The best offense… is defense? In the absence of goals from his forwards, defenders Rudy Camacho and Kamal Miller took matters into their own hands for CF Montreal on Wednesday night at Saputo Stadium. The locals won 2-0 against the Houston Dynamo.
The eleven from Montreal thus keeps his destiny in his hands in a race for the playoffs as tight as possible. With his three points, he takes the 8e rank in the Eastern standings with 46 points, 1 point behind 7e and last rank giving access to the series.
The goals came in quick succession in the second period. At the 58e minute, Camacho made a skilful heel from a corner after a game of billiards from the penalty area.
Again on a corner, Djordje Mihailovic served his 16e assist of the season to Kamal Miller, who scored with a lead in 62e minute.
If the rest of the game was a formality from then on, the same could not be said for the first part of the game. CF Montreal had dominated Houston with a beautiful game animation, without taking the opportunity to frame an equivalent number of shots. After the first half, despite a 63.7% possession rate, Montreal had only scored 3 out of 13 shots attempted.
Ironically, the second period was more contested, with a Dynamo coming out exhilarated by his visit to the locker room. Ball possession hovered around 50%, but still in favor of Montreal. The locals ended the game with 6 shots on target out of 16 attempted.
Victor Wanyama was established for this meeting, he who had been annoyed by a knee injury in recent weeks. Romell Quioto, a former Dynamo player, came on in 66e minute. The two pillars of CF Montreal had been absent since October 2.
Former Montreal club striker Maxi Urruti, who has scored 7 goals and 4 assists for Dynamo this season, did not make the trip for this meeting.
CF Montreal will play its last game of the season next Sunday. He will face Orlando City SC at Saputo Stadium at 3:30 pm on MLS Decision Day. If he wins, he will be officially qualified for the playoffs.