CF Montreal will once again face a one-goal deficit heading into the second leg at home after losing 1-0 to Cruz Azul at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
A poor first half for Montreal
CF Montreal started brightly and in the first minute of the game earned a free-kick but the ball went right into the wall created by the home team. Both teams were going hard at each other looking for opportunities and openings to create scoring chances.
Sebastien Breza was sprung into action in the ninth as he made a fantastic diving save to keep the ball out of the net. It seemed every time Montreal touched the ball we heard ominous boos from the stands from the 12,000 people that bought tickets for the game.
Cruz Azul at this point of the game 15 minutes seemed to be in control and putting the visitors on the back foot as they continued to attack to the delight of the home crowd. Cruz Azul scored the opening goal in the 20th minute as a mistimed header between two Montreal defenders left Uriel Antuna all alone who managed to beat Breza with a powerful shot between the legs to make it 1-0.
The home side continued to dominate the game and deny any opportunity that Montreal threw at them and continued to press and apply immense pressure on the defense and the first half finished with Cruz Azul up 1-0.
▶ | Resumen de la victoria de @CruzAzul 🚂 sobre @cfmontreal 🍁👇#SCCL22 pic.twitter.com/SQdLTAlko1
— Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League (@TheChampions) March 10, 2022
A rough night for Montreal
Cruz Azul came out firing at the beginning of the second half and had a great chance to double their lead but the ball went over the net and out of bounds. In the 59th minute, Wilfred Nancy made his first substitution of the game bringing in Kamal Miller for Rudy Camacho looking to shore up his defense.
Montreal made two more changes in the 67th minute bringing in Kei Kamara and Robert Thorkellson who was making his debut with the club. Almost 80 minutes in Montreal didn’t have a shot on target and it looked like they were out of sync and lacking chemistry.
It wasn’t Montreal night and after four minutes of added time, the ref blew the final whistle, and just like the previous round Montreal heads into the second leg down 1-0.
Coach reaction
” We need to score to beat the game, and be patient and the players need to think what we need to do to score goals, they need to be aggressive, match the intensity and go for it when it is the good moment to do it.”
CF Montreal will now travel to New York on Thursday morning and face NYCFC on Saturday afternoon and after that head back to Montreal to prepare to face Cruz Azul in the second leg next Wednesday at the Olympic Stadium once again down 1-0 on aggregate.
