MLS' CF Montréal, Minnesota United take similar paths to Tucson for 'Friendlies' match

Tucson’s 2024 MLS spring training cohort features a pair of sides from the northern part of the continent that just missed the playoffs last year and feature new coaches.

CF Montréal faces Minnesota United on Saturday at 6 p.m. at Kino North Stadium in the only MLS game of the 2024 Desert Friendlies, hosted by FC Tucson.

“It’s integral in our preparation for the season,” Minnesota interim head coach Cameron Knowles said of his team’s time in Southern Arizona. “We had to pivot and change our preseason plans at the last minute so to be able to come here to a facility that has good fields, good gyms for the guys to lift and work out and then obviously good opposition for a game is really important for us.

“The game is a fantastic part of our preparation.”

Minnesota announced Dec. 5 that Sean McAuley will remain as interim head coach after they fired their last head coach, Adrian Heath, with two games to go last season. However, on Jan. 5, McAuley left to become head coach of the Indy Eleven of the USL Championship.

The Loons named Knowles as the new interim coach on Jan. 5.

“Preseason is preseason. The most important thing is the players and the team preparation and so whether it’s an interim staff or a permanent staff, it doesn’t matter,” Knowles said. “Feb. 24 is going to come. The team has to go to Austin in the first game of the season and our job as staff is to prepare them for that as best as we can.”

Knowles took over the United’s senior side after leading MNUFC2 of the MLS Next Pro. Before that, he coached for nine years for the Portland Timbers, six as an MLS assistant and then three as head coach for Portland Timbers 2.

The Kiwi played for Impact de Montréal, Portland and Real Salt Lake in the MLS.

On the other side, Laurent Courtois took over CF Montréal on Jan. 9. The Frenchman comes to Canada’s Francophone Quebec province after serving as head coach of Columbus Crew 2.

He led the Crew 2 to the 2022 MLS Next Pro regular and playoff titles; he was the league’s Coach of the Year. MLS Next Pro is on the third level of the US Soccer pyramid along with USL League One.

He played in France as well as in the MLS for Chivas USA and the LA Galaxy.

“Coach is really an amazing person, amazing coach and as for what he’s teaching, that’s really amazing, the tactics, how we’re going to play football,” said CF Montréal forward Mahala Opoku. “I know we’re gonna play off what he’s teaching us to play, so we’re ready to learn from him and manifest what he want us to play on the field.”

Last season CF Montréal finished 10th in the Eastern Conference; that was one spot out of the playoffs, though they did reach the Canadian Championship final.

Courtois said that even though they are young and play risky soccer, they should be competitive.

“I told them how impressed I was, in a good way,” Courtois said. “Even though we need to synchronize all the pieces of that puzzle of course, but they were way in advance in a certain aspect of the game.”

Minnesota United finished 11th in the Western Conference, two spots outside the playoffs.

The Loons previously played in Tucson 2019, drawing with Phoenix Rising and the Houston Dynamo 0-0 but beating FC Tucson 9-2. This is CF Montréal’s first trip to Tucson.

Minnesota United features Finnish forward Teemu Pukki, Argentine midfielder Emanuel Reynoso and defender Miguel Tapias, from Hermosillo, Mexico. Pukki previously played for Celtic and Norwich City, Reynoso for Boca Juniors and Tapias for Pachuca.

CF Montréal Kenyan midfielder Victor Wanyama has played for Celtic, Southampton and Tottenham Hotspur previously.