear about where Victor Loturi stands, which is more than many ever get.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at CF Montreal would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at CF Montreal is running low.
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.
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.
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.
25 games, 0 goals, and a squad option that has arrived without a fee attached. The interesting question at CF Montreal now is not whether he plays but who he displaces.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Dylan Chambost trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Efrain Morales wants continental football; whether CF Montreal can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Ríos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Bode Hidalgo trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brayan Ceballos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. CF Montreal will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Noah Streit signs something — a contract at CF Montreal or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Boston Billups has just signed for CF Montreal, and for once the answer mattered.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CF Montreal know it.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brayan Ceballos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CF Montreal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugoutThe manager plants his flag on Dante Polvara
71Edition
The CF Montreal Gazette
6 Dec 2027
From our football correspondentUneasy
The terraces6 Dec 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.
Victor Loturi 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.
Squad6 Dec 2027
Words at CF Montreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Ríos 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.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Prince Owusu has written the date down.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CF Montreal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The language is coming and there is somebody to talk to in the dressing room. A footballer who feels at home plays like one, and it never shows up in a scouting report.
The message was aimed at the stands as much as the dressing room: Dagur Dan Þórhallsson plays, and the argument is closed until the manager decides otherwise.
The word out of the training ground is that he has been the sharpest man there all week. It is the quietest story a paper carries and it usually runs the week before somebody's run in the side begins.
Daniel Pereira and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 19 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad29 Nov 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.
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Prince Owusu has his answer from CF Montreal; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Prince Owusu trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have supported clubs like this one. I know what a bad Saturday feels like here.” The new man starts with nothing behind him and everything in front of him.
Dagur Dan Þórhallsson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
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.
Nothing resets a career like somebody arriving who did not pick the side last season. Alexis Sánchez has taken the hint, and CF Montreal are getting a version of him the previous regime had stopped seeing.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CF Montreal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Noah Streit signs something — a contract at CF Montreal or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Ríos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Aaron Brooks and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Sebastian Breza trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
A year in and the language has not come, the city has not opened up, and he eats alone more often than anybody at CF Montreal would like to admit. It is showing on Saturdays.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
38 days since the seat came open, a list of names doing the rounds, and nobody has signed anything. Every week this drags on the shortlist gets shorter.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Alonso Martínez and CF Montreal agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
Squad8 Nov 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.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether CF Montreal can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CF Montreal can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CF Montreal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at CF Montreal. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Dagur Dan Þórhallsson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether CF Montreal can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Squad25 Oct 2027
Daniel Ríos 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.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Noah Streit signs something — a contract at CF Montreal or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
He asked about his future and was given an answer with minutes in it. The manager has now made a promise in a building where promises are remembered, and the clock on it has started.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
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. 14 actions, 7.03, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
Squad18 Oct 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 19-year-old it feels ownership of. Owen Graham-Roache has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
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.
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Alexis Sánchez
63Edition
The CF Montreal Gazette
11 Oct 2027
From our football correspondentUneasy
The terraces11 Oct 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.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CF Montreal know it.
Daniel Pereira 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.
Squad11 Oct 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.
10 days with the chair empty, a list of names that grows and shrinks by the day, and not one signature on anything. Every week that passes takes the best candidates off it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Daniel Ríos’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and CF Montreal needing him to play as if none of it matters.
The end came on a Tuesday, as these things usually do: a short meeting, a shorter statement, and Adam Morris clearing his office by noon. Football’s cruellest ritual, performed to schedule.
10 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
2 goals to the good, and then a slow surrender of everything that had been earned. Matheus Nascimento will not be the one blamed for it, but nobody at CF Montreal escapes the conversation that follows a collapse like this.
“Somebody picks the team on Saturday. This week it is me, and that is as far as I have thought.” No promises were made in either direction, which is how these usually begin.
Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.49 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexis Sánchez and CF Montreal agree another 2 years.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at CF Montreal is running low.
9 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Position 13 and 28 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad27 Sep 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.
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Alonso Martínez is on it.
8 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Alonso Martínez 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.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It happens to all of them and it is still the hardest paragraph a local paper has to write. 38 years old, 3 points down on where he was, and a body that has started charging interest on a career.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. CF Montreal told Bode Hidalgo something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
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.
It is a specific kind of quiet, a ground watching a winning position dissolve. New York Red Bulls kept coming because nothing stopped them, and CF Montreal will be asked about the last half hour all week.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CF Montreal can pretend not to have heard.
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.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Efrain Morales is 23, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Both clubs in the mire, one fixture between them, and a ground that will be louder and more frightened than at any point in the season. CF Montreal know what is at stake and so does everybody in the away end.
The board’s statement ran to three sentences and one of them mentioned results. Adam Morris has managed long enough to translate: win soon, or the next statement is shorter.
Dagur Dan Þórhallsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad6 Sep 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.
“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.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Noah Streit
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Noah Streit has come out of that comparison in the side, and CF Montreal have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Brayan Ceballos's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniel Pereira trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
New York Red Bulls next, and one man in the CF Montreal dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Position 13 and 25 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Boardroom30 Aug 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at CF Montreal
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether CF Montreal can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
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.
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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CF Montreal are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
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. 11 actions, 6.80, and a manager who will not be substituting him again in a hurry.
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Efrain Morales wants continental football; whether CF Montreal can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jalen Neal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Warm-up bib, ninety minutes of watching, and a handshake at the end that fooled nobody. Big matches tell you who a manager trusts; this one told Bode Hidalgo.
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.
$2.1M was the most the club would pay and Chicago Fire were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The clubs had agreed and the player had not. A snub, and a public one: another club keep him, and the supporters here are left wondering what he had heard about the place.
4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brayan Ceballos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
An error at the back is a moment; an error in goal is a goal. George Marks knows it, the crowd knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
0-3, and long before the end the away end had switched from encouragement to something considerably more pointed. Nobody rings a phone-in about losing narrowly.
The offer went to Chicago Fire this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 14 arrived, 8 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
There is a version of every career where the player ends up somewhere he chose rather than somewhere that chose him. Miguel Perez is living that version at CF Montreal, and it tends to show in the first month.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $2.3M — a club that wants Jason Shokalook enough to be asked twice.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CF Montreal can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Noah Streit did not need any: 7.68, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CF Montreal can pretend not to have heard.
1 for Daniel Pereira, marked 7.66, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. San Jose Earthquakes have kept their man, and CF Montreal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Alonso Martínez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jalen Neal was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Fee agreed, wages agreed, and Seattle Sounders waiting with a shirt. Nobody at CF Montreal is pretending otherwise, and the supporters have stopped asking whether and started asking when.
“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.
$1.3M was the most the club would pay and Houston Dynamo were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $1.5M — a club that wants Diadié Samassékou enough to be asked twice.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brayan Ceballos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Chicago Fire have kept their man, and CF Montreal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
“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.
Player ratings19 Jul 2027
Noah Streit, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.83
A mark of 7.83 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
$4.0M was the most the club would pay and FC Cincinnati were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.27 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
The chase for Dante Polvara ended with $2.6M changing hands and St. Louis CITY SC out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
The offer from Charlotte Football Club for Wikelman Carmona was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
$1.2M on the table at Houston Dynamo. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
The chase for Nkosi Tafari ended with $1.0M changing hands and Los Angeles Football Club out of reasons to say no. The supporters will judge the fee the only way that matters: on Saturdays.
CF Montreal and St. Louis CITY SC have settled on $2.6M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CF Montreal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The offer went to FC Cincinnati this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
$1.0M on the table at Los Angeles Football Club. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
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.
Daniel Pereira and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad5 Jul 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.
At 21 he was better than everybody his age in the division for four weeks running, which is harder than one good afternoon. CF Montreal will try not to make too much of it.
7 arrivals, an average age nobody would call a squad, and a set of parents being shown around a building their sons will spend more time in than at home. The scouting has already happened; today is only the paperwork.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Dylan Chambost is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CF Montreal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
The dugout5 Jul 2027
The view from the dugout
“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Adam Morris chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether CF Montreal can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brayan Ceballos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Position 12, 16 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Sebastian Breza is on it.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
91 minutes played. Matheus Nascimento found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Charlotte Football Club went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 23 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It finished 2‑1, and it was Matheus Nascimento’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to CF Montreal.
Squad21 Jun 2027
Jalen Neal 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.
Marked 8.11 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
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.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Noah Streit did not need any: 8.02, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 8.24 at 38, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Owen Graham-Roache is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Dylan Chambost. 2‑1 against New England Revolution, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 21 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
2 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
16 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CF Montreal lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Matty Longstaff obliged against LA Galaxy. 1‑1 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is CF Montreal.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Matty Longstaff scored, was marked 7.50, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CF Montreal are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Dagur Dan Þórhallsson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
24 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CF Montreal lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.59 for the rest of it.
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.
At 23 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
A 2‑0 win over FC Cincinnati, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
5 matches without a win, and then this, against FC Cincinnati. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad31 May 2027
Jalen Neal 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.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CF Montreal are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
The dugoutPrince Owusu asks for a word with the manager
43Edition
The CF Montreal Gazette
24 May 2027
From our football correspondentCrisis
The terraces24 May 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.
“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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CF Montreal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The run now stands at 5, and the questions being asked around CF Montreal are no longer polite ones.
Squad24 May 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.
Samuel Piette and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CF Montreal know it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Daniel Pereira and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CF Montreal can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Squad17 May 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CF Montreal can pretend not to have heard.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CF Montreal know it.
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.
Squad10 May 2027
Jalen Neal 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑4, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Squad3 May 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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CF Montreal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
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.
The offer from Minnesota United FC for Victor Loturi was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Boardroom26 Apr 2027
Deadline passes with 11 signed and 5 gone
That is the business done at CF Montreal until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Vancouver Whitecaps paid $2.2M and CF Montreal took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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.
The phone has started ringing about Jalen Neal again, and this time the name on the line is Inter Miami CF. CF Montreal are listening politely and promising nothing.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brayan Ceballos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Toluca have kept their man, and CF Montreal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around CF Montreal people have started saying his name in the past tense.
The offer from San Diego Football Club for Noah Streit was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CF Montreal can pretend not to have heard.
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.
“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.
Squad19 Apr 2027
Words at CF Montreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jalen Neal 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.
“I did not go to Toronto FC to sit and watch. I want to come back to CF Montreal and fight for my place.” 1 appearances in 7 matches say the rest.
The dugout19 Apr 2027
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 1‑2 Adam Morris left the room before anybody could ask which.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CF Montreal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Noah Streit did not need any: 7.80, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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.
Austin FC paid $1.3M and CF Montreal took it, which is the whole story in one sentence. The longer version involves a wage budget and will be told all season.
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.
The interest is real enough to have reached print. CF Montreal have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
The terraces12 Apr 2027
CF Montreal spend $8.0M on the signing the town wanted
It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $8.0M for Alonso Martínez, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.
In brief
SquadBrayan Ceballos falls out with a teammate over standards
Matheus Nascimento had done his part in building a 2-goal cushion. What happened after that was collective, and Nashville SC were allowed back into a match that had been finished with.
CF Montreal have gone to New York City with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Henadii Synchuk did not need any: 7.93, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Matty Longstaff scored, was marked 7.89, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CF Montreal know it.
Dagur Dan Þórhallsson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
In brief
SquadWords at CF Montreal training over how hard people work
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.
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $9.8M — a club that wants Alonso Martínez enough to be asked twice.
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Toluca have kept their man, and CF Montreal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Squad29 Mar 2027
Words at CF Montreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jalen Neal 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
5 new faces, and CF Montreal are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
7 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CF Montreal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Daniel Pereira 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.
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
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.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Two goals and a mark of 8.73 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
CF Montreal and Houston Dynamo have settled on $1.8M. The rest belongs to the player and his agent, and a supporter who has watched one of these before knows not to buy the shirt yet.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. New York Red Bulls have kept their man, and CF Montreal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CF Montreal are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brayan Ceballos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Matheus Nascimento has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
In brief
SquadA last season at home is what Fabian Herbers is after
The offer from New York Red Bulls for Noah Streit was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
There comes a point where a club either backs its own ambition or admits it does not have any. CF Montreal have paid $5.9M for Dylan Chambost, which is the loudest way there is of saying which one it chose.
“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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CF Montreal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexis Sánchez and CF Montreal agree another 2 years.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CF Montreal are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Senior shirt numbers handed to boys the coaches have known since they were twelve. Most will not make it and all of them have already done the hard part.
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.
The offer went to Columbus Crew this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CF Montreal can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brayan Ceballos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Noah Streit left off the list on the foreign quota
A rule about passports rather than about football has decided he cannot play. CF Montreal had more of them than the form allows, and somebody had to be the name that did not fit.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Sebastian Breza is on it.
In brief
The dugoutBode Hidalgo knocks on the manager's door
The offer from Charlotte Football Club for Dawid Bugaj was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
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.
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.
Squad22 Feb 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.
The phone has started ringing about Brandan Craig again, and this time the name on the line is Toronto FC. CF Montreal are listening politely and promising nothing.
Philadelphia Union have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
Nobody at CF Montreal will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
CF Montreal have gone to DC United with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.
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.
Add another name to the list: Minnesota United FC have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Dawid Bugaj. The answer from CF Montreal has not changed — yet.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Daniel Ríos 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.
San Diego Football Club have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
A year in and the city has not opened up, the language has not come, and lunch is eaten alone more often than anybody at CF Montreal would admit. It shows on Saturdays.
A month in which every rumour is possible and most of them are nonsense. The manager has a list, the board has a number, and neither is telling the other the whole of it.
In brief
The dugoutDaniel Ríos asks for a word with the manager
What was said behind closed doors has now been said in front of a microphone. Everybody at CF Montreal can do the arithmetic, including the man it is aimed at.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brayan Ceballos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
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.
Every squad has men who were signed by a particular manager and men who were merely inherited. Dagur Dan Þórhallsson is in the first group, and the man who wanted him here is no longer in the building.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Victor Loturi is on it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at CF Montreal has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Daniel Ríos trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
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.
Nobody upstairs has said anything, which is the loudest thing they could do. Results buy silence in this game; the account at CF Montreal is running low.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CF Montreal can pretend not to have heard.
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at CF Montreal heard it as anything else.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CF Montreal know it.
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.
Owen Graham-Roache 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.
A change in the dugout is not one story, it is twenty-five of them. This is Dagur Dan Þórhallsson's: he was somebody's player, and now he has to be somebody else's, starting from nothing.
In brief
The dugoutSebastian Breza has become a man the manager trusts
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Ríos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Henadii Synchuk is on it.
In brief
The dugoutBrayan Vera knocks on the manager's door
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad18 Jan 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.
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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Dagur Dan Þórhallsson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Efrain Morales is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brayan Ceballos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
Boardroom4 Jan 2027
The silence upstairs is getting loud at CF Montreal
Nobody on the board has said anything against the manager, which is the point — they have stopped saying anything for him either.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Henadii Synchuk is 20, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Dagur Dan Þórhallsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at CF Montreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Ríos 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.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CF Montreal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Noah Streit has moved up it.
Nobody at CF Montreal will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
In brief
Boardroom$13.4M taken back off the CF Montreal table
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brayan Ceballos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Henadii Synchuk is on it.
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.
Squad21 Dec 2026
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.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Fabian Herbers is on it.
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.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
“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.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Daniel Ríos 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.
A bad atmosphere can be waited out. A group of people meeting afterwards to decide what to do about it cannot, and everybody in the building knows which stage this is.
“The easiest signature of my career.” Brayan Ceballos and CF Montreal agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
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.
The manager has re-ordered his thinking and Wikelman Carmona has come out of it lower. He will be told it is temporary, and the players who have heard that before will avoid his eye.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CF Montreal is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; CF Montreal are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad30 Nov 2026
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.
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.
15 days on the announcement, and a year of quiet, unwatched rehabilitation behind it. CF Montreal lose a player for a season; he loses something harder to name.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luca Petrasso will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CF Montreal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Ríos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at CF Montreal, and both men came out saying it was fine.
In brief
The dugoutFabian Herbers has become a man the manager trusts
The words a physio says slowly. 24 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.
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.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CF Montreal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Dagur Dan Þórhallsson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Brayan Ceballos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The words a physio says slowly. 32 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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dawid Bugaj will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CF Montreal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Dagur Dan Þórhallsson and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes 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. 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.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Victor Loturi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CF Montreal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at CF Montreal hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Wikelman Carmona 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Daniel Ríos was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Jalen Neal is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Noah Streit
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Noah Streit has come out of that comparison in the side, and CF Montreal have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at CF Montreal, another week without a signature from Dante Sealy.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Henadii Synchuk is on it.
In brief
MarketThe clock does Dante Sealy’s negotiating for him
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” CF Montreal have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luca Petrasso will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CF Montreal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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 Oct 2026
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.
16 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 12 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Position 14 and 6 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dante Sealy will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CF Montreal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Matheus Nascimento is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether CF Montreal can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Noah Streit commits to CF Montreal for another 5 years.
Squad19 Oct 2026
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.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Dawid Bugaj will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CF Montreal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at CF Montreal can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
At 18 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Daniel Ríos’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and CF Montreal needing him to play as if none of it matters.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at CF Montreal. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Victor Loturi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CF Montreal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and CF Montreal know it.
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.
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.
0‑1 to New England Revolution, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Adam Morris left the room before anybody could ask which.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Frankie Amaya
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Frankie Amaya has come out of that comparison in the side, and CF Montreal have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
It is not much of a headline and it is the reason players believe the next promise. CF Montreal told Dante Sealy something would happen and then it happened, which in this industry passes for remarkable.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luca Petrasso will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CF Montreal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
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.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
13 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CF Montreal is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Dagur Dan Þórhallsson and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Words at CF Montreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Daniel Ríos 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.
16 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Noah Streit did not need any: 8.37, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at CF Montreal is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
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.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
5 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and New York Red Bulls were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Victor Loturi will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CF Montreal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Victor Loturi 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.
Daniel Pereira 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.
Squad7 Sep 2026
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.
Somebody has moved past him. It is not a dropping and it is worse than one, because a dropping is about a Saturday and this is about where he stands.
Squad7 Sep 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Noah Streit
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Noah Streit has come out of that comparison in the side, and CF Montreal have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
5 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Matty Longstaff will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CF Montreal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Words at CF Montreal training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Jalen Neal 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Adam Morris after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Fabian Herbers is on it.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at CF Montreal has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
In brief
The dugoutThe plan did not have a place for Dante Sealy
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.
The rules permit it and it stings anyway. Matty Longstaff has agreed terms with Columbus Crew for the summer, and until then he pulls on this shirt as a player who has already chosen his next one.
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.
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.
Dante Sealy and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
37 days, the medical staff say, and medical staff are optimists by profession. The team sheet will look wrong without him.
Squad24 Aug 2026
16 new faces, and CF Montreal are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Houston Dynamo go through and CF Montreal go home, 1‑1 the scoreline that did it. The dressing room will call the league the priority now, because that is what dressing rooms say.
1 kept out in the shoot-out, and a stadium that will still be describing them in twenty years. A goalkeeper only needs one of these to be remembered forever.
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Victor Loturi reports back to CF Montreal with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Successful dribbles: 21. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad17 Aug 2026
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.
The deal with New York City is done in every sense but the one that puts him on the pitch. Nothing goes wrong at this stage, except on the occasions when it does.
The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 0 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Luca Petrasso will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CF Montreal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
There is no worse way to lose a footballer. Luca Petrasso 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.
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.
The name of Dawid Bugaj has come up in conversations CF Montreal were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Brenden Tillman has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
“168 caps was 168 more than the boy who started ever expected.” At 37 he has stepped away from the national side and has not stepped away from CF Montreal.
Fee agreed, terms agreed, medical booked. Brandan Craig will be somebody else’s player by the weekend, and around CF Montreal the goodbyes have quietly begun.
“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.
He will play here until the summer and then walk out of the door for free, having already signed elsewhere. Supporters will manage the first part of that sentence; it is the second they will struggle with.
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Alexis Sánchez and CF Montreal agree another 2 years.
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.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Club America have kept their man, and CF Montreal go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
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.