CF Montreal got back to winning ways by defeating Toronto FC 1-0, giving full meaning to an evening that was dedicated to Mauro Biello.
• Read also: CF Montreal: Biello among the immortals
• Read also: Biello enters the legend
Montreal’s performance epitomized everything Biello was as a player, inducted into the club’s Wall of Fame at halftime.
In front of the first full house of the season, 19,619 spectators, the Bleu-blanc-noir completely dominated the Torontonians with a clearly superior performance, Samuel Piette and Kamal Miller leading the charge.
The second, however, committed a silly mistake ten minutes from the end, receiving a second yellow card, which forced his team to finish the game with one man less. He will also be suspended next Saturday in Washington.
Rabies
This team snapped a two-game losing streak with an all-around performance.
We can perhaps only note that the team made life even more complicated by lacking finishing around the opposing net.
After knocking on the door many times, it was finally Romell Quioto who scored the only goal of the game by extending with a header a nice cross from Alistair Johnston in the 69th minute. However, it was later determined to be a Lukas MacNaughton own goal.
Wilfried Nancy surprised everyone by giving the start to James Pantemis who started his first game in MLS this season.
The West Island goaltender was convincing and got only the team’s second shutout this year.
In other good news, Djordje Mihailovic made a comeback by entering for Matko Miljevic in the second half.
Domination
CF Montreal completely dominated the first half against a frankly not very good Toronto FC.
After 45 minutes, Montreal already had twelve shots on the clock, including four on target.
We can also say that retiring to the locker room on a 0-0 tie was certainly not satisfactory for Wilfried Nancy and his men, who had very good chances of scoring, coming up against, among others, an Alex Bono in good shape.
In the offensive flashes that we did not expect, Samuel Piette had two very good chances to score. And Kei Kamara got robbed by Bono.
Newsletter
Photo QMI Agency, Martin Alarie
8.5 / 10 | Samuel Piette
- He recovers from a big contact to the head early in the game and he plays with a lot of passion.
8 / 10 | Kamal Miller
- He is very dynamic in his offensive contribution and very strong in his defensive game. We will forgive him his little bubble in the brain at the end of the match
8 / 10 | Romell Quioto
- After receiving a blow, his attitude changes and he seems driven by an inner rage which he eventually channels creating the play that leads to the game’s only goal.
8 / 10 | Alistair Johnston
- He made many deep runs to try to energize the attack.
8 / 10 | Rudy Camacho
- Very few balloons escaped him. He delivers an almost perfect copy defensively.
7.5 / 10 | Lassi Lappalainen
- He continues his momentum in a match where he supports the attack well and causes faults in the opponent.
7.5 / 10 | Joel Waterman
- He keeps it simple and he’s effective in his defensive game.
7.5 / 10 | James Pantemis
- He was reassuring and responded when asked.
7.5 / 10 | Mason Toye
- By his flair, he manages to create at least one very good chance at the end of the match which ends up on the crossbar.
7 / 10 | Victor Wanyama
- A little less solid than his teammates, he was surprised a few times.
7 / 10 | Matko Miljevic
- He is restless, he plays well technically, but his decision-making needs to be perfected.
7 / 10 | Kei Kamara
- He has some good ideas, but he sometimes plays a little too complicated.
7 / 10 | Djordje Mihailovic
- He gets his first minutes since the end of May and he is provocative.
Finally a full house
It was the first sold-out game at Stade Saputo since July 13, 2019. Might as well say it was in another life.
And everyone at CF Montreal is well aware of it.
“It stank of football today. We do this job for that. It goes beyond winning or losing. I do this job to share emotions and create a moment, ”launched head coach Wilfried Nancy in his press briefing.
Rudy Camacho for his part mentioned that it was important that it become a habit.
“We would like it to be like this every game. When we see that there are 13,000 people, I’m not going to lie to you, we are disappointed.
“Sometimes, outside, we have more chills than at home. This kind of atmosphere, I would like it to be every weekend, it would help us to surpass ourselves even if we give everything every game. It gives a little more. »
Full game
Coming back to the field, apart from two big chances that turned out to be offside, Toronto FC did not pose much danger for the Bleu-blanc-noir who offered a full performance.
And finally, it’s the story of all the team’s last games despite scores that didn’t always indicate it.
“It feels like almost every game right now,” Camacho said when judging the team’s performance. Against Kansas, it was the same domination, we did it in Seattle too.
” [Ce soir] we dominated our match, we mastered our subject and we managed to keep the score. »
Very different
This is a clean break from the last game between the two teams. Last month, Toronto won 4-0 in the Canadian Championship semifinals at BMO Field.
“We controlled the counter-attack better. In Toronto, we played a good game with the ball, but we weren’t good at managing the counter-attacks. We played the same match, but in Toronto we allowed goals. “explained Wilfried Nancy.
Romell Quioto, who was for a few minutes the author of the only goal of the match, finally had the success removed, which was recorded as an own goal by Lukas MacNauhgton.
“It’s not the defender who scores an own goal, it’s me who deflects the ball into the net. For me, that’s my goal,” insisted the Honduran striker through an interpreter.