In the MLS standings, there was no doubt; CF Montreal’s defensive unit was no match for Charlotte FC’s. But on the field Saturday night, the Montreal soccer team’s defensive unit rose up as it has rarely done in 2024.
Thanks to two goals scored in the first half of the match and impeccable team play in all three zones, the Montreal team ended a three-game losing streak with a 2-1 victory against Charlotte FC in front of another sold-out crowd of 19,619 at Stade Saputo.
“Great,” was the first word midfielder Samuel Piette said to describe the Montreal team’s defensive performance.
“A big, big job from both the defenders and the midfielders and even the forwards too. We had a clear game plan in terms of pressure, how we wanted to defend. I often repeat myself, but defending is not just about the defenders; it starts with the forwards. I think they did a big job at that level. I think we were very focused on the deep balls. I don’t know if there was a deep ball where we lost the race,” Piette also analyzed.
Caden Clark, with his first goal of the season, and Bryce Duke scored in about three minutes of the first half against goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina.
Tim Ream hit back at Jonathan Sirois’ expense, also in the first half, with what was the visitors’ only shot on target during the first 90 minutes of play, plus the seven minutes added at the end of regulation time.
In return, CF Montreal players tested Kahlina nine times, mainly in the first half.
With this victory, CF Montreal (7-12-9) has a total of 30 points, the same number as the Philadelphia Union, in 11th place in the Eastern Conference. The gap with the ninth echelon, the last one giving access to the playoffs, is three points.
CF Montreal will resume action on Wednesday against the New England Revolution, the same club that thrashed the Montreal team 5-0 at Stade Saputo on August 24.
Next Saturday, CF Montreal will return home to host the Chicago Fire FC.
CF wins from the start
On Friday, Laurent Courtois said he wanted to see his teammates have fun on the field, play with heart and discipline and not doubt. For the vast majority of the first half, they fulfilled their head coach’s wish.
After the match, Courtois acknowledged that he had indeed seen this attitude in his players. But it was still not perfect, he also qualified.
“But then we are still a little naive. We force things even though we know very well the points on which the opposition wants to capitalize and sometimes, we are too playful, we are not calculating enough.”
Facing the team with the best defensive average in the Garber circuit before the weekend’s games, the CF Montreal players took control of the ball and enemy territory from the first moments of the duel.
If the first forays to the edge of the penalty area seemed a little timid and did not come to anything, the perseverance of the Montrealers allowed them to hit the net twice before the match reached the half-hour mark.
“We had a plan for the first 15 minutes, and then what we wanted to do to the opponent,” Clark said.
“We wanted to make smart decisions, keep the ball safe, play without taking too many risks in the first 15 minutes,” he said, while noting the team’s defensive discipline.
Clark broke the tie in the 23rd minute during a sequence that saw CF Montreal fire four shots in quick succession towards the opposing net.
Somehow, Kahlina stopped the first three, all at close range. But because he was out of position and his defenders were overwhelmed, Clark completed the sequence without too much difficulty.
Then, in the 26th minute , Duke doubled Montreal’s lead with a precise shot from the center of the box that deflected off Ream after he received a back pass from Raheem Edwards.
However, it was Clark who started the sequence by slipping a precise pass to Edwards, who was left free along the left flank.
Ream corrected his blunder less than 10 minutes later by deflecting a free-kick by Ashley Westwood from a tight angle behind Sirois.
The first half hour of the second half did not see many good scoring chances from either side.
There was only one, in fact, when the ball ended up on the end of Piette’s left foot, posted right in the heart of the penalty area.
Her shot, however, lacked a little vigor and Kahlina managed to block the ball by diving to her right.
During the seven minutes of added time at the end of the second half, largely due to a large cloud of smoke that formed around the Charlotte FC net around the 70th minute , the visitors had only one genuinely good chance to score.
However, Jamie Paterson’s header deflection rolled to Sirois’ right.
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