With its offensive ammunition dry, CF Montreal had to admit defeat 3-1 against the Columbus Crew, Wednesday evening, at Saputo stadium,
It is certain that it is difficult to compete with the powerful team of Wilfried Nancy when even Mason Toye, your last option in attack who entered in the second half, has to go out with injury after only one race.
He was thus added to the long list of injured artillerymen in the CFM. In addition to Matías Cóccaro, Josef Martínez, Kwadwo Opoku and Jules-Anthony Vilsaint – for reasons still unclear in the case of the Quebecer – Sunusi Ibrahim became the only attacker who could receive the services of his teammates up front on Wednesday.
There is Ariel Lassiter, trained as a winger. His golden opportunity, a missed volley shot in front of the goalkeeper at the start of the match, could also give him nightmares.
But under Laurent Courtois, Lassiter is mainly used as a left back. With the mandate to fall back on defense. And we have clearly seen, for a few matches and even more so on Wednesday, that this is not his strong point. Far from there. He was beaten several times this way, including on Columbus’ second goal.
Despite everything, when Mason Toye went out injured after a promising race at 74e, Montreal supporters were treated to one of the rare moments of celebration emanating from this meeting. Alessandro Biello, Mauro’s son, got his very first minutes in MLS and at Saputo stadium. In front of his father’s eyes, moreover, sitting in the stands.
The other moment? Mathieu Choinière’s penalty goal at the very end of the first half. A reward won beforehand by the defender Joaquín Sosa, who forced goalkeeper Patrick Schulte to make a mistake with a dazzling breakthrough in attack, paired with a well-calibrated pass from Ibrahim.
Mathieu Choinière therefore came forward to make it happen. He sent the ball to the right corner. 1-1. Then, the Quebecer made a gesture which was at the center of discussions in the press gallery during the break. He covers his ears. He hides his eyes. He hides his mouth. Brother Nicolas Landry, from RDS, notices the reference to wisdom monkeys. “See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil,” says the maxim.
We cannot see anything other than a link with the events of recent weeks concerning him.
Nancy and the Crew, as usual
In Montreal, Wilfried Nancy accustomed us to a style of play based on possession. His CFM teams almost always garnered 60% of the possession. In addition to playing spectacular soccer, this explains that.
This is exactly what the Crew came to visit the Quebec metropolis on Wednesday. And it paid off quickly. Max Arfsten grabbed a return into the box to make it 1-0 in the 19the minute.
Columbus continued to make the play throughout the game. Ironically, it’s on a lethal counterattack, a la 59ethat the Crew took the lead for good, courtesy of Diego Rossi.
Despite a few Montreal jolts here and there, particularly at the end of the match, Nancy’s troops were not too worried. Until scoring the insurance goal, with the foot of Marino Hinestroza, in the 89the.
So here is CF Montreal with just one victory in nine games, and three defeats in a row. And with the matches coming one after the other, the task will not get any easier in the coming weeks.