Nashville SC can clinch their first MLS Supporters' Shield on Saturday afternoon in Montreal, and they need only a win or a draw to do it. CF Montreal host the league leaders at Stade Saputo with three regular-season matches still left after the weekend.
Nashville arrive with 67 points and an attack built around Sam Surridge, Hany Mukhtar and Cristian Espinoza, which has made the title race far tighter than Montreal would like. If Nashville avoid defeat, the Shield is theirs, and the search around Nashville vs Montréal has a clear answer before the day is out.
Montreal, though, are trying to make the visitor work for it. They are 15th in the Eastern Conference with 25 points and come in after a bruising week that ended with a 4-2 penalty loss to Forge FC in the Canadian Championship final after a 1-1 draw through 120 minutes. That defeat denied them a chance to salvage silverware from a difficult season, and it left them with little room for error even as they look to delay Nashville's celebration.
Prince Owusu is unavailable for that effort. Montreal list him out with a lower body injury, and he will not face Nashville despite having 15 goals and five assists in MLS this season. He had started Wednesday's final after missing the previous two MLS matches with the same injury, which makes his absence a significant blow to a side that already has to manage the emotional and physical fallout from the week.
There is still a question hanging over Alexis Sanchez, even if it is not the same kind of absence. Sanchez recorded an assist in Montreal's 1-1 draw at Seattle last weekend, his first goal contribution in 11 appearances for the club, but Philippe Eullaffroy's explanation for leaving him on the bench in the final was straightforward: with 10 against 11, Montreal needed a little more support on the field. Eullaffroy also called him “a great professional,” which suggests the decision was tactical rather than a sign of a deeper problem.
That leaves Montreal with a narrow task and Nashville with a simple one. The visitors can end the race with one result, while the home side are left defending pride, chasing a response to Wednesday's loss and hoping to postpone a title that already feels close enough to touch.
