CF Montreal visited Austin’s Q2 Stadium for the first time on Saturday and came out empty-handed because of their former player Maxi Urruti.
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The Argentinian striker, who played 46 Major League Soccer (MLS) games with the Montreal club, redirected a relay from Jon Gallagher to the back of the Montreal cage in the 88th minute. The hosts won 1-0.
This is the second setback in as many games for the Montreal team under the tutelage of Hernan Losada. As a curtain raiser, he suffered a disappointing 2-0 loss to Inter Miami.
The result of the duel of the day is heartbreaking for Quebec goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois. Called in to back up injured James Pantemis, the Montrealer was heading for a shutout in his first career start.
The Bleu-Blanc-Noir, who had tightened up their defensive game compared to the previous confrontation, however took their foot off the accelerator at the end of the game and that was fatal to them.
Betting on a very young starting XI once again ー setting an organizational record by sending four club-trained players into the fray ー CF Montreal was deprived of Samuel Piette from the 72nd minute of play. , the Quebecer left the game due to an injury.
In the 12th minute of play, Piette became the player who had spent the most time on the field in the history of the Montreal organization. He overtook Nacho Piatti by playing an 11,428th minute of play in the blue-white-black uniform.
Elsewhere, youngster Sean Rea had some great moments in the loss. He came within a whisker of scoring his first MLS goal in the 33rd minute, but his volley was blocked by Brad Stuver.
CF Montreal will be looking for their first win of the season next Saturday against Nashville SC. He will then kick off his season at home against the Philadelphia Union.