CF Montreal snatch a 2-1 victory over the Red Bulls in New York

For only the second time in its history, CF Montreal picked up points in the standings at Red Bull Arena thanks to a 2-1 victory over the New York Red Bulls on Saturday afternoon.

Romell Quioto scored the decisive goal in the 81st^and minute, following a disastrous outing by goalkeeper Carlos Coronel, who lost the ball near the center circle. Quioto was able to sprint towards the opposing goal and had no difficulty pushing the ball into a completely empty net.

Rudy Camacho, also in the second half, scored the other goal for CF Montreal (2-3-1), which posted a second straight victory and played a third straight game undefeated, all on the road .

Omir Fernandez, at the 14^and minute of play, was the only one to beat Sebastian Breza.

The match marked the entry into the scene in 2022 of Sunusi Ibrahim, who was given a starting position with Kei Kamara in attack. Ibrahim gave way to the 61^and minute to Quioto, who missed the game in Cincinnati last week due to an episode related to COVID-19. Meanwhile, midfielder Joaquín Torres was unavailable after picking up an injury in training on Friday.

CF Montreal players will finally have the opportunity to step onto the Saputo stadium turf for the first time this season, next Saturday, as they host the Vancouver Whitecaps.

A painful start

With all their losses accumulated over the years at Red Bull Arena, the Montreal team may have developed an inferiority complex. And during the first half hour of the match, Wilfried Nancy’s men played, in fact, as if they were complexed.

The CF Montreal players lacked cohesion, multiplied the bad passes and spent almost all of those 30 minutes deep in their territory.

Controlling the ball in the Montreal area, the Red Bulls took the lead when Fernandez fired a shot from around 20 yards that appeared to deflect off Camacho’s calf before catching Breza by surprise.

Some 12 minutes later, with Breza out of position after a failed attempt to intercept a cross, Kei Kamara saved two goals on successive shots from Aaron Long and Sean Nealis.

We don’t know if Kamara’s saves had something to do with it, but CF Montreal played much better during the last quarter of an hour of play.

So much, in fact, that he finished the first half with more shots attempted – six to five – than the Red Bulls.

Djordje Mihailovic, at the 33^and minute, and Kamal Miller, two minutes later, had good chances to score, but Coronel got in between each time.

After a slow start to the second half, CF Montreal tied the game thanks to the contribution of three defenders in the 71^and minute.

Miller first slipped the ball to Alistair Johnston, who was standing quite close to him. He directed the ball towards the center of the penalty area, where Camacho had slipped.

Cleverly, with a header, Camacho deflected the ball to the right of Coronel. The ball hit the inside of the post before rolling into the back of the net.

Ten minutes later, Coronel made his incredible blunder and CF Montreal managed to protect their lead.