Two teams struggling to keep up in Major League Soccer's Eastern Conference playoff race face off on Saturday night in Quebec, as CF Montreal plays host to Atlanta United.
Both sides are looking for strong second halfs of the 2025 season.
Montreal might have a good performance in the first phase of this year's Leagues Cup, but it has not completely erased how rough things have gone for them in league play. The club went into the break with an important 3-1 win over the New England Revolution late last month, which only ended a four-match losing streak.
In the middle of that was a disappointing loss to Forge in the Canadian Championship Quarterfinals.
On the other side, Atlanta has certainly played below expectations. They went into the league-wide pause having gone winless in eight consecutive contests, going 0-4-4 over that span. At a point in time where wins are necessary, ATL is not doing much to move up the conference ranks.
Atlanta heads into Saturday night 13th in the East, 14 points back of ninth place. Montreal sits last in the conference, three points behind Atlanta.