CF Montreal and Real Salt Lake played out a 0-0 draw in front of a packed house, a seventh in a row, of 19,619 spectators Saturday evening at Saputo stadium.
This draw means that CF Montreal (4-7-6 – 18 points) played a fourth consecutive match without a loss. Furthermore, Real Salt Lake (9-2-7 – 34 points) also extended its undefeated streak to 14 games.
Jonathan Sirois stopped all six of the visitors’ shots on target and collected a fourth shutout in 2024, all in 0-0 draws.
The Montreal team, which had its best moments of the match towards the end of the second half, was limited to two shots on target on goalkeeper Zac MacMath.
CF Montreal played this match in the absence of Quebecers Samuel Piette and Mathieu Choinière, who were both recalled by Canada in anticipation of the Copa América.
Furthermore, striker Josef Martinez was not in the squad for this meeting.
On the other hand, Saturday’s match allowed attackers Matias Coccaro and Mason Toye to return to action after absences of two and one month, respectively. They were sent to the field at the same time, at 61e minute.
CF Montreal will return to action on Wednesday when it hosts the New York Red Bulls in the first of two matches in three days.
Next Saturday, Laurent Courtois’ squad will be in Colorado to face the Rapids.
The CF resists
To amass 36 goals in 17 games – the feat that Real Salt Lake achieved before facing the Montreal team – you have to control the ball.
This is exactly what the visitors did in the first half, in a proportion of 62%.
However, the Montreal defensive brigade and Sirois held on to the point of shutting out Real Salt Lake’s solid attack during the first 45 minutes of play.
Real Salt Lake still attempted nine shots towards the Montreal net during this first half, but four were blocked by defenders, and only two required relatively easy saves from Sirois.
On the other hand, MacMath made the best save of the first half, in the 17the minute, when he grabbed a point-blank shot from Dominic Iankov, after a well-successful cross from Joaquin Sosa.
It was CF Montreal’s only shot on target in the first half, in five attempts.
The Montreal team touched the ball a little more in the second half and missed two great opportunities to break the 0-0 tie.
Less than 10 minutes after entering the match, in the 73rde minute, Lassi Lappalainen fired a powerful shot from the top of the penalty area, but his shot just flew over the horizontal bar.
Then, with less than five minutes remaining in regulation, Kwadwo Opoku, who arrived on the field at the same time as Lappalainen, saw his left-footed shot roll just to the left of MacMath.