CF Montreal, D.C. United meet in basement battle

Points in consecutive matches have been a sporadic occurrence for CF Montreal this season. Stuck in the Eastern Conference basement, the Canadian side has only twice earned points in back-to-back matches.

Now, they'll look to make it three straight games with at least a point when they host fellow cellar-dwellers D.C. United on Saturday.

Montreal (4-15-7, 19 points) is coming off a 1-1 draw against Atlanta United last week. Dante Sealy opened the scoring late in the first half, but Montreal conceded a tally in the 87th minute to settle for the draw.

Before the MLS schedule paused for the Leagues Cup, Montreal earned a 3-1 win against the New England Revolution. Until a week ago, they had only taken points in consecutive matches with a win and a draw on May 10 and 14, respectively.

"The team wasn't happy with one point. We wanted to win this game, and this is what I want to see: the hunger and the desire to win," forward Prince Owusu said. "In the dressing room, I told the guys that it was disappointing how it happened, but we played another 90 minutes, we had a very good fight and had chances."

Montreal added some help to its midfield Wednesday with the acquisition of Matty Longstaff in a trade with Toronto FC, sending forward Jules-Anthony Vilsaint and general allocation money in return.

D.C., meanwhile, heads across the border looking to snap a five-match losing streak and nine-match winless stretch. The club's most recent setback came in the form of a 2-0 loss to New England last week, marking the fourth time in the past nine matches the United have been shut out.

"Walking off the pitch, there's a feeling of, yeah, a lot of things came together, and there was a lot of good moments and good pieces to the performance, and you feel like you deserve to get something out of a performance like that. But, at the end of the day, it's not like we're creating a ton of chances," D.C. interim coach Kevin Flanagan said. "But you have to score (on) the chances you create."

Though equal with Montreal in record, D.C. (4-15-7, 19 points) currently holds last place in the East by virtue of its minus-29 goal differential, compared to minus-23 for Montreal. They've also scored the fewest goals in MLS with 22.

D.C. will be hoping for some of its past success against the Canadian club to repeat itself, having shut out Montreal three times in the clubs' past five matchups.

Gabriel Pirani sits second on the United with four goals, trailing only Christian Benteke, who has eight. Half of Pirani's tallies came in consecutive matches last month.