All good things have an end. CF Montreal’s unbeaten streak in MLS ended at eight on Wednesday night. Courtesy of Nashville SC.
Updated at 12:14 a.m.
CF Montreal’s last defeat dated back to March 12, against New York City FC. At that time, it was the third loss in three games for the Montreal troupe.
This time, the situation is very different. The 2-1 loss at Nashville’s brand new Geodis Park comes four days after the team grabbed first place in the Eastern Conference.
“Yes, we lost, but we didn’t lose in a bad way,” summed up a serene and still satisfied Wilfried Nancy after the match.
The start of the match was rather calm. The two formations, cautious, seemed to tame throughout the first quarter. It lacked rhythm and, at the same time, scoring opportunities.
Nashville SC took it upon themselves to put on some action by scoring their first goal in the 28thand minute. Midfielder Alex Muyl accepted a long pass from goalkeeper Joe Willis before cutting through the middle and taking a powerful left-footed shot. The ball ended up in the right corner of Sebastian Breza’s goal.
CF Montreal, which until then still had no shots on target, seemed to wake up. The Montreal XI’s best chance came in the very last seconds of the first half, when Alistair Johnston, on the edge of the box, delivered to Kei Kamara in front of goal. The Sierra Leone native attempted a header but Willis was well positioned to close the door.
PHOTO MARK HUMPHREY, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kei Kamara (23) and Daniel Lovitz (2)
The second half turned out to be much more eventful. CF Montreal were threatening in the opening minutes, but saw Hany Mukhtar complete a fine pass from CJ Sapong to make it 2-0.
Four minutes later, Montreal fans were finally able to celebrate in their living room. Wanting to complete a throw-in from Kamal Miller in front of goal, Kei Kamara rushed to the net and made contact with the goalkeeper. The ball has, unwittingly, made its way behind the white line. Kamara thus took the 4and ranked among the top scorers in MLS history with 133 goals.
Wilfried Nancy’s men completely dominated thereafter, multiplying the attacks. But the yellows defended themselves in every possible way, preventing the visitors from closing the gap.
“The story behind this game is that they scored in the first half, but they didn’t have a lot of chances,” Nancy said. After that, we didn’t control the game as we would have liked. But then, in the second half, we played the other side most of the time. We had opportunities, made better decisions. »
“It wasn’t enough to get the result we wanted, but we were close,” he added.
Right mindset
Whatever the situation, a defeat remains a defeat. This one is perhaps a little more difficult to cash in for Alistair Johnston, who faced his former team for the first time since his trade in December.
“It’s a team against which it’s very difficult to come back from behind,” explained the defender. We realized that. We gave up two goals, which is too many. If we had given only one, we would have had a chance. But that’s it, when you go on the road; if you give up two goals, you put yourself in a difficult position. »
For Nashville SC, it’s a 22and home game in a row without defeat, including playoff games.
“It was fun to come back here, to see the new stadium, to see some familiar faces in this crowd,” Johnston said. It was pleasant, but it would have been better if we had had the expected result. But that’s what good teams do, they win at home. It’s a good team. »
This meeting was the first of a series of 4 in 11 days for CF Montreal, which will host Real Salt Lake at Saputo Stadium on Sunday.
According to Zorhan Bassong, who came on as a replacement for Lassi Lappaleinen in the second half, the team remains as motivated as it was a few hours ago.
“We were ready to try to take another step, to break another record. We can say it: all good things must come to an end, he implied. But I don’t think it’s going to change the mindset of the team. »
Same story on the side of Alistair Johnston.
“I think we just have to put this game behind us, look at what we did wrong, what we need to improve and learn from it,” he simply summed up.
With this loss, CF Montreal (20 points) now find themselves in third place in the Eastern Conference, behind the Philadelphia Union (21 points) and New York City FC (20 points).