CF Montréal will have a new look on attack this season

The departure of Josef Martinez has raised a few questions about the CF Montréal attack this season, but the club’s management is not sitting idly by, and some players are ready to step up to the plate.

Few teams can let their most valuable player go without suffering the consequences. At 31, Martinez may not have had the stamina he had in his early years with Atlanta United, but when the bleu-blanc-noir was in danger of missing the playoffs for a second consecutive season, he carried the attack on his shoulders.

The Venezuelan scored six of his 11 goals in the last five games, guiding Montreal to an elimination duel at Saputo Stadium. In that clash, Martinez’s brace forced a shootout, but the club was unable to overcome Atlanta United.

Less than a month ago, Martinez signed a contract with the San Jose Earthquakes, and will team up with Cristian Arango to try and turn around the worst team in MLS in 2024.

CF Montréal didn’t exactly have a devastating attack last season, their 48 goals placing them 20th in Major League Soccer. Realizing that the talent up front was lacking, president and CEO Gabriel Gervais and his staff responded by securing the services of lanky strikers Giacomo Vrioni and Prince Owusu.

Vrioni trained alone last week at the Complexe sportif Marie-Victorin, and Owusu was able to show the full extent of his talent. The German even impressed a few by heading home a Bryce Duke cross in an organized match.

Owusu, with Toronto FC, and Vrioni, with the New England Revolution, both scored nine goals in 2024. Their respective profiles, different from Martinez’s, provide other options for midfielders when they have the ball at their feet.

“They’re great top strikers. It helps us change the attack a bit, in that you can raise the ball in the air and they can go for it with their heads. It’s a different dynamic. Prince and Giacomo can play with the ball on their feet, too, and they have good skills. It puts opposing defenders on their toes, both in the air and on the ground,” Duke said after the club’s training session on Monday.

Duke didn’t get off to a blistering start last year, but the arrival of midfielder Caden Clark in August was a wake-up call in terms of creativity and ball distribution.

With a goal and three assists in his last six games, Duke managed to put Clark and Martinez in better positions to score or create chances near the net.

In his third year in Montreal, the 23-year-old American feels he can become the conductor of the attack this season, and he’s ready to take it to the next level offensively.

“I finished well last season and I want to build on that. I had 10 goal contributions last year, and I’d like to reach 15 contributions this season. Above all, I want to have a bigger role on this team. I want to try to be more consistent, more mature and play different positions, like I did last year. I want to help the team as much as possible,” Duke said.

Even if the Duke-Clark duo seems solidified at the moment, there are still open spots to be won on the team, especially at forward.

Vrioni has an interesting track record in MLS, but despite his 28 years, Owusu was only in his first full season in the league last year. Also, what may put the incoming strikers at an early disadvantage is that they are new to head coach Laurent Courtois’s system.

This is where youngsters like Jules-Anthony Vilsaint and Sunusi Ibrahim can make their mark.

Vilsaint impressed under the tutelage of head coach Hernan Losada in 2023. Last year, an injury slowed his early-season momentum and, by then, it had become clear that Martinez was the right man to guide CF Montréal into the playoffs.

The 22-year-old Quebecer now has another opportunity to showcase his skills and be part of the battle for a starting attack position.

“I’ve been in the same situation for the last two years. A lot of people were telling me that there were a lot of strikers out there, but I always kept the same mentality of giving my all, proving my qualities on the pitch and earning my place. I had a lot of preparation during the off-season,” Vilsaint said.

At Monday’s bleu-blanc-noir training session, the big forward was wearing a bandage around his left knee, but he was still able to run at full speed. Clearly, past injuries haven’t affected his morale during camp.

“It’s just a little knock, it’s nothing serious. I feel in great shape. Injuries don’t worry me. Every time I have one, I get back on the field and forget about it. It doesn’t affect my mind, and I just think about the future. I feel good, and that’s what’s important,” he noted.

Montreal headed for Orlando on Tuesday to begin the final leg of the team’s training camp. The squad will play three preparatory games before kicking off the season in Atlanta on Feb. 22.