American League: Montreal and Real Salt Lake draw 0-0

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MONTREAL – Real Salt Lake's arrival in Montreal did not generate a tenth of the fanfare that accompanied Inter Miami's visit a month ago, but UT had everything to make its host shudder. A run of 13 consecutive unbeaten matches in MLS, and star striker Cristian “Chicho” Arango, whose statistics are nothing to envy compared to Messi.

The opponent was formidable, so CF Montreal stood up well. There are draws that are easier to digest than others, and the 0-0 draw that the Montreal eleven defended against the Western Conference leaders on Saturday has to belong to that category.

Montreal has not been defeated in its last four matches, since its exit from the Canadian Championship at the end of May. Victories are still rare – there has been just one, accompanied by three draws, during this run – but there are signs of progress nonetheless.

Coach Laurent Courtois commented: “I am confused by the chances we created and at the same time I do not feel greedy because we had a really good team in front of us.” My feelings are a little mixed. »

“I think on the one hand, we have to tell ourselves that what we are doing is still good compared to last month. It is a distinction that we can achieve,” said goalkeeper Jonathan Serruis. “But going forward, we have to be realistic, and we will have to pick up more points. Especially in the East with the current arrangement.”

CF Montreal was effectively halted in that regard on Saturday. It remains stagnant in twelfth place, two points above the qualifying threshold.

Sirois stopped all six of RSL's shots on goal to earn his fourth shutout of the season. He entered his game with two divine tackles in the 24th minute. The astonishing sequence became superficial when the linesman raised his flag to signal offside, but the goalkeeper said it nonetheless gave him the confidence to confront the second-best attack in MLS.

Sirius, who was dropped in favor of Sebastian Briza in his side's final game before the international break two weeks ago, finally put in an impressive and encouraging performance. The Quebec goalkeeper had a complicated month of May during which he conceded 17 goals in six games.

“We know how decisive he is for us. We are sometimes surprised by certain goals we concede or actions that we think we are comfortable with now. We know he is capable of rising to the highest levels. The socks have to be lower,” Courtois said frankly.

The result was achieved while Montreal was deprived of the services of its usual three players. Matthew Choiniere, Samuel Peet and Ariel Lassiter have been retained in their national squad in preparation for the Copa America tournament which starts next week.

Joel Waterman has first been left out of Canada's selection plans, and will leave his club to join Unifolié in the coming hours.

Feedback that feels good

On the other hand, Courtois benefited from the expected return of some executives whose absence had affected his group in recent months. Kwadwo Opoku and Mathias Coccaro, who suffered serious knee injuries at the start of the season, have returned to training after missing eight and 15 weeks respectively. Mason Toye and Lassi Lappalainen, the Clinic's starters, also return to the bench.

The introduction of all these beauties after the hour mark energized a game that Impact would not have stolen if they had managed to grab the three points. As Sirois put it, “It brought some chaos.”

Toye got past goalkeeper Zak McMath in his opening minutes, but was frustrated by a good challenge from a defender. As for Coccaro, he quickly showed that he had lost none of the enthusiasm he had discovered in him. He received a yellow card before breaking a sweat, messing himself up as he likes to do in duels and attempting two shots towards the opponent's goal.

In the 70th minute, Sirius advanced to block an attempt by Arango, who leads the American League with 16 goals. The dangerous Colombian scored just one of his six shots against Montreal. A few seconds later, Diego Luna hit the post to the goalkeeper's left.

Lappalainen and Opoku came on together in the 73rd minute. The Finn fired a shot over the crossbar in the 81st minute while Mahala lacked precision after a long run down the left flank in the 87th minute.

” [Dans nos autres 0-0 plus tôt cette saison]“I don't think we created a lot of chances, but tonight we had a lot of chances to win the game,” Waterman said. They had some too. For a scoreless game, it was very exciting. »

After hitting the bottom of the barrel last month, CF Montreal is starting to deliver digestible play once again. He must now learn to win regularly.