CF Montreal can consider themselves lucky to have won 2 to 1 against Atlanta United FC on Saturday afternoon.
The Montreal troupe had made a specialty of yielding early in a game to return to the score and the opposite happened on Saturday.
Trailing 1-0 at halftime, Atlanta controlled most of the game and tied the game in the 51st minute through Marcelino Moreno.
Kamal Miller opened the scoring early in the game. He also fooled two Atlanta defenders to cross to Joaquin Torres who headed the winning goal in the 82nd minute.
That was all it took to animate the fine crowd of 15,060 spectators, who enjoyed a beautiful sunny afternoon at Stade Saputo.
We even had the right to “Guy! Guy! Dude!” in homage to Guy Lafleur when the 10-minute appeared on the dial.
❤️🤍💙
We will never forget you Guy. @1642Montreal #CFMTL pic.twitter.com/y1vRbZQ8JZ
— CF Montréal (@cfmontreal) April 30, 2022
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Mark matched
Despite this performance, which was not particularly complete at home, the Montrealers have just tied a team record with a sixth game without defeat (4-0-2) in MLS. Add to that a draw against Cruz Azul in the Champions League quarter-finals and the unbeaten streak is seven games.
Better than that, the team was almost perfect in April with a collection of 13 points out of a possible 15 thanks to four wins and a draw.
The next game against Orlando, next Saturday at Stade Saputo, will however be a little more complicated in midfield since Victor Wanyama and Ismaël Koné will be suspended for accumulation of yellow cards.
Domination
CF Montreal started the game with a bang by opening the scoring in the 4th minute when Kamal Miller scored his first goal of the season by extending with a header a free kick from Djordje Mihailovic, who collected a fourth assist.
The problem is that the Montrealers were subsequently eaten all round in midfield, which resulted in a multitude of lost balls and technical waste.
Atlanta took advantage of the locals’ slack game to have almost 73% of possession in the first half.
However, Wilfried Nancy wants his team to be one of possession, which is even more true at home.
Were you talking about soft play and Atlanta’s domination in midfield? Montreal posted a very poor pass completion rate of 69.8% in the first half against nearly 90% for the visitors.
Find the way to win
“The guys found a way to win this game, how football is irrational at times.”
Wilfried Nancy could not better sum up this somewhat improbable victory for his team, who stole the three points despite a good performance on the road to Atlanta.
“We played against a team that has quality even if there are absentees,” insisted Nancy.
Indeed, Atlanta was without striker Josef Martinez, goalkeeper Brad Guzan and midfielder Osvaldo Alonso. But it didn’t show.
Dominated
The locals were even outplayed in terms of ball possession, particularly in the first half, up to 70% in favor of the visitors.
“We didn’t have the ball, the players played on something else like defending, explained Nancy. They were strong mentally and especially in the fact of having conceded only one goal. It’s not luck, the guys didn’t give up.
Author of a goal and an assist, a first for him in his career, Kamal Miller, however, wanted to reduce the importance of possession of the ball in the meeting.
“Atlanta is one of the best teams in the league for possession, whether they’re playing at home or away.
“It’s normal in their case and to beat them, you have to defend well for 90 minutes. I think possession isn’t that important if you’re doing the defensive work.”
And Miller made sure the team had a great night by providing the assist for Joaquin Torres on the game-winning goal.
“I don’t really know what happened. I wanted to provoke things and I wanted to put the ball in the box,” he explained.
Merci Kamal
As mentioned, Miller played a solid offensive game with a very nice header in the first half.
But it was in the second half that he shone with a fake that beat two defenders and then made the cross that led to the winning goal.
“He turned into Messi in the second half, launched Djordje Mihailovic. We needed that kind of performance from him in this game. The goal and the assist were the icing on the cake in my opinion.”
“I hope he won’t believe he’s Zidane,” joked Nancy. It has a big margin of
See Wilfried Nancy’s post-match press briefing.
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Wilfried Nancy post-match press briefing –
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Watch Kamal Miller’s post-match interview.
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Miller, player of the match –
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Watch Captain Samuel Piette’s post-game interview.
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SUMMARY
SECOND HALF
90 minute +3| Fine you match.
90e minute| 3 minutes are added.
90e minute| Breza frustrates Atlanta with a nice save
83e minute| CHANGEMENT – Zorhan Bassong remplace Lassi Lappalainen.
82e minute| GOAL – Joaquin Torres accepts a cross from Kamal Miller and scores with a header to make it 2-1 for CF Montreal.
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Torres sets Saputo Stadium on fire. –
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80e minute| A pass near the attacking net by Lassi Lappalainen is intercepted.
76e minute| Franco Ibarra is cautioned.
74e minute| CHANGE – Zachary Brault-Guillard replaces Alistair Johnston in side defense.
74e minute| CHANGE – Kei Kamara replaces Romell Quioto in attack.
71e minute| Romell Quoito has a good chance to score but is ruled offside.
68e minute| CHANGE – Samuel Piette, to the applause of the crowd, replaces Ismaël Koné.
59e minute| Yellow card for Ismaël Koné, he will therefore miss the next match.
58e minute| Djordje Mihailovic is broke in the area, but the referee puts his whistle away.
55e minute| Alan Franco receives a yellow card.
54e minute| Rudy Camacho is close to giving CF Montreal the lead.
52e minute| Marcelino Moreno receives a yellow card for taking off his shirt in celebration
51e minute| GOAL – Marcelino Moreno brings everyone level with a shot that hits the post and goes into the net.
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Atlanta evens the score –
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46e minute| CHANGE – Joaquin Torres replaces Ahmed Hamdi.
46e minute| Start of the second half.
FIRST HALF
32e minute| Sebastian Breza stands out with a nice save.
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Nice save from Breza on a free kick –
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31e minute| Yellow card for Victor Wanyama, he will therefore be suspended for the next meeting.
20e minute| Joel Waterman misses a golden chance on a corner.
19e minute| Thiago Almada tries to surprise the Montreal defense with a long shot, but he misses.
11e minute| Sebastian Breza makes a good save from a free kick just outside the box.
10e minute| Carton jaune pour Rudy Camacho.
4th minute| GOAL – Kamal Miller scores with a header served from a free kick by Djordje Mihailovic.
1ère minute| Start of the meeting
See the rosters for tonight’s game:
