It wasn’t the brightest performance of the season, but CF Montreal still left Gillette Stadium in Foxborough with three points thanks to a 1-0 win.
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Alistair Johnston, with his fourth goal of the season, was the game’s only scorer in the 72e minute. He received an impeccable pass from Romell Quioto who had himself been thrown by Djordje Mihailovic.
This is the sixth straight win on the road for the Bleu-blanc-noir, which also tied the league record set by the San Jose Earthquakes in 2005.
Wilfried Nancy and his men will have the opportunity to beat this mark in the very last match of the season, against Inter Miami CF.
Finish second
CF Montreal secured second place in the MLS Eastern Conference before even stepping onto the pitch thanks to New York City FC’s 2-0 afternoon win over the New York Red Bulls who can no longer join Montrealers.
Wilfried Nancy’s squad is guaranteed to play its first game of the playoffs at Stade Saputo. If she wins, she will then play the Association semi-final at home. It could also play in the Eastern final if the Philadelphia Union is eliminated in a previous round.
The team will now enjoy a few days off due to the international break. The next game will take place on October 1, during the visit of DC United to Stade Saputo.
Slow start
The first half ended 0-0 and after a sometimes rough first half hour, CF Montreal regained control of the game.
Fighting for their survival, the Revolution started the game strong and the Montrealers were pressed for a while, making defensive errors, which gave the locals chances.
The tide slowly turned and the visitors installed their style of play. From the last fifteen minutes of the first half, we were able to see that this team was technically superior to the Revs.
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CF Montreal’s Romell Quioto gets blocked by Andrew Farrell.
8 / 10 | Alistair Johnston
- Committed and lively in his lane, he tries by all means to animate the attack and he is rewarded with a fourth goal this season.
8 / 10 | Samuel Piette
- Big volume of play. He causes faults and recovers the ball a lot. An inspiring outing.
8 / 10 | Rudy Camacho
- Applied game and without artifice with a lot of cleanliness in his interventions. Very sturdy.
7.5 / 10 | Sebastian Breza
- He is there when you need him. A very fair game.
7.5 / 10 | Kamal Miller
- A metronome, he was effective and intractable in the majority of duels.
7.5 / 10 | Joel Waterman
- A defensive performance at the height of his season, his sense of anticipation serves him very well.
7 / 10 | Victor Wanyama
- Good defensively, but he has to try his luck more when he goes forward. He has a good shot and needs to use it.
6.5 / 10 | Romell Quioto
- He lacks a bit of imagination near the opposing net and therefore becomes predictable. He recovers with the pass on Johnston’s goal
6.5 / 10 | Mathieu Choiniere
- He doesn’t have the same speed as Lappalainen and suffers in comparison, but he offers some attacking options. Good defensive flair.
6 / 10 | Djordje Mihailovic
- We are waiting for the return of the spring Djordje. He receives a yellow card and will be suspended for the next match. He launches the action on Johnston’s goal.
6 / 10 | Kei Kamara
- More approximate in its distribution and in its first touches of the ball.
Pride and humility
CF Montreal is breaking records this season. He equals it too.
That was the case Saturday night with a sixth straight road win, a record dating back to 2005 and set by the San Jose Earthquakes.
There is pride in the group.
“Humility does not mean lack of pride. I am proud for my players and my staff. The guys are putting Montreal on top,” said CF Montreal head coach Wilfried Nancy after the game.
“Yes we are breaking all records, but it is a consequence of what is happening. »
But it is elsewhere that Nancy finds her satisfaction when he thinks of his group.
“My pride is that we continued to play our game against a team that was fighting for the playoffs. »
insured
Wilfried Nancy and his men knew, even before stepping onto the artificial turf of Gillette Stadium, that they were guaranteed to finish second in the Eastern Conference and they savored it.
Nancy, however, insisted on the importance of not dwelling on it too much and continuing to look ahead.
“We had a good time when we saw that New York City had won. We knew we were second.
“I congratulated everyone, telling them that we had to keep moving forward in order to go as far as we could go,” he explained while we heard the players singing. sweet carolina in background noise.
“We have two objectives ticked, we still have the possibility of fighting for first place [dans l’Est] and for the Supporter’s Shield “Said midfielder Samuel Piette, who wore the captain’s armband on Saturday.
Surprise
Nancy caused some surprise by returning Sebastian Breza to the net for a second game in a row as he tends to alternate with James Pantemis.
“I wanted to give back-to-back games to see how he would handle it. The guards knew it would be like this. It was the goal to see him in two consecutive games close together and to know that he would be the goalkeeper. »
The head coach, however, clarified that no conclusion should be drawn from this decision for the future.
“I have no idea how it will be later, it was at the time. »