MONTREAL, QC – CF Montreal lost their second game in a row after a late comeback in the second half by Real Salt Lake who recorded their first-ever win in franchise history over Montreal.
CF Montreal lost their second-straight game, this time against Real Salt Lake
A fast start for CF Montreal
1' Un missile de Djordje pour commencer!@JooaquinTorres + @A_hamdy34 + @DjoMihailovic = 💥#MTLvRSL | 1-0 | #CFMTL pic.twitter.com/bhPvrYVP2z
— CF Montréal (@cfmontreal) May 22, 2022
CF Montreal got off to a quick start 45 seconds into the game. Joaquin Torres won a race with Marcelo Silva and was able to find Ahmed Hamdi, who made an excellent dribble and then gave the ball to Djordje Mihailovic who was able to put the ball into the back of the net for the early 1-0 lead. Montreal continued to apply pressure. Then, in the 15-minute, Romell Quioto thought he doubled his team’s lead when he went in alone on the Real Salt Lake keeper Zac Macmath and beat him between the legs but the offside flag went up nullifying the goal.
28' BREZA QUOI. Un arrêt du bout des doigts.
Seb dives to make the incredible save 👊#CFMTL pic.twitter.com/7692s6QWI9
— CF Montréal (@cfmontreal) May 22, 2022
Sebastian Breza made his first real save of the game in the 24-minute as off a corner he was able to punch the ball out of danger as the visitors were starting to press looking for the equalizer. Six minutes later he did it again this time with a diving save off a header from Bobby Wood. The Montreal keeper continued to shut the door and he made another solid save in the 32-minute to keep his team lead alive. Breza continued to make brilliant saves in the dying minutes of the first half and after 45 minutes of play, Montreal went into the locker room up 1-0.
CF Montreal falters
WE TOLD YOU THE COMEBACK WAS STARTING pic.twitter.com/GP4JPMsRiZ
— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) May 22, 2022
Head coach Wilfried Nancy started the second half by making his first change subbing Mathieu Choniere for Lassi Lappalainan. Real Salt Lake tied the game in the 54-minute. This was off a corner as Justen Glad managed to head it into the net to make it 1-1. In the 58-minute, Montreal made their second change bringing in Samuel Piette for Ahmed Hamdi. In the 60-minute, the home side almost retook the lead off a corner, but the ball was headed right into the hands of Macmath who was able to make the save.
DIDN'T WE TELL YOU WE WOULD COME BACK pic.twitter.com/hpFRG4BdGF
— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) May 22, 2022
The visitors took the lead in the 66-minute as Sergio Cordova was able to beat two Montreal defenders and beat Breza with a shot that went through his legs. Victor Wanyama a couple of minutes took a shot from distance on the ensuing play but Macmath was able to make another save.
Montreal earned a free kick in the 75-minute but Macmath made a big save on Quioto and Nancy made three more changes bringing in Kei Kamara, Zachary Brault Guillard, and Zorhan Bassong for Victor Wanyama, Kamal Miller, and Joel Waterman. In the 88-minute, Montreal earned another corner but Mihailovic’s cross went right into the hands of Zac MacMath who once again was able to make a key save late in the game at Saputo Stadium. Three minutes were added to the 90 but it wasn’t enough as the final whistle blew and Montreal had lost their second consecutive game.
Coach reaction
Head coach Wilfred Nancy was not pleased with his team’s performance and in his post-match press conference was able to dissect what happened.
“We had trouble closing space and we didn’t press, we tried to adjust in the second half and keep the ball but we didn’t and we paid for it but we need to move on and focus on the next game”.
Player reaction
Rudy Camacho says his team will need to sit down and discuss the game this week to see exactly what went wrong and how to improve on it.
“It’s disappointing and we didn’t do what we needed to do and we got punished twice, we were at times inpatient with the ball and we scored early but we took our foot off the gas and it’s a bad game and we will need to rectify it”.
CF Montreal has lost two-straight games, including the last Wednesday against Nashville SC. They will have a short turnaround as they begin their Canadian Championship defence on Wednesday night at Saputo as they host Forge FC in the quarterfinals and will face FC Cincinnati on Saturday before the two-week international break.
