CF Montreal and FC Cincinnati played out yet another high-scoring game on Saturday in which no importance seemed to be given to defence. And the result was the same as a few weeks ago, that is to say a 4-3 victory for Wilfried Nancy's men.
This win, combined with the 3-0 victory against Forge FC in the Canadian Championship a few days earlier, allows CF Montreal to start off on a happy streak. After two losses, the team returns to sunnier days.
The Montreal club and FC Cincinnati have faced each other twice this season and 14 goals have been scored during these confrontations. So both teams actually believe they are in a position to score. It's good for the crowd, but no defensive principle has been respected.
And most of those 14 goals were the culmination of a clear lack of defensive focus. In fact, the first two goals of the match, those of Junior Moreno and Joel Waterman, came from almost identical actions. On corner kicks, as was the case with these goals, it is very important for the attacking team to touch the ball first, because this is how the action becomes dangerous . And that's what happened. The attacking team headed to the far post for a goal, all in all, quite simple.
At CF Montreal, it's nice to see two central backs, and I'm talking about Kamal Miller and Waterman, getting so involved.
In the first half, as I said before, the basic principles of defense, i.e. pressing the ball, covering and being swung, simply did not exist. Both teams had plenty of chances to put the ball in the back of the net, even though the half ended 2-1.
Quioto opens the machine
Romell Quioto took over offensively for the Montrealers with his two goals. And it came at the right time, in particular because of the early exit from the match of Djordje Mihailovic, injured in an ankle.
The American is a super important player for the team, especially on offense, but CF Montreal was still able to win without him.
The exact length of his absence is not yet known, but last night the organization learned that Mihailovic would be absent "in the short term".
A negative point during the match was, once again, the outfit of Lassi Lappalainen. Even if the meeting was an offensive festival, the Finn was not engaged at all.
Time off
These last two victories will help the team psychologically over the next three weeks. Indeed, the players will be on enforced rest due to the international break, which is bizarre at this stage of the season. However, it should give injured players a chance to recover and have a chance to finish the season strong.
In the return, CF Montreal will play five games in the space of two and a half weeks. And the team will want to score points, because it has historically struggled to finish seasons well.
