CF Montreal certainly disappointed their fans on Saturday as they lost 1-0 at home to Austin after returning from a three-week international break.
The club fielded a starting XI that we’re not exactly used to due to injuries and the recent return of some players who were with their national team.
Coach Wilfried Nancy chose to let these players start the game on the bench or directly in the stands.
If Honduran international Romell-Quioto in particular had been there from the start, the result would certainly have been different.
The other two notable absentees were attacking midfielder Djordje Mihailovic, who was injured in Montreal’s last game in late May, and Kamal Miller in defence.
All of this gave other players a chance to show their worth, but I don’t think they took advantage of that opportunity.
Most notably, midfielder Matko Miljevic was supposed to take Mihailovic’s place, but he didn’t do enough to influence the game offensively.
Argentine Joaquin Torres had the opportunity to be the protagonist of the attack but he really didn’t come to that level.
lack of consistency
The overall performance wasn’t necessarily bad: we created chances where it was harder to miss than to score, but Kei Kamara failed twice before Quioto did the same.
This lack of consistency in attack and defense is the main reason for this negative result.
Despite playing a player less for more than half, and despite being statistically outnumbered, the Austin players for me put more energy into it, had a lot more commitment to their game and had more quality.
Conversely, the quality of CF Montreal around the goal, the last pass, the shots was weak.
Maxi Urruti
During his two-year stint in Montreal in 2019 and 2020, Austin forward Maxi Urruti saw a hockey goal instead of a soccer goal.
Despite his high salary at the time, he had a hard time scoring for Montreal. But on Saturday it was he who, with support from his team-mates, scored the winning goal at the Stade Saputo.
The Montreal technicians and fans certainly didn’t expect that and I’m sure that Wilfried Nancy was not at all happy with this result, even if he had important players who couldn’t start or were injured.
However, the club won’t have time to dwell on that failure too much as the action resumes tomorrow against Toronto in the Canadian Championship ahead of Charlotte FC’s visit on Saturday night.
