CF Montreal v Portland Timbers: Visitors must ´drop their egos´ like PSG, says Neville

Phil Neville believes the only way the Portland Timbers can progress is by dropping their egos, after returning to winning ways against Sporting Kansas City last time out.

Portland were four goals to the good inside the opening 26 minutes at Providence Park before Ariel Lassiter and Kevin Kelsy added further gloss in a 6-0 rout.

The Timbers have alternated between a win and a loss over their last six games, leaving them 12th in the Western Conference.

Neville had described Portland’s performance in their prior 2-0 defeat to Real Salt Lake as a “disgrace”, but he was pleased to see his team find a response.

The Portland boss likened his side’s improved mentality to Champions League finalists Paris Saint-Germain, citing Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembele as an example to follow.

“We’re nowhere near the level that I believe we can be at,” Neville said. “I think we saw a team that dropped their ego and played as a team.

“I’ll give a great example of the PSG game the other day. Dembele got subbed off at 66 minutes and sprinted off the field and hugged all of his team-mates.

“And then every time the camera panned towards the bench he was cheering on his team-mates, and I think we saw that from our team against Sporting KC.

“It was get rid of your egos. We won against Sporting KC, and it’s all about ego. People have got to drop their egos and keep pushing forward.”

These kind of nights are what make @ProvidencePark_ a cathedral pic.twitter.com/pQooyu8D0m

— Portland Timbers (@TimbersFC) May 11, 2026

Portland will be hoping to continue that momentum, but they come up against a CF Montreal side that have begun to find their feet under interim boss Philippe Eullaffroy.

Montreal left it late to snatch victory against Orlando City SC last time out, with Daniel Rios and Dagur Thorhallsson both on target in second-half stoppage time at Stade Saputo.

Since Eullaffroy replaced Marco Donadel on an interim basis, Montreal have won four of their five league games under his guidance, losing only to Atlanta United on May 2.

But when questioned about how he had turned their fortunes around, Eullaffroy also cited an improved mentality within the group.

“It’s a combination of many things, firstly the mentality,” Eullaffroy said. “But also the ambience within the group.

“When people get along well off the field, they feel the freedom to work harder for one another.

“Love makes you do many things, so when there’s love in the group, we fight for each other.

“One of our values is audacity. At one point, you have to ask, ‘Are you okay with just one point or do you want to get three?’ We wanted to respect those values.”

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Montreal – Wiki Carmona

Both Ivan Jaime and Carmona attempted five shots in Montreal’s win over Orlando City last time out.

It was the first MLS match with Montreal having multiple players with at least five shots since September 2021 when Romell Quioto (seven) and Joaquin Torres (five) did so against the New England Revolution, and Carmona also starred elsewhere.

The Venezuelan also finished with team-high totals for chances created (five), touches in the opposition box (nine) and passes in the final third (27).

Portland Timbers – Kevin Kelsy

Kelsy scored two goals and recorded two assists in Portland’s win over Sporting KC last time out, and he will be out to do more damage here.

He became the second player in Timbers’ history to record multiple goals and multiple assists in a regular-season match (Sebastian Blanco versus Sporting KC in May 2022).

MATCH PREDICTION: MONTREAL WIN

Montreal are on a five-match unbeaten run against Portland (W3 D2), though Wednesday’s meeting will be just the second match in the series over the last seven seasons.

It is tied for Montreal’s longest unbeaten streak ever against a Western Conference team (also against Real Salt Lake and San Jose).

But they left it late to beat Orlando. Rios scored at 93:08 while Thorhallsson scored at 97:05. It was the second time in team history that the club scored twice in second-half stoppage time in an MLS match, also doing so in August 2017 against Philadelphia Union.

Portland, meanwhile, are coming off the back of the club’s biggest-ever win over an MLS opponent. That triumph also ended a run of 21 straight MLS matches (including playoffs) without a clean sheet dating back to last August.

OPTA WIN PROBABILITY

Montreal – 49.7%

Draw – 23.5%

Portland Timbers – 26.8%