CF Montreal is now on a three-game winning streak after beating the Vancouver Whitecaps in an all-Canadian clash in the first game at Saputo Stadium this season in only their second home game so far.
CF Montreal beat Vancouver Whitecaps, Extend Winning Streak
A quick start for the home side
Montreal got off to a great start as one minute into the first half Alistair Johnston with a superb cross found Djordje Mihailovic who finished with a stunning volley kick past the Vancouver keeper Thomas Hasal for the early 1-0 lead. The visitors earned the first corner of the game in the 5th minute but it was punched away by Sebastien Breza.
They kept pressing and in the 13th minute Romell Quioto managed to get a shot on target but it went right into the hands of Hasal who was able to make the save. Johnston managed to get his first shot of the game in the 25th minute and the Whitecaps keeper was sprung into action once again and made the save.
Ibrahim Sunusi got his first shot of the game in the 33rd minute but again Hasal was there to deny him the opportunity to score with a nice diving save. The first half finished with the home side up by one and halfway to extending their unbeaten streak.
Montreal finishes the job
Just like the first half Montreal scored two minutes into the second half to double their lead as Quioto got an excellent pass from Mihailovic and finished it by putting the ball into the back of the net. Ismael Kone a few minutes later had a chance at goal off a set piece but the ball deflected and bounced right into the hands of Hasal.
Vancouver thought they had reduced Montreal’s lead to one as Lucas Cavallini in the 62nd minute managed to put the ball behind Breza into the net but the offside flag went up right away. Head coach Wilfred Nancy moments later made his first change bringing in Kei Kamara for Quioto.
The visitors got on the scoreboard in the 66th minute as Brian White got a great kick that went into the corner of the back of the net to reduce Montreal’s lead to one. Vancouver earned a free kick in the 69th minute but Cavallini’s kick went right into the hands of Breza.
Montreal made their second change of the game in the 74th minute bringing in Ahmed Hamdi for Sunusi for his first appearance of the season after missing the start of the season due to injury. In the last 10 minutes of the game, Montreal looked on the back foot as Vancouver was coming at them looking for the equalizer.
Three minutes were added to the 90 and in the dying seconds Tossaint Ricketts came up with a huge header to level the game at two and before the next kickoff was made the ref decided to go to VAR to check if the goal was offside. After further review, the goal was disallowed.
The final whistle blew a couple of minutes later and CF Montreal had extended its winning streak to three games.
Coach reaction
Head coach Wilfred Nancy thinks there is still a lot to be done despite winning three games in a row.
” We had three wins in a row but you know we are going to play against Philly next week and it’s going to be a good game so one game at a time and we will see”.
Player reaction
Victor Wanyama thinks even if his team is on a winning streak that winning is never easy and there will always be moments of adversity.
There will always be difficult moments but it is our time to show that we can go out there and get points so we have done it for the past three games and we will continue to work hard to get better and try to win more”.
Alistair Johnston mentioned that playing at home and winning at home is very important, especially with a lot of games on the road, and stressed the importance of picking up crucial points
” You know it was important for us to pick up points with the slower start and with these last three games we looked at it as a team and said there are points to be had and of course two of them were on the road and the first one back at home and the most important thing no matter how you play is to go out and get three points”.
CF Montreal will be back in action next week as they head to Philadelphia next Saturday to face the Union at Subaru Park.
