2023-10-05 03:45:00
Summary Houston v. CFM
MONTREAL – The statistics gave fans no reason to believe it, but they believed it, just like the CF Montreal players.
Lassi Lappalainen hit the target in stoppage time of the second half to allow the Bleu-blanc-noir to sign an unexpected 1-1 draw once morest the Houston Dynamo, Wednesday evening, at Saputo stadium.
Under the sustained encouragement of their fans, Montreal managed to come from behind for a rare time this season when Lappalainen needed two shots to beat goaltender Steve Clark. This strike gave them a crucial point in the race for the Eastern Conference playoffs.
Following some bad luck which led to Dynamo’s goal, the carrots seemed to be over for CF Montreal (11-16-5). The team was 0-16-1 when conceding the first goal this season and the lack of finishing in the penalty area did not bode well. With one kick, however, the 25-year-old Finn managed to erase all the missed opportunities beforehand.
“There is a little justice,” observed head coach Hernan Losada. We worked a lot on the finishing, but it’s lacking. There are times when I feel like we have more time than the players think. We are doing good things in the final third and we have to continue. »
When Lappalainen threaded the needle, Losada was careful not to celebrate even though it was an important goal. It’s not that he wasn’t happy to see his team being rewarded with one point, but rather that he wanted two more.
“I celebrated inside. There’s a little Losada who jumped, the head coach imagined, smiling. But I didn’t celebrate because we want to win. We did enough good things to win tonight. Their team is very good when it leads 1-0 and our players gave everything. It’s an important point and the playoff race is still open, but we have to win every game. Especially at home. We thought we might win, but unfortunately we will settle for a point. »
CF Montreal has not won in front of its fans in its last four outings (0-1-3) and it has not won in its last seven games (0-4-3), but it has everything even found a way to stay on the right side of the red line.
The Chicago Fire won their duel once morest Inter Miami CF, New York City FC was on a bye and DC United lost in Austin, leaving the Montrealers in ninth and last place giving access to the playoffs in the East, with two games to play.
“You never celebrate a point unless it’s the last game of the year and it gets you into the playoffs, but there’s enough confidence in this locker room to take part in it. It’s still in our hands,” said Lappalainen.
Winner of the United States Cup for the second time in its history last Wednesday, Dynamo (12-11-9) thought they had done enough to sign a first victory in eight attempts at the Saputo stadium.
When Artur opened the scoring, the Texans ended a drought of 594 minutes without a goal once morest the Montreal club, but they left the field with only one point.
CF Montreal was without the services of defender Gabriele Corbo, suspended due to an accumulation of yellow cards, but found in its starting 11 defender Joel Waterman, who had missed the last match due to a suspension for having a red card.
Waterman had a strong game, saving the furniture a few times on defense, but he indicated that he had not been invited to the camp of the Canadian team, which heads to Japan next week.
“I want to show consistency in my performances and be part of the Canadian team. I want to give myself the best chance of getting there, but it’s not my decision. When I heard the news, it gave me extra motivation to continue playing well. I want to prove that I deserve to be there,” he expressed.
CF Montreal will return to action on Saturday evening when they host the Portland Timbers. This will be the last match at Saputo Stadium of the season.
We stopped believing it would happen
The Montreal team started the match with a bang, as Clark had to signal himself to block a left-footed shot from Romell Quioto in the first minute of play.
The Bleu-blanc-noir continued its offensive breakthroughs a few minutes later, but with the same result. Quioto redirected a cross from Zachary Brault-Guillard with his head, but Clark intervened.
Dynamo got their first chance to score, in the 10th minute, and they took advantage of it. Defender Fernando Alvarez lost his footing on the left side and lost the ball to Ibrahim Aliyu. He handed the ball to Sebastian Kowalczyk at the penalty spot and the latter slipped it to Artur, who hit the target with a very precise shot.
CF Montreal, however, was not shaken by this goal and once once more stormed the enemy zone. Mathieu Choinière saw his header narrowly miss the target in the 15th minute, and Nathan Saliba’s shot, coming from the edge of the area in the 24th minute, was blocked by an opponent.
Both teams then calmed down until the end of the first half.
From the first moments of the second half, Aliyu accepted a long ball to appear alone in front of goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois, but Waterman’s retreat prevented a shot. The Montrealers also knocked on the door, but Sunusi Ibrahim was not able to beat Clark.
The more the minutes passed, the more the tension began to rise in the stadium. CF Montreal tried its luck several times, but it was during its last shot of the match that it finally allowed its supporters to celebrate.
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