CF Montreal got off to a bad start in the 11and season in MLS history by losing 2-0 to Orlando City SC on Sunday afternoon at Exploria Stadium.
Alexandre Pato and Benji Michel, within 10 minutes of the second half, scored the goals for Orlando City SC against goalkeeper Sebastian Breza.
This is the first time since 2018 that the Montreal team has lost its inaugural match in MLS.
Four days after their solid performance in the Concacaf Champions League, the CF Montreal players had their best moments of the match during the first quarter of an hour of play.
They then gave the impression of lacking energy during this match played in a temperature of around 30°C. As a result, they suffered a second shutout in three outings in 2022, if you include the 1-0 loss in the Champions League first leg at Santos Laguna on February 15.
CF Montreal will play its home opener next Saturday, at Olympic Stadium, against the Philadelphia Union, in a duel that should begin at 4 p.m. He will play this match without the services of Romell Quioto, who received a red card in the 66and minute of play, Sunday, for having jostled a rival behind the league of goals.
A good start
After the first 15 minutes, Wilfried Nancy’s men had controlled the ball more than 55% of the time and were able to attempt four corner kicks against none for Orlando City SC.
Those chances deep in rival territory, however, provided no meaningful scoring chances.
Then, gradually, we saw the Orlando players embed themselves more and more in Montreal territory and carry out some potentially dangerous actions, without however changing the score on the scoreboard before the end of the first half.
This change to the board came quickly in the second half. Ruan sprinted past Kamal Miller on the right flank and picked up a pass from Mauricio Pereyra. Ruan headed the ball into Breza’s front of the net, where Pato was.
With Breza lying on the ground, Pato found himself alone in front of defender Gabriele Corbo who tried to defend the net, but still managed to break the tie, at the 49th.and minute.
At the 59and minute of play, Michel doubled the lead for the hosts, on a game that started with a bad pass from Joel Waterman deep in his area.
This second goal hurt the Montreal team, and the expulsion of Quioto then deprived it of its offensive pillar.
The slope was becoming difficult to recover, even if Orlando City SC also played the last ten minutes with ten players after the expulsion of Robin Jansson following a second yellow card.