Professional sport is a vector of emotions. That’s why it’s so popular: it rocks everyone. On this Saturday night, the fans present at Saputo Stadium got their money’s worth in this regard, and it is not thanks to the success of CF Montreal.
“For the show, it is the referee, the person in charge”, launched a Hernán Losada anxious to measure his words. His club was shut out for the third time in three games, this time by a score of 1-0 against Atlanta United.
This match, which lacked fireworks on the Montreal side, was amply made exciting by a colorful end to the duel. This final scene began with the nine minutes of stoppage time.
Defender Juan José Purata then dropped, and for the first time this season, beer cans rained down on the lawn at Saputo Stadium. A few Impact players then quickly removed the debris for the action to resume.
Home host Robert Tanguay had barely finished his message condemning these ways of doing things when Jules-Anthony Vilsaint was mowed down in the area without the official intervening. The crowd gave vent to their outrage and the action was relentless until the end.
The supporters no longer sat down and jeered the refereeing until they left the stadium as the head coaches and a few players cheered each other on. A defeat against an Eastern Association rival that certainly left a bitter taste.
The referee is a natural part of the game, but that said, he was definitely at the heart of the post-match discussions.
“If I say what I think, I’m going to be in trouble,” summed up the captain’s armband wearer, Victor Wanyama. “I felt like I was playing overseas. »
For his part, defender Rudy Camacho felt that the only responsible for this defeat was the Montreal team itself. He lacked a bit of “will to kill” and “character”.
This lack of finishing and goalscoring instinct has hurt Montreal since the start of the campaign. She was camouflaged for a while by the shutout streak that allowed the club to come out with points despite everything. However, when the defensive does not hold up, the offensive hardly comes to save them.
Montreal only has a win and a draw when it is the first to concede a goal. So that’s 12 losses in this kind of scenario.
“We have a better team than that and we can do better,” Wanyama simply summed up. His instructor, however, delivered a somewhat oblique message in an effort to whip his troops.
This is the first time in their career that some young offensive leaders have started several games in a row. Still, for the moment, no one has really managed to establish themselves as an indisputable holder by playing a decisive role.
New striker Kwadwo Opoku will definitely help in that regard. It’s no lifesaver, however, and others will need to take their game up a notch if the club wants to make the playoffs.
MLS’s best prospect has arrived in Montreal with his countdown to his inevitable departure already well under way. Thiago Almada did what he does best: make spectacular breakthroughs and take precise free-kicks.
That’s all it took to turn the tie around: a spectacular run from the Argentinian that caused a free-kick, and the world champion went for it with a near-perfect shot. A shot good enough to beat Jonathan Sirois, but stopped on the post before Brooks Lennon completed in an abandoned cage.
After the match, Losada said he was disappointed with this goal conceded since his men were not the first on the ball. They were “defocused” on this action, he said.
Rudy Camacho mentioned that the club hadn’t planned anything in particular to defend the attacking midfielder, other than being wary of his free-kicks. In the end, that was all he needed.
Despite being physically bullied a few times, Duke has shown that his progress in recent games hasn’t stopped. He was the most influential player offensively and his strike from outside the box is the only shot on target made by the Montrealers.
The Montrealers didn’t have many chances, but the most dangerous saw the American striker thrown behind. His strikes, however, did not bother Jonjo Shelvey lookalike Brad Guzan. He had little influence on the pace of the meeting.
Number of minutes that have elapsed since the Montrealers’ last goal. During this period, it is possible to do a double program at the cinema with Oppenheimer and Barbie while having free time to go get a popcorn.
