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Atlanta United Delivers Second Straight Home Loss To CF Montreal
By All week CF Montreal spoke about getting on the right track after losing their second game at home this season against NYCFC, but ultimately lost again – this time to Atlanta United.
Brooks Lennon capitalized on a set-piece free kick from their Argentinian World Cup superstar Thiago Almada and found a loose rebound and put the ball into the back of the net.
“It’s not a nice goal”, Losada responded after the match. “We knew they had scored 15 goals off set pieces and they are very dangerous in that aspect.”
The action fell in front of a sellout crowd of 19,619 and. once again, a packed visitors away section on a night in Montreal where it felt hot, humid, and sticky, which is basically Atlanta weather.
“It’s unfortunate because, in the second half, there was a lot of stoppages, which ruins the game.”
CF Montreal started the game on the front foot, dominating in possession and early chances to score but once again lacked finishing in the final third.
“I think we had a good first half despite the lack of scoring chances and the majority of the first half was spent in their zone,” continued Losada.
The second half was completely different as we saw many stoppages in play to the point that nine minutes of added time were included at the end, as it seemed every foul was being called.
“If you can’t do anything, you can’t play the game. It is really unfortunate.”
Losada feels the first 15 minutes of the second half is where the team took their foot off the gas and let the visitors take over, with not a lot of chances – it seemed like they had packed it in and gone home.
“The first 10-15 minutes we didn’t play with the same momentum or the same energy from the first half, and it feels like we didn’t even play the second half.”
CF Montreal is on a bad trend in that in their past six matches when they have at least 55% of possession, but they end up losing the game. Atlanta finished the game with 27%.
Things got a bit violent at the end of the game with disappointed fans throwing stuff on the field. After the final whistle, Losada and Atlanta head coach Gonzalo Pineda got into an argument and needed to be separated.
I asked Losada if he was willing to talk about the incident, but mentioned he wasn’t and congratulated Atlanta on the win tonight.
Victor Wanyama feels the team was close tonight but lacked, in his words, the cutting edge.
“We were the better team but we missed again the chance to finish,” continued the veteran.
I asked Wanyama if he felt frustrated in the second half when there was a lot of stoppages in play.
“If I speak my mind I will get in trouble, but tonight I felt like I was playing on the road. Everything was going against us. I can’t change much, it’s a bit frustrating.”
CF Montreal will have a short turnaround as they will next prepare to travel to the windy city to face the Chicago Fire on Wednesday night and will be back at home next Saturday to face Charlotte FC.