CF Montreal blanked by DC United, miss chance to book knockout stage ticket
CF Montreal’s Leagues Cup knockout stage hopes are out of their management after shedding 1-0 to DC United of their second and closing group stage match at Stade Saputo on Wednesday night.
“We created enough chances to win this game and the second half was completely dominant,” mentioned head coach Hernan Losada. “I don’t consider the crew might have carried out greater than this. I’m very happy with all of the efforts we made to create so many alternatives to attain. It’s painful, however we all know that it’s going to be like that till the tip of the season.
The recreation was way more open than earlier conferences between the 2 groups this season.
DC pushed increased up the sector, and appeared comfortable buying and selling probabilities with Montreal and forcing a number of saves from goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois.
Montreal started to manage the ball extra after the opening 20 minutes, forcing United to retreat into their low defensive block however couldn’t discover a breakthrough earlier than halftime.
“For the first half, I think we held the ball really well, we played and made good passes which allowed us to play on the front foot,” mentioned DC assistant coach Pete Shuttleworth. “It’s never going to last 90 minutes and we didn’t play with the ball as well so you have to go into your low block and play the other side of the game,”
The second half continued in the identical course as United continued to soak up stress and rebuff lengthy stints of Montreal possession.
Chances continued to come back for the hosts as Bryce Duke and Mahala Opoku linked up on the counterattack and located Zachary Brault-Guillard on their own in entrance of purpose, however was rejected by the foot of Alex Bono.
“I’ve known Mahala since I first starter in the league at 18 so that chemistry’s there and we’re comfortable playing with each other on the field,” mentioned Duke. “I felt like we definitely had our opportunities and broke them down and had some good plays going forward. As soon as it clicks, the sky is the limit.”
Creating after which changing probabilities has been Montreal’s largest setback this season, with inconsistent type and health from attackers mixed with problem breaking down low blocks resulting in one of many worst offences in Major League Soccer.
“It was already like that and I believe now that we’re playing a lot better. We are creating chances, playing football on the ground and having a lot of movement up front,” mentioned Losada. “Unfortunately the final touch is still something that we’re missing, but it’s something that we’ve been missing all year”
Then simply after the 70-minute mark, United discovered the opening purpose towards the run of play.
A pricey turnover from Mathieu Choinière simply exterior the Montreal penalty space allowed Hurtado to undergo on purpose alone, go round a sprawling Sirois and provides the guests the lead.
In the 79th minute, Montreal had one other likelihood to equalize, however Choinière’s shot was cleared off the road by Derrick Williams.
With the loss, Montreal will likely be regretting shedding an important level within the earlier recreation much more. While up 2-0 within the dying phases, they allowed Pumas UNAM to come back from behind and drive a penalty shootout, costing Montreal some extent as regulation victories yield three, and shootout wins solely two.
“It’s frustrating because we played a good game against Pumas, we get three points if we don’t concede at the end but we were still in a good position,” mentioned captain Samuel Piette. “Now, it went from us being in a good position to us having to wait and see.”
Montreal is not going to attain the subsequent spherical except DC beat Pumas in both regulation or penalties after they face off within the closing recreation of Group M at Audi Field on Jul. 29.
