For a head coach whose club is closer to the precipice than to solid ground, Hernán Losada does not seem overly worried.
“There’s honestly no pressure,” said the technician on Thursday morning, before his flock’s training at the Nutrilait Center.
CF Montreal, in eighth position in the East, is yet just one point away from being excluded from the playoffs, four games from the finish line. He has not won in five matches, including three at home. He will visit second-place Orlando on Saturday.
But for Losada, the Impact is today “in a position that no one imagined.”
“Yes, the club [believes in the playoffs]. Yes, players. Yes, ourselves. Yes, CF Montreal fans. But the outside world doesn’t believe we can make the series. So what’s the pressure? The pressure is on all the teams who have invested millions to become champions. It’s up to them to make the playoffs, to withstand the pressure, it’s not up to us. »
His midfielder Bryce Duke is not quite of the same opinion. “There has been pressure since the start of the season,” he explains. We are in 8th place, the goal is to stay between 7th and 9th, to play well and qualify for the playoffs. »
But Losada prefers for now that his team remains “united”.
“We’re going to try to do as much as we can,” he said. And at the end of the season, we can say that we gave absolutely everything, that we stayed together until the end. We are going to be happy with the season we had, but we are also going to do an analysis to become better next year. »
Does this mean the coach is already throwing in the towel? No, not quite. Rather, we feel that he wants to put recent failures into perspective in terms of what the club has accomplished this year.
He calls it a “rebuilding season,” with personnel and player changes taking place during the offseason, preseason, and even during the MLS schedule. Losada does not mention the limited financial resources made available to sports management for recruitment, but the point is subtext.
“There are four games left and we are in a race for the playoffs,” he recalls. Really, hats off to everyone who works at this club. We move forward with a lot of humility and positivism. »
There was some positivity during the first 15 minutes of training that the media could attend on Thursday. A fun competition involving American footballs and a trash can as a basketball hoop allowed the players to let loose before the real session. Kwadwo Opoku, always smiling, seemed to be having a particularly good time.
Captain Samuel Piette too. The discrepancy was striking after his incendiary remarks at a press conference last Saturday, after the 4-1 defeat in Atlanta.
Losada and Piette have “talked well” ever since. The head coach says he appreciates “honesty”, but for his part, he prefers when it is not done in public.
“I will never use the media as a solution to stay on the same page,” says the Argentinian.
“The most important thing is to give your opinion, that we remain honest with each other. I think this is the best way to move forward. »
Piette had expressed doubts about the level of preparation of his team and the tactical adjustments of his coaches against Atlanta. Regardless of what has been said between the two men since, Losada seems to have chosen to discard the status quo moving forward.
Of the four remaining games, two are on the road: against Orlando City on Saturday, then against Wilfried Nancy’s Crew on Decision Day. And Montreal only has two road wins this season.
“It’s pretty obvious that what we did this season away from home didn’t work as we would have liked,” agrees Losada. For these two road games, we will have to think about doing things differently. […] We may have to establish more realistic game plans. »
The Impact has its fate “in its hands,” recalls Bryce Duke. “Against Orlando, I think anything is possible, especially when you’re fighting for something, when there’s something really at stake. »
It’s now been two games in which Romell Quioto comes on for the last 15 minutes. Losada still wonders “if it’s smart” to make him a starter for the next clash. That said, we feel that the option of putting him on his starting XI is tempting.
“When you play away, it’s important to start the match well,” he recalls. Maybe you can keep an important player for the last half hour, but the match can already be played. »