We were ready to bury them. But Lassi got up.
At the 95e minute, while CF Montreal had struggled, struggled and struggled again to score, to save its catastrophic end to the season, to find the one who would make the difference, Lassi Lappalainen finally found the solution. He took a shot in the box that made its way into the back of the net, tied the score at 1-1 against the Houston Dynamo, and thus put the Impact directly back in the race for the playoffs.
Unlike the last two Saturdays, Montreal was not downgraded on Wednesday. But he didn’t show anything very conclusive in his game either. His ineffectiveness in the final third was once again a glaring problem.
Despite Lappalainen’s saving shot, Montreal did not win for seven consecutive games. He thus equalized a club record. He was very close to leaving the playoff picture, moreover, had it not been for Lappalainen’s saving shot. The other results in MLS on Wednesday ensured that he would be positioned in 9e place. He temporarily returned to eighth position.
On the other hand, Houston did not offer its best copy either. The visitors took an early lead, then tried to take advantage of the blunders of the nervous and error-prone home side.
Montreal had started its match well. He seemed to have regained the confidence he had lost in the last two away games. Then, at 10e minute, Fernando Álvarez fell on the touchline, and a nice passing play between Aliyu Ibrahim and Sebastian Kowalczyk allowed Artur to score with a superb strike towards the upper left corner of the net.
More details will follow.