CF Montreal was unable to take advantage of its many chances and Maxi Urriti did not miss his to hurt his former teammates. He was the only scorer of the match and allowed Austin FC to win against CF Montreal by a score of 1-0 on Saturday.
Posted at 9:42 p.m.
The Impact was back in front of its supporters after an absence of nearly a month due to the international break. More than 15,000 people had gathered at the Saputo stadium, but the locals ran out of solutions. It’s hard to fault the effort of Wilfried Nancy’s men, who spent most of the match in enemy territory. However, the lack of finishing cost them the victory.
Very early in the game, Austin FC showed indiscipline, accumulating faults. The team received a yellow card in the sixth minute, courtesy of midfielder Daniel Pereira. At the very end of the first half, Pereira did it again, tripping Mathieu Choinière. He received his second yellow card in the match and CF Montreal would therefore be able to play with the advantage of a man during the second half of the match.
Lack of opportunism
The visitors picked up where they left off before half-time. Diego Fagúndez was shown a yellow card, and that’s when CF Montreal began to open the machine, wanting to take advantage of the largesse and lack of concentration of their opponents.
Joaquín Torres fed Matko Miljevic to perfection, who was unable to thread the needle in the 52e minute.
Sixty seconds later, Kei Kamara missed a golden chance that will no doubt give him nightmares until the next match. It was Zachary Brault-Guillard who had started the action and who had offered the goal on a silver platter to his teammate thanks to a pass in the center. Kamara seemed to want to celebrate before the ball crossed the goal line, as the situation was perfect, but wrongly: goalkeeper Brad Stuver intervened. The veteran couldn’t believe his eyes.
Kamara knocked on the door again at 61e minute by redirecting a free kick to the left of the net.
“Of course if we score these goals, we don’t have the same game. We must do better […] “explained very lucidly coach Wilfried Nancy after the meeting.
For his part, Samuel Piette spoke of the lack of a sense of urgency: “In the last third, we lacked cohesion, we did not have the instinct of the killer. […] We are disappointed with the result. At home, you have to win your games, even more when you face a team from the West. »
Urruti, as in time
Maxi Urruti played for the Bleu-blanc-noir for two seasons, in 2019 and 2020. The Argentinian silenced his former supporters in the 67e minute by accepting the hand-over from teammate Jon Gallagher in front of the net and lobbing the ball over Sebastian Breza.
Joel Waterman was outpaced on the streak, so CF Montreal trailed by one goal. It was Urruti’s fifth goal of the season.
Romell Quioto, taken at the end of the match, was unable to push the ball into the opposing cage left gaping at the 86e minute.
Nancy would have liked her players to generate more speed, amplify the lag and attack the box more, especially knowing that the opponent was diminished. “When you don’t punish, you get punished,” he added.
The disadvantage of having the advantage
The players and the coach have clarified that going 11v10 is actually harder than it looks. On the one hand because the opposing team withdraws and creates a very compact defensive wall, on the other hand because the advantaged team puts so much emphasis on the attack that the defense can be neglected. That’s what happened Saturday night.
“They defended well. We tried to find the flaws, unfortunately they were very aggressive and they didn’t let us penetrate the boulder,” said David Choinière.
All in all, CF MTL fought well, but their lack of opportunism cost them dearly until the very end of the match.
Prolonged absences
The team confirmed after the match that their best player, Djordje Mihailovic, who already suffered a leg injury, would stay out for some time. He injured his knee in practice on Wednesday and is expected to return to action within four weeks.
For his part, Kamal Miller is expected to make a comeback within the next ten days.