CF Montreal will play the primary leg of their Concacaf Champions League zone-final series towards Cruz Azul on Wednesday.
The Canadian team is no stranger to Liga MX rivals, defeating Santos Laguna 3-1 on combination inside the previous round. But this time, it received’t be as easy.
As against fifteenth-area Santos Laguna, Cruz Azul currently sit in fifth in the Liga MX desk, with 14 factors in 9 video games and a document of four-2-3. Montreal additionally faces the daunting assignment of traveling the Estadio Azteca, one in every of the game’s biggest and most historical venues.
"It's a specific group. Obviously we knew that Santos become struggling to begin the year, so Cruz Azul is manifestly in a one of a kind area, a in reality strong team. I'm no longer announcing that Santos isn't, however it's almost a exceptional beast altogether," Montréal defender Alistair Johnston stated.
"Obviously gambling at the Azteca, it's a distinctive ecosystem than any other I've performed in before. It sincerely is something which you want to have played in to sincerely understand. The altitude plays a huge thing.
"Obviously playing in front of a crowd, they truly know how to make that place loud and it's such a historic stadium. You stroll in there and you can instantly feel, you can just feel the records and range of fits and all-time remarkable players at some stage in records that have performed in this pitch."
Beyond the victory over Santos Laguna, CF Montreal has seen a difficult start to their 2022 campaign. The Canadian facet has yet to look a win in Major League Soccer, dropping their first matches and scoring only one aim to date.
While head train Wilfried Nancy understands the gravity of Wednesday’s suit and the crew’s modern state, he’s pushing for a ‘more potent’ overall performance.
"What I want to look is my group play the way we usually play, understanding that we're going to have terrible moments, understanding that gambling towards a Mexican crew is going to be hard. We recognise that due to the fact the tendency of the Mexican groups is being absolutely competitive," he stated.
"They try to press, they are trying to play with a excessive degree of intensity. We'll must match the intensity and we're going to need to be[targeted when they have the ball. We recognize if we've got the ball, we have the opportunity to do something accurate," Nancy said.
