Molinaro: Donadel shouldn't have been hired by CF Montreal in the first place

It’s never a good sign when an MLS club cancels its post-game press conference with its coach after a loss.

But that’s exactly what CF Montreal did following an ugly 2-1 defeat to the Philadelphia Union on Saturday in its home opener at Stade Saputo. The writing was clearly on the wall for coach Marco Donadel after this pathetic display against the Union as he was fired less than 24 hours later.

Philadelphia collected its first win on Saturday after losing its first six games of the campaign, which means Montreal now sits dead last amongst all 30 teams in the overall MLS standings. That was apparently too much for club management to bear, and Donadel paid the ultimate price for Montreal’s disastrous start to the campaign.

While it’s easy to finger the Italian manager for the mess that Montreal finds itself in, he was nothing more than a scapegoat – the team's troubles run far deeper. Owner Joey Saputo and club management, which include his sons Luca and Simone, are to blame for the instability that has blanketed this franchise since it joined MLS in 2012.

Donadel was a nice enough guy, but he never should have been hired in the first place. The former Fiorentina midfielder was out of his element right from the start, his only previous managerial experience coming with Ancona in his native Italy in 2023 – he lasted all of five months before he was fired. No surprise that Montreal posted an anemic record of 7-20-9 in MLS following his appointment 13 months ago.

The firing of Donadel means Montreal have now gone through 11 coaches in MLS. Mauro Biello is the only one who managed to stick around for two full calendar years. Only four of their coaches have lasted 50 games in MLS. The constant turnover of coaches has led to complete chaos for a team whose previous playoff win came in 2022.

The coaching carousel has been only part of Montreal’s problems over the years. The real issue has been player investment – the team has historically been one of the league’s lowest spenders. At $11,993,946 U.S., Montreal had the cheapest payroll in MLS last year, which was only slightly worse than Philadelphia, who had the league’s best record during the 2025 regular season.

The difference is that the Union are getting far more out of their youth academy and developmental system than Montreal, whose roster building model is predicated on finding cheap domestic and foreign players. A look at the current squad of underachievers bears this out. Between them Victor Loturi, Matty Longstaff, Iván Jaime, Olger Escobar and Hennadii Synchuk have one goal this season.

Not since Nacho Piatti was signed in 2014 has the club spent a substantial transfer fee to sign a designated player. Pretty much every DP since then was either signed on a loan deal or secured via a free transfer or a trade. The bulk of them were busts: Lucas Ontivero, Blerim Džemaili, Aljaž Struna and Giacomo Vrioni, and Jaime, on loan from FC Porto, has failed to show any signs of breaking out since making his MLS debut last August.

All of this hasn’t gone unnoticed by a fanbase that was already feeling alienated. When the Montreal Impact were rebranded Club de Foot Montreal prior to the 2021 season, supporters weren’t shy about voicing their displeasure, feeling betrayed by the name change.

Since then, the bad vibes of the pitch amongst irate supporters have been matched by poor results on the pitch from a club lacking in character and identity.

Elsewhere in MLS this past weekend:

• The Vancouver Whitecaps (6-1-0) continue to roll along, its latest win coming in a 2-0 decision over New York City FC on Saturday at BC Place. The victory saw the Whitecaps leapfrog LAFC to take over first place in the overall MLS table. Not only has Vancouver collected a league-high 18 points, but it also leads MLS in goals scored (19) and goal differential (plus-15) through Matchday 7, thanks to the awesome attacking trio of Brian White, Thomas Müller and Sebastian Berhalter who have combined for 12 goals.

• Toronto FC (3-2-2) extended its unbeaten streak to five games with a 1-1 draw vs. FC Cincinnati. But Saturday’s game at BMO Field should feel like two points dropped for the Reds, rather than a point gained. A very tight game appeared to be tipped in TFC's favour when an own goal gifted them a 1-0 lead in the 83rd minute while playing with the man advantage, but the hosts couldn't hold on and buckled under the pressure applied by the visitors and conceded the equalizer during injury time.

• Debuts don’t come much better than Kosi Thompson’s in a 6-2 home win for the Colorado Rapids over the Houston Dynamo on Saturday. Thompson was traded to Colorado by Toronto FC on March 26 but didn’t suit up for the Rapids until this past weekend. It proved to be worth the wait as the Canadian midfielder bagged two goals (his first career brace) and added an assist. In one night, he equalled his offensive output with TFC – two goals in 113 games in all competitions.