CF Montreal experienced two major frustrations on Saturday night: it did not confirm its place in the playoffs and it came up against an opponent who gave it only crumbs for 90 minutes.
The Bleu-blanc-noir struggled to create scoring opportunities and lost 0-2 to Charlotte FC at Bank of America Stadium.
After scoring 11 goals during their five-game unbeaten streak (4-0-1), Montreal arrived in North Carolina with all their offensive bearings. But, despite CF Montreal’s clear dominance in possession, 60.8 to 39.2, Charlotte FC always seemed to be ahead by one or two moves.
In his first start since July 3, forward Sunusi Ibrahim knocked on the door twice, but to no avail. His teammates Bryce Duke and Caden Clark, who have recently carved up opposing defenses, were never able to shake the Charlotte FC wall. In addition, Montreal’s attacks were regularly slowed down the central corridor.
In short, Laurent Courtois’ men tried everything, but the answers did not come.
“They’re a very well-organized team that calculated the way their defensive block came out,” Courtois said. “We were a little imprecise in the first half. It was complicated because we knew they wanted to set traps. There was a lack of recognition to create crosses in the box, but I don’t have much to reproach my players for.”
The Montreal team was coming off an emotional victory in Atlanta on Wednesday night, but the players assure that fatigue had nothing to do with the slow start to the match against Charlotte FC.
“As a player, you always want to be on the pitch. I think we have the second youngest team in the league, so we use that to our advantage. We’re young, we’re fresh and we have more energy. With the way we’re going, you just want to play. When you step on the pitch, you want to give it your all, and everyone was ready to do that,” right back Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty observed.
“It’s not easy to play two games in a row in such a short period of time, with the travel, but every team has to experience it. We can’t use that as an excuse,” added defender Joel Waterman.
With losses to Toronto FC and the Philadelphia Union, CF Montreal (10-13-10) needed only a draw to punch its ticket to the playoffs. For the third time in four years, however, it will have to wait until “decision day” in two weeks to find out its fate.
The club will play its final match of the campaign against New York City FC at Stade Saputo. For the occasion, it will be without midfielder Nathan Saliba, suspended for one game for an accumulation of yellow cards.
“It’s disappointing, obviously. We wanted to confirm our presence [Saturday] and take that pressure off ourselves in the last game. Now it gives us an opportunity to confirm it in front of our fans. It’s always more interesting on decision day. We’re still in high spirits, and a loss isn’t going to change our energy,” Waterman said.
Although some results went in their favor, the Bleu-blanc-noir slipped to ninth place in the Eastern Conference after DC United won against the New England Revolution.
Karol Swiderski and Patrick Agyemang scored for Charlotte FC (13-11-9), which climbed to fifth in the East. It was a first victory against the Montreal club for the players of “the Crown”, after five failed attempts (0-4-1).
Courtois used virtually the same starting 11 as in Atlanta, except for two changes. Ibrahim played his first game since Aug. 24 and defender Gabriele Corbo was used for the first time since Sept. 21.
CF Montreal will enjoy a week of rest during the international break. Goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois, Waterman and Saliba will also represent Canada during the break.
A little too late
Charlotte FC quickly dictated the pace of the first half and built some nice attacks to get into the Montreal third.
Liel Abada gave the first warning in the third minute but his powerful shot was deflected over the net by George Campbell. Swiderski was then involved in two more scoring chances.
The Pole headed the ball wide from a free-kick but missed the target. The home team tried exactly the same thing a few minutes later, but this time Sirois dove to his right to frustrate Swiderski.
CF Montreal slowly gained confidence in its abilities, but the momentum was quickly slowed.
In the 34th minute , Sirois stopped a shot from Abada by diving to his right, but the ball bounced to the left. Quick-thinking Swiderski pushed it into the back of the net to open the scoring.
The Bleu-blanc-noir finished the first half well, setting up near the enemy penalty area, but was unable to unleash a dangerous shot.
The visitors left the dressing room with plenty of energy and made Charlotte FC suffer by maintaining possession of the ball. They took advantage of this to get their first shot on target of the match in the 55th minute , but Marshall-Rutty came up against goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina.
The Montrealers then tried to combine their efforts to create better opportunities in the center of the area, but the tight defense didn’t let anything pass.
It was also a tackle by Iuri Tavares in his territory that led to the magnificent goal by Agyemang, who made fun of Waterman to close the books.
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