Wilfried Nancy 'satisfied' with CF Montreal pre-season progress after win vs Inter Miami

CF Montreal head coach Wilfried Nancy has expressed satisfaction at his side's pre-season progress following a 2-1 friendly win over Inter Miami CF on Friday.

CFM have been down in Florida getting tuned up ahead of the 2022 MLS season. This was their second friendly this offseason after a 2-2 draw with NYCFC at the end of January.

After going in 1-0 down at half-time, SuperDraft pick Ivy Brisma turned the game on its head with two second-half goals.

Montreal now have two more friendlies coming up against the Philadelphia Union and Miami FC before they begin their Concacaf Champions League campaign against Liga MX giants Santos Laguna.

Nancy is aware of his side's need to be at their best ahead of the clash with Santos Laguna and has picked out areas for improvement. But on the whole, the Frenchman is pleased with the progress his players are showing.

"I am quite satisfied," Nancy said. "Most players have played 60 minutes. We lacked a bit of aggressiveness and defending more while attacking. We decided not to press on the goal kicks and stay a little higher.

"We're progressing, especially in control of the ball, we did what we like to do. We had opportunities that could have been more interesting finishing-wise. Physically, we know full well that playing 90 minutes in Mexico will be difficult. We'll make sure the players have a good 70 or 80 minutes in them, and we'll see. I'm happy with the progress. For the upcoming game against Philadelphia, we will sit down and make the right decisions."

22-year-old wideman Mathieu Choiniere was equally pleased with his teammates, as well as his own individual performance as he looks to play an even more prominent role for Montreal after scoring two goals in 26 MLS appearances in 2021.

"I don't feel pressure, it's a continuation of last year. I want to do well and have a more important role within the team," the Canadian added.

"This second game felt good. We want to have good minutes in our legs and keep fine-tuning against other MLS teams. I think the team is starting to be ready and we're doing well in training. Today it was 60 minutes for most of the players and we pushed hard. It was quite hard physically, but we still have two preseason games to get to our level.

"We will keep on working to be ready for the first game. It feels good to come back on the scoreboard again. We've got a lot of depth, which allows us to get to the end of the games with quality and to be able to push the opponent.”