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CF Montreal Double-Up On Sporting Kansas City
By CF Montreal on the road beat Sporting Kansas City 2-0 thanks to goals from newcomer Bryce Duke and one of Montreal’s best players at the moment, Mathieu Choiniere, while former CPL loanee Jonathan Sirois secured a second clean sheet and continues to excel in the net.
After a rough start to the season things once again have seemed to come together and click for CF Montreal, who managed to find the chemistry tonight on the pitch.
Sporting Kansas City remains the only team in MLS not to have a win and the team faces intense scrutiny as fans left early the stands in anger and frustration.
Alan Pulido had Sporting’s first chance of the game in the 13th minute with the first shot on target but Sirois made his first save of the game, and seven minutes later it was Choiniere chance on the menu but he was denied by KC keeper Tim Melia.
Five minutes later it was Chinonso Offor, who managed to deflect a ball on target but again Melia stood tall and made the crucial save for his team.
In the 31st minute, it was Daniel Salloi for the home side going for goal and Sirois was forced to make a leaping save deflecting the ball over the crossbar with his hand.
Four minutes later CF Montreal opened the scoring when Bryce Duke finished a play that seemed like it was drawn up as he got a solid feed from Choiniere and beat Melia between the legs with a powerful shot.
Choiniere doubled Montreal’s lead in stoppage time when Aaron Herrera found him and he was able to beat Melia with a quick shot to make it 2-0 going into halftime.
In the 52nd minute, Salloi was at it again getting another shot on target but it was pushed away by Sirois, and six minutes it was Johnny Russell’s turn but again was denied by Sirois.
Salloi had another chance in the 66th minute with a shot from just outside the box, and again Sirois made another diving save tipping the ball over the bar.
Russell thought he scored in extra time in the 97th minute when he was finally able to beat Sirois but upon further review, the goal was overturned due to the play being offside.
After the game in his post-game Zoom call, Hernan Losada was asked what had changed in the last two games to be able to get two consecutive clean sheets.
“A little bit of everything”, Losada said. “running the extra mile for the teammate next to you and you need to be able to run and to fight and to do more without the ball and little by little you gain confidence.”
“You start to play more with the ball and I think it’s a combination of things and with the results, our confidence is growing so that’s what we are trying to become.”
I asked Mathieu Choiniere about his performance tonight and how he keeps being one of the best players on the pitch.
“We need to give credit to the team,” Choiniere said. “It’s a nice effort from the team and we keep pushing. Three wins in three games and we want to keep pushing forward and it’s nice to win so we have to get used to it.”
I also had the chance to ask Joel Waterman about the fact that the team has now found its chemistry on the field and it’s leading to positive results.
“It takes time,” Waterman responded. “We had guys who never played together and a new coaching staff and it takes time to get back on the same page and you saw that on the first goal with players at the right spot at the right time.”
“The timing was great so everyone is chipping in and everyone knows their role and everyone has to play to their standard and play to their strengths.”
CF Montreal will head home and prepare this week to face Orlando City SC next Saturday night at Saputo Stadium.
Header Image Photo Credit: Major League Soccer