It was all there, Saturday night at Stade Saputo. Full bleachers. A most festive atmosphere. A superb performance from CF Montreal, against a completely overwhelmed rival from Toronto FC. And, in the end, a well-deserved 1-0 victory.
Posted at 9:43 p.m.
Updated at 9:49 p.m.
The Bleu-et-noir has just played one of its most successful matches this year. It is even really a surprise that he did not find the bottom of the strings before the 68e.
We thought Romell Quioto had hit the bull’s eye again. But it was rather an own goal scored by Lukas MacNaughton. The Toronto defender ironically — and nicely — headed in an absolutely perfect lobbed pass from Alistair Johnston from the edge of the box.
Johnston, until then in central defense, was used as a right-back for the second half, and it paid off. He multiplied the beautiful climbs and the dangerous crosses. With the entry into play of Djordje Mihailovic, back from an injury that has bothered him since the end of May, and that of Mason Toye, an already one-sided match was even more so.
And the show delighted the crowd of 19,619 fans, making it CF Montreal’s first sold-out night this season. Mihailovic received a standing ovation as he entered the pitch. Just like Quioto when it came out. She was otherwise noisy throughout. It was necessary to respond to the hundred Toronto admirers who had made the trip to Montreal.
What’s more, Montreal recorded a second shutout this season. James Pantemis hasn’t been very busy replacing Sebastian Breza. But its stop at the 90e minute, as CFM played 10-11 after Kamal Miller was sent off in the 81stewill certainly earn him a few accolades… and maybe even officially Breza’s position as number one.
Dominating from start to finish
The first half was like the match, with total and complete domination by the Montreal team. He came out with a 65% possession rate. A dozen shots on goal against four, including four on target. And almost double the number of passes.
The problem is that in addition to its lack of success in the last third, Montreal came up against an Alex Bono in great shape in front of the Toronto cage. He was the man of the match at the time. And maybe for the whole meeting.
As expected at half-time, the club formalized the induction of Mauro Biello into its Wall of Fame. The Montreal legend took to the pitch with Nevio Pizzolitto and Gabriel Gervais, the first two immortalized players, as well as owner Joey Saputo. His two children accompanied him, too. The crowd gave him a heartfelt standing ovation.