CF Montreal kicked off a four-game 11-day streak away from home on a positive note with a 1-1 draw against Orlando City on Wednesday night at Exploria Stadium.
It was a goal from defender Rudy Camacho, in the 51st minute, during a stopped phase of play that provided this important point for Wilfried Nancy’s men.
Chris Mueller scored Orlando City’s goal in the dying moments of the first half.
With this point in the standings, combined with DC United’s loss to the New England Revolution, CF Montreal (11-10-9) is in sixth place with 42 points.
Wednesday’s meeting marked the return to the squad of defender Kiki Struna, employed in a first game since August 27. The presence of Struna made it possible to fill the absence of Joel Waterman, suspended because of an accumulation of yellow cards.
In addition, CF Montreal was again deprived of the services of striker Romell Quioto and midfielders Victor Wanyama and Lassi Lappalainen, all three injured.
The Montreal players will train in Orlando on Thursday and Friday before returning to Canada to face Toronto FC, already excluded from the next series, on Saturday at BMO Field.
Overwhelmed defense
On Monday, Wilfried Nancy had warned that Orlando City would avenge the failure of September 15, and the players of the Floridian formation made pass the head coach of CF Montreal for a diviner.
Even if the possession time was slightly in favor of CF Montreal during this first half (51 percent against 49), the locals had the advantage of the game from the first to the last minute, to the point of attempting eight shots towards the net of James Pantemis, against none for the Montreal team.
We had barely started the 16th minute of play when Orlando already had five corner kicks. A valiant defensive line, especially Camacho, and imprecise shots kept CF Montreal tied 0-0.
The deadlock was broken in the 45th minute of play when a cross pass from Ruan found Mueller completely alone on the left side, in the penalty area.
Mueller had no difficulty kicking the ball into the upper part of a wide-open net on what was the only shot on target of the half from either side.
CF Montreal got off to a much better start in the second half, and came extremely close to equaling the score in the 48th minute.
Inserted in place of Matko Miljevic on the restart, Sunusi Ibrahim literally had a goal stolen by Pedro Gallese, who extended his left arm to block the ball, following a quality center from Mathieu Choinière.
Three minutes later, Gallese could not do anything about Camacho’s header following a corner kick from Djordje Mihailovic who, as a result, collected a decisive 15th assist in 2021.
The premises became more threatening during the last quarter of an hour of play and Pantemis had to be alert to stop an incursion of the dangerous Daryl Dike in the 76th minute.