{"id":800052,"date":"2026-07-13T22:52:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T22:52:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/800052\/"},"modified":"2026-07-13T22:52:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T22:52:12","slug":"vancouver-montreal-toronto-brace-for-mls-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/800052\/","title":{"rendered":"Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto brace for MLS return"},"content":{"rendered":"

After a long pause the MLS regular season returns this week.<\/p>\n

With the World Cup nearing conclusion all three Canadian MLS clubs will be in action on Thursday \u2013 CF Montreal hosts Toronto FC in an all-Canadian clash at Stade Saputo, while Vancouver Whitecaps FC travel to face Chicago Fire FC at Soldier Field.<\/p>\n

Both Vancouver and Montreal were in competitive action this week, facing off against Canadian Premier League sides in the Canadian Championship.<\/p>\n

Vancouver took a commanding 4-1 lead<\/a> over Cavalry FC in their series on Wednesday with the second leg set for Monday night<\/a>, while Montreal defeated Vancouver FC by 2-1 scorelines in both legs, in BC on Wednesday and back home on Sunday, to advance by an aggregate score of 4-2<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Toronto played a friendly against CPL side HFX Wanderers FC on Thursday, winning 3-1.<\/p>\n

\"\"Courtesy: Sean Pollock\/Waking The Red<\/p>\n

All three sides have played 14 of their 34-match schedules.<\/p>\n

With 20 games remaining, there are some similarities and some marked differences between where the clubs find themselves and their respective paths ahead.<\/p>\n

Vancouver currently sit joint-top in the West on 32 points alongside the San Jose Earthquakes but with a point in hand. The Whitecaps are a single point off the pace of current Supporters\u2019 Shield leaders Nashville SC.<\/p>\n

Having reached the MLS Cup Final last season before falling to Leo Messi\u2019s Inter Miami CF, Vancouver are expected to be battling at the top of the league as the season continues. Toronto and Montreal are both currently on the outside looking in, sitting on 14 points from as many matches in a muddy Eastern Conference.<\/p>\n

Related Reading: Toronto FC injury crisis over? \u2018We\u2019re getting close\u2019, says Fraser<\/a><\/p>\n

Between TFC\u2019s injury crisis, which is nearing an end, and Montreal going through a coaching change both sides will be hoping that they can hit the ground running this month to begin climbing up the table.<\/p>\n

Having begun the season with six-straight away from home, in addition to not hosting matches during the World Cup, Montreal will have more home games (11) than the other two in this remaining part of the season. Vancouver (nine) and Toronto (eight) will have to play on the road for a larger percentage.<\/p>\n

\"\"Courtesy: Sean Pollock\/Canadian Soccer Daily<\/p>\n

These next few weeks will be interesting. Not just to see how the long break impacts teams as play resumes \u2013 judging by their CanChamp outings, not much for Vancouver and Montreal \u2013 but also to see if having the World Cup in North America influences the attention that the three MLS clubs can garner in their respective markets.<\/p>\n

On Monday MLS launched<\/a> what it is calling \u2018the largest coordinated marketing campaign in league history,\u2019 hoping to capitalize on the momentum and attention spurred by a thrilling month of football.<\/p>\n

The spot, \u201cThanks World, We\u2019ll Take It From Here,\u201d will feature Canadians Dayne St. Clair (Miami) and Richie Laryea (Toronto), as well as Prince Owusu (Montreal) and Sebastian Berhalter (Vancouver).<\/p>\n

22 clubs will also have a \u2018First Match On Us\u2019 initiative for first-time attendees.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a long pause the MLS regular season returns this week. With the World Cup nearing conclusion all…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":800053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194292],"tags":[49,48,16535,14701,573,2338,44,16526,25424],"class_list":["post-800052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-montreal","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-cf-montreal","tag-major-league-soccer","tag-mls","tag-montreal","tag-news","tag-toronto-fc","tag-vancouver-whitecaps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=800052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/800052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/800053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=800052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=800052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=800052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}