CF Montréal slides into MLS playoffs, players prepare for call-up to World Cup

Since our last catch-up, a coach was given $300-million to spend on a team, only to be let go, our local club CF Montréal qualified for the MLS playoffs and the Canadian Men’s National team is looking strong for this year‘s World Cup, whereas Team England is not.

Let’s start on this side of the pond with Team Canada, which continues to impress. At the end of September, the Men’s National team won 2–0 vs. the World Cup host country, Qatar. They also lost 2–0 vs. Uruguay, in a proper test of quality. These friendlies serve as great preparation for this young energetic team, a preview of how they’ll stack up in the big tournament. This was their last World Cup tune-up until they fly across the globe.

On the subject of World Cup and MLS connections, CF Montréal had five players called into action to perform for the Canadian Men’s National team: defenders Alistair Johnston, Kamal Miller, GOAL Initiatives Foundation ambassador Joel Waterman, as well as midfielders Ismaël Koné and Samuel Piette. Anticipation is red-hot to learn who will be enlisted in November.

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Continuing with CF Montréal, this youthful team has been strengthening as the season has progressed. The club locked their place in the MLS playoffs, with their final game of the season scheduled for Oct. 9, at 2:30 p.m. ET in Miami. There is a good chance they can go quite far in the playoffs, which begin on Oct. 15 — Montreal faces Orlando on Sunday, Oct. 16.

The top seven teams from both the eastern and western conferences will qualify for the Audi 2022 MLS Cup Playoffs, which will again consist of a single elimination match, hosted by the eighth-seeded team and following straight-bracket format through to the MLS Cup Final on Nov. 5. 

Jetting over to Europe to learn what has been unfolding in the U.K.: The England Men’s National side has been relegated from the UEFA Nations League by the Azzurri. As a reminder, Italy beat England in last year’s Euros in a brutal and heart-breaking penalty kick victory. 

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I have never shielded the fact that I bleed blue, so this will open an old wound, but my beloved Chelsea Football Club sacked Thomas Tuchel as manager after a poor start to the season — and after he spent £300,000,000 pounds re-building the club with new players! Chelsea’s new American owners fired the coach just three months after completing their takeover of the club from previous Russian owner Roman Abramovich. Tuchel’s 100th game in charge of CFC was against Dinamo Zagreb, in which they lost 1–0 in the Champions League.

On the culture side of things, we saw the Ted Lasso crew and its AFC Richmond Football Club brand lock into football history by being placed in the recent version of FIFA 23 video game. 

Music wise, in the span of a few weeks, we had Lil Baby showcase his official World Cup song and anthem “The World Is Yours to Take” and a proper cameo was made by everyone’s favourite Portuguese manager, José Mourinho, in a Stormzy video “Mel Made Me Do It.” JM appears alongside Stormzy with his finger pressed to his lips while sampled audio of his famous “I prefer not to speak” post-match quote plays. I love this drama, and watching social media explode is even better.

David Beckham’s Save Our Squad debuts on Disney Plus on Nov. 9. The reality show follows Beckham mentoring the “Westward Boys,” a young, grassroots team who are at the bottom of their league, facing relegation. This is the same league Beckham played in as a young boy from Leytonstone, so there is a deeply personal connection there. Working with the head coaches, DB tries to turn the season around for the young Westward Boys.

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To conclude, Arsenal won 3–0 over Brentford, showcasing a 15-year-old named Ethan Nwaneri who became the youngest player in Premier League history. The English attacking midfielder, who was born in March 2007 (that’s right, 2007!) and replaced Fábio Vieira in stoppage time at Brentford Community Stadium. Nwaneri beat the record held by Harvey Elliott at Liverpool FC. 

Next month, we talk all things WORLD CUP. Oh baby!

“I love football, but I’m sick of the World Cup. I don’t even care about England.”

—Elton John

This article was originally published in the October 2022 issue of Cult MTL.

Check out The 1st Half podcast (about soccer and football culture in Montreal and beyond) here.

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