Like every year, CF Montreal begins its season with a sequence of matches abroad, the time to have a more welcoming temperature to play at home.
Playing its third of six consecutive matches on opposing fields to start its 2024 season, the Montreal team continued its good momentum by winning 3-2 against Inter Miami on Sunday at Chase Stadium.
CF Montreal (2-0-1) came to Miami with the objective of winning a second match in a row after defeating FC Dallas 2-1 on March 2.
CF Montreal head coach, Laurent Courtois, wanted to point out that there are good sides to starting the season with several matches abroad.
“These first six games are really special for us in terms of travel and mental fatigue,” Courtois said. But at the same time, the benefit is that we are together and we have a good time. We get to know each other a little more quickly. »
Inter Miami lost their first match of the season, but beat Orlando City SC 5-0 in their last meeting.
Quebecer Samuel Piette said the team knew it wouldn’t be an easy venue to play.
“It wasn’t easy,” said the CF Montreal defensive midfielder. I am most proud of the fact that everyone contributed. »
Fernando Álvarez, Matías Cóccaro and Sunusi Ibrahim scored the goals for CF Montreal.
Leonardo Campana and Jordi Alba responded for Inter Miami (2-1-1), which played without its international star Lionel Messi. Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez started the match as substitutes.
Piette admitted that Messi’s absence did not bother his team’s players, even if they would have liked to take up the challenge of facing him.
“It’s kind of a mixed feeling,” Piette said. We all wanted to play [contre Messi] to be able to say that we faced the best soccer player of all time, but at the same time, we know how much he could have hurt us, especially at the end of the match. »
CF Montreal controlled the ball well at the start of the match and awarded themselves a corner kick at the end of the sixth minute of play. Mathieu Choinière made a beautiful cross towards Cóccaro, who however was unable to complete a nice shot and lost his balance at the same time.
Cóccaro got another good chance a minute later, as the Montreal troops threatened near the penalty area. His shot was blocked by a defender.
The Uruguayan had not finished threatening. A long bomb from CF Montreal turned into a race between Cóccaro and the Inter Miami goalkeeper, while the latter completely missed his attempt to grab the ball in flight. Cóccaro, however, looked for the perfect finish instead of shooting straight into an abandoned net.
Álvarez made sure to put the moment behind his teammate, scoring with a header in the 13th minute from the team’s second corner kick moments later.
Alba thought he had tied the score in the 22nd minute, but the sequence went offside, as did most of Inter Miami’s offensive breakthroughs in the first half.
Both teams had two shots on target in the first half. CF Montreal had the best scoring opportunities despite having 41% of the ball.
In the 60th minute, Inter Miami scored a goal again which was called back due to offside.
Inter Miami made three changes in the 66th minute, seeing Nicolás Freire, Diego Gómez and Busquets enter.
CF followed with changes two minutes later, but it was Inter Miami who seemed to benefit the most. Following a corner kick, Campana headed the ball into the back of the net and tied the game in the 71st minute.
After a good first half without being rewarded, Cóccaro finally found the back of the net. Choinière scored a magnificent free kick and Cóccaro deflected the ball with his head into the net in the 75th minute.
Just three minutes later, Inter Miami made a mistake when they wanted to push forward. The Montreal squad took the opportunity to quickly restart and Josef Martínez made a clever pass to Ibrahim, who made it 3-1.
But Inter Miami did not give up. Busquets collected a ball near the penalty area and played it to Alba, who curled a beautiful shot into the top right corner of the net to beat goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois in the 80th minute.
Nine minutes of added time could have hurt CF Montreal at the end of the match, but the team managed possession of the ball well to keep the opponent away from Sirois.
CF Montreal will play its next match on March 16, against the Chicago Fire at Soldier Field.