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CF Montreal Grabs Draw With League-Leaders FC Cincinnati
By After tonight’s game, it’s safe to say CF Montreal has grown exponentially after drawing 1-1 with FC Cincinnati the best team in the league.
“You play the match till the end,” Losada said in his opening answer in the post-game press conference. “We need to move on we have another big game in two days.”
The first half had a slow start and both teams had chances to score but nothing on target. In the 15th minute, Junior Moreno had the best chance of the half for the visitors but his shot sailed wide.
“I am very proud of our team’s performance. We played against a team with experience and a lot of quality, and they were well-organized but we played well and pushed to the very end.”
Hernan Losada began the second half by bringing in Lassi Lappalainen for Bryce Duke, switching the formation to a 3-4-3. That’s when things started to turn in Montreal’s favour.
“We won’t live in the past: we have five games to go and we are still in a playoff spot, and it’s up to us to stay in that spot.”
Mahala Opoku broke the deadlock in the 53rd minute when he made a solid run up the pitch and with his left foot fired a powerful shot into the back of the net to the delight of the home fans.
“So as soon as I got the ball I was looking at the keeper and they gave me a chance to shoot,” Opoku said when describing his goal. “I know I can hit the ball so I did it.”
In the 79th minute, Jonathan Sirois – who was fresh off his eleventh clean sheet – made another big save on Luciano Acosta, who managed to curl a shot on target.
“When you go toe-to-toe with the best team in the league you have to take some pride out of it,” Waterman told me when I asked about the growth and the evolution of this team.
“It’s a couple of missed opportunities. How much we have learned and grown as a team is huge, but I am super proud of the team tonight and we defended well and came in with the right mentality.”
Six minutes were added to the 90. With one minute to go tragedy struck for Montreal as Sirois came out of his net and bumped into Dominque Badji and the ref pointed to the spot awarding FC Cincinnati a penalty.
Acosta stepped up to the spot and made no mistake tying the game at one on the last play of the game which salvaged a draw instead of dropping three points for his team.
“We wanted to prove something to ourselves and the league, but it’s bittersweet to drop two points tonight…but we play the game, learn and we have a big game on Saturday”