CF Montreal welcomed Austin FC to Saputo Stadium for the first time but fell 1-0 as a former player Maxi Urruti scored the game winner late in the second half.
CF Montreal falls to first time visitor Austin FC
A tight competitive first half
Through the first 10 minutes of the game, no team was able to get a shot on target but it looked like a game where both teams were evenly matched. Two minutes CF Montreal had a chance to score off a corner as the ball was headed on net but was punched away by the Austin goalkeeper Brad Stuver.
In the 28th minute, Montreal earned another corner but Stuver again off another head was able to make the save and keep the ball out. Austin was reduced to 10 men in the 45th minute as Daniel Pereira was shown a second yellow card and shown a red card for a rough foul on Mathieu Choiniere.
The first half finished with both teams heading to the locker room deadlocked at 0-0.
A former player sinks Montreal
Wilfried Nancy began the second half by taking out Samuel Piette and replacing him with Ismael Kone. Kei Kamara had a great opportunity to open the scoring in the 53rd minute as he got a sublime pass from Joaquin Torres and was all alone against Stuver but the Austin keeper was able to deny him.
Diego Fagundez almost made it 1-0 for the visitors five minutes later as he fired a shot on target but it rang off the post and stayed out. Maxi Urruti opened the scoring in the 65th minute as he was able to get a quick shot past Breza to make it 1-0 for Austin.
Nancy made a triple change in the 72nd minute subbing in Ahmed Hamdi, Romell Quioto, and Alistair Johnston for Joaquin Torres, Zachary Brault Guillard, and Matko Miljevic. Three minutes later Montreal had another scoring opportunity off a corner but again was punched away by Stuver.
Nancy made his final change in the 77th minute subbing in Jojea Kwizera for Mathieu Choniere. Four minutes of time was added to the 90 as Montreal pushed and pressed looking for the equalizer.
The final whistle blew and Austin FC had secured their first-ever win at Saputo Stadium in Montreal.
Coach reaction
Coach Wilfried Nancy was asked in his post game press conference what positives he could take out of the match moving forward.
” This is a good game to work on, we had the momentum playing 11 against 10 to do what what we wanted to do but couldn’t capitalize on our chances”.
Player reaction
Samuel Piette was asked if he felt any frustration from the team in his post game media availability.
” Ya for sure but that might be the problem but I was on the bench for the second half and I didn’t feel the urgency of the team pushing forward and getting the ball into the box, yes we wanted to keep the ball and move them side to side and when you have 45 minutes with an extra man and it’s 0-0 you want to be patient, you don’t want to rush things and make a game of counter attacks because that’s what they wanted and especially towards the end of the game especially when your down you need to play more direct and I didn’t feel we did that”.
Nancy did confirm that Djordje Mihailovic will miss 2-4 weeks with a knee injury while Kamal Miller will be out 7-10 days with a leg injury also adding that Ibrahim Sunusi is day to day with an ankle injury. CF Montreal will be back in action on Wednesday night as they will head to Toronto to face TFC in the 2022 Canadian Championship semifinal.
There next MLS game is next Saturday as they welcome Charlotte FC to Saputo Stadium with a kick off scheduled for 7:30pm.
