Injury bug hits hard as CF Montreal looks to bounce back from opening day loss
MONTREAL — CF Montreal skilled the rising pains that include a brand new coach in its Major League Soccer opener, dropping the primary sport of the Hernan Losada period in a 2-0 on the street to Inter Miami.
Losada now heads right into a street match in opposition to Austin FC seeking to appropriate course and start selecting up factors all whereas navigating a slew of accidents to the staff’s defensive corps.
Defenders Joel Waterman, George Campbell, Robert Thorkelsson, and Jojea Kwizera all picked up accidents in pre-season, scaling down what was initially a deep and gifted defensive group.
The accidents saved piling up within the season opener, as staring goalkeeper James Pantemis separated his shoulder. While it was knocked again into place throughout the incident, the membership confirmed he suffered some ligament harm, protecting him sidelined for at the least three or 4 weeks.
“Every player is important, and every absence obviously hurts us,” Losada mentioned throughout coaching main as much as the Austin match. “It’s up to the players to be ready and grab this opportunity with both hands.”
Goaltender Jonathan Sirois is a participant with simply such a chance. A fixture of Montreal’s youth academy because the age of 14, Sirois is spending his rookie season with the membership’s first staff after two years on mortgage with Canadian Premier League facet Valour FC.
Sirois featured in 43 video games with the Winnipeg-based staff, profitable solely 16 video games however protecting 14 clear sheets.
Montreal has made it a behavior of loaning out many promising children and permitting them to get some skilled expertise earlier than returning to the membership. Midfielder Sean Rea is in the identical boat, having performed with Sirois at Valour for 2 years.
“I’m not here to compare myself to anyone, I’m just trying to work my hardest every day,” mentioned Sirois, who noticed his first ever MLS minutes when he got here on after Pantemis’s damage. “It’s been a long process and I think the club invested a lot in me to go out on loan and get experience so now it’s time for me to get on the field and just do my best.”
Sirois’s doubtless first ever begin will probably be an infinite take a look at. Touted as top-of-the-line groups within the Western Conference and MLS Cup contenders, Austin was shocked on opening day by shedding to enlargement St. Louis City and will probably be seeking to proper the ship instantly.
Not solely does Austin boast top-of-the-line midfields in Major League Soccer, however top-of-the-line attackers within the league in Sebastian Driussi. The Argentine attacking midfielder completed second in MVP voting final season after placing up 22 targets and 7 assists, making him precedence No. 1 for the Montreal defence.
Injuries to the defence imply the right-side central defender place stays an issue space. Aaron Herrera and Samuel Piette each featured in that function, however your complete backline was unconvincing in possession in opposition to Miami and struggled to determine any form of rhythm.
“We already have a good idea of how they play. We watched their game last week and I watched our meetings last year so that’s why we’ve done a lot of tactical work these last two days,” mentioned Losada. “We want to obviously prepare play based on what we know about our opponents, but we don’t want to change too much.”
“At the end of the day, we still want to play our own game and our own distinct style.”
