CF Montreal buzzed several times, but had to settle for a 0-0 draw against the Chicago Fire on Saturday evening at Saputo Stadium.
The bad news for the Bleu-blanc-noir is that it did not manage to increase its three-point cushion ahead of the Fire (8-11-9) in eighth place in the Eastern Association. The good news is that the playoff picture remained unchanged due to the 0-0 draw between DC United (9e in the East) and Charlotte FC (11e).
Hernan Losada’s men gave their supporters a lot of emotion by storming the enemy net and coming close to scoring, but as has been the case regularly this season, they lacked finishing.
In the final minutes of the game, Chinonso Offor, Ariel Lassiter and Bryce Duke, who all entered the second half, missed golden opportunities to provide two more points for their team by coming up against goalkeeper Chris Brady.
Even the return to play of striker Romell Quioto, who played his first minutes since May 13 after suffering a hamstring injury, could not help the cause of CF Montreal (11-14- 3).
On the Fire side, Kei Kamara made his first visit to Saputo stadium since he was traded by the Montreal team. He played the full 90 minutes of the match, even having fun a few times with some of his teammates.
Furthermore, Quebecer Samuel Piette reached the plateau of 12,000 minutes played in his career, which places him at 11e rank in the history of Bleu-blanc-noir. He is now looking to overtake Hassoun Camara in 10th place while Mauro Biello is the leader.
Also, goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois set a team record by signing an 11e shutout this season, separating from Evan Bush, who achieved the feat in 2018.
CF Montreal will return to action on Wednesday evening when they host FC Cincinnati.
Within a few inches
The Bleu-blanc-noir started the game like a lion and gave itself several opportunities to score, without taking advantage of them.
From the 20e second, Nathan Saliba served a superb pass towards Zachary Brault-Guillard, who lobbed the ball over Brady, but outside the net.
Brault-Guillard returned the favor to Saliba in the fourth minute, but the latter narrowly missed the target. The duo did it again a few minutes later, with a similar result.
Widely used on the right flank at the start of the first half, Brault-Guillard made a precise cross to Kwadwo Opoku, in the 15the minute. The striker deflected the ball well with his head, but Brady closed the door by diving to his right.
CF Montreal also came within a few centimeters of opening the scoring in the 24the minute, twice. During a corner kick, George Campbell managed to break free in the penalty area, but his deflected header hit the crossbar. A few seconds later, Mathieu Choinière spotted Jules-Anthony Vilsaint behind the defenders, but his shot curved outside the frame.
The home team also had their offensive moments at the start of the second half, but they were much less frank than in the first.
Quioto’s entry on stage, at 77e minute, gave a little vigor to CF Montreal, but Brady stole the show to save the furniture in front of several point-blank shots.