Summary
For about 15 minutes on Saturday afternoon, Wilfried Nancy, his players and the team’s fans probably believed that a small miracle could happen against the defending MLS Cup champions. But the cream would rise to the surface.
CF Montreal suffered a third setback in as many MLS outings in 2022, losing 4-1 to New York City FC at Yankee Stadium.
In a match played in bad weather, with the mercury hovering around freezing point, Zachary Brault-Guillard scored the Montreal team’s only goal in the second half.
Alexander Callens and Santiago Rodriguez beat Sebastian Breza in the first half, completely dominated by the host club.
Forward Talles Magno scored a knockout goal after a quarter of an hour of high-level play from CF Montreal after returning from the locker room. Two minutes before, Romell Quioto thought he had scored the equalizer before seeing the linesman’s flag raised, signaling an offside.
Thiago Andrade added an insurance net in the 83rd minute.
“Difficult,” Nancy described when asked to paint a picture of the clash.
“When I look at the first two (goals), they are largely avoidable. There is a good reaction in the second half, we are close to 2-2, but in the end we lose the match with several goals,” he added.
This is only the second time in its history that the Montreal team has started a season in MLS with three straight losses. The Impact had suffered the same fate in 2014, en route to a season where it had only amassed 28 points.
Much like Nancy mentioned on Friday, it’s definitely not the time to panic as there are still 31 games left on the schedule. Brault-Guillard kind of delivered the same message on Saturday.
“You have to remotivate yourself. There are ups and downs. We started the season with stockings. Now it’s up to us to rise to the top as we did last season at times, ”he first pointed out.
“We have a good group. We don’t all know each other yet. It’s new. There were a lot of departures last year and also additions. So, we have to allow time and hope to do better,” added Brault-Guillard.
After the Mexican altitude and the New York cold, CF Montreal will take over the collar on Wednesday in the more cozy environment of the Olympic Stadium.
He will then try to erase a one-goal drop and overthrow Cruz Azul in the second leg of the Concacaf Champions League quarter-finals.
Three days later, Wilfried Nancy’s men will travel to Mercedes-Benz Stadium, where they will face Atlanta United.
“We have our next game at home and then Atlanta. We will have to do nice things at home. It will be up to us to raise the level as we did in the return game against Santos Laguna,” mentioned Brault-Guillard.
Local supremacy…
On Friday, during her videoconference, Nancy pointed out that her team had suffered seven bad minutes out of 180, which had led to four goals and two defeats. Saturday, we could safely say that she played 40 bad minutes out of 45 during the first half.
After the first 20 minutes of play, NYCFC had six shots attempted against two for CF Montreal, and two shots on target against none. Worse, both shots on target found the back of the net.
Callens took advantage of two failed clearance attempts to open the scoring in the seventh minute. Less than a quarter of an hour later, in the 20th minute, Rodriguez exploited a blunder by Victor Wanyama, not far from the Montreal area, to score the second goal of the game.
The New York side completed the first half of the match with three more shots on target, which required as many key saves from Breza.
…then visitors
Limited to four shots attempted and none on target during the first half, the Montreal players started the second half of the match with aplomb. In fact, they were unrecognizable.
Djordje Mihailovic and Brault-Guillard, who had been inserted into the match after the break, joined forces to cut the home side’s lead in half. Brault-Guillard hit the target in the 52nd minute, following a precise cross from the American midfielder.
CF Montreal kept up the pressure in opposing territory and came close to tying the score in the 55th minute, on two consecutive shots from Mihailovic and Matko Miljevic, deftly saved by goalkeeper Sean Johnson.
Unexpectedly, however, New York City FC regained their two-goal lead on their first shot of the second half, courtesy of a Magno header in the 64th minute.
This net would curb the enthusiasm and hopes of a comeback for CF Montreal, who would concede a fourth goal with about seven minutes remaining in regulation time.
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