MLS: The Union is stubborn at home against CF Montreal

Montreal’s starting lineup declared a tough game, but with more finishing, the outcome could have been very different.

With one eye on the Canadian Championship final, Bleu-blanc-noir fought back as best they could before losing 3-0 to the Philadelphia Union on Saturday night at Subaru Park.

The end result is final and the stats don’t lie. Union dominated the shooting pole, 23-for-nine, and shots on goal, eight-on-two, but still felt hot soup on a few occasions. And all this against a group of mostly guys auditioning.

Against a club that rarely gives free points at home, Montreal coach Hernán Losada decided to let go of eight out of 11 starting players in Wednesday night’s draw in Washington.

Losada has given minutes to several different players while resting his starting players, who have been in high demand since the start of May and who will face the Whitecaps in Vancouver in the final on Wednesday night.

Quebec goalkeeper James Bantemess notably made his first start since February 25, when he injured his shoulder in the first game of the season. Striker Mason Toye returned to action after two months out. Nathan Saliba and Elias Elias started for the first time since April. Osman Jabang played his first minutes in the NBA. In short, the reviews have been good and already underway.

“We’ve given a lot of minutes to players who haven’t played much in the last few weeks, the last few months. We’ve given many players opportunities to do a good analysis and see which players are ready for more minutes and which ones still have things to improve,” Losada said.

Despite everything, his men knocked on the door several times. Goalkeeper Andre Blake and his defenders had to stay alert because the Montreal squad could have walked into the locker room with a lead or at least a tie.

Al Ittihad’s attacking trio (9-4-3) Mikael Ohry, Julian Carranza and Daniel Gazdag dominated the enemy territory, but were behind all three of the team’s goals.

Carranza hit the goal twice, in addition to wasting a golden chance, and Uhr scored the other goal for Union, who have only suffered one loss in their last 31 games in front of their fans (23-1-7).

“They’re good players who know each other well. They always know where to put them on the field. When you don’t know what they’re doing, but they know, it becomes very difficult to defend. These are players with great individual qualities,” noted defender George Campbell.

“It’s always a tough game in Philadelphia and the crowd is raucous,” Losada added. The movement of their three attacking players is very coordinated. »

The Montreal club (6-9-1) suffered its first defeat in its last four matches, but was shut out for the seventh time on the road this season.

“We created a lot of attacking chances, especially at home, but I also want to bring energy and attack abroad. We have to be better on the road and I hope I can help the team when I have those chances abroad.”

Stubborn union

Montreal managed to play Al-Ittihad at the start of the match, but the local team opened the machine in the 12th minute.

After recovering a long cross, Matt Real handed the ball to Carranza at the entrance to the penalty area. The latter caused Bryce Duke to freeze before firing a well-wound shot that fooled the alertness of Pantemis to his left.

The Montreal club managed to threaten after just four minutes, but Zachary Brault-Gaillard’s shot was intercepted by Real to put out the fire.

The visitors thought they could equalize on 30 minutes, but Blake made a superb save before firing in from Lassi Lappalainen’s close-range.

This station came to haunt the people of Montreal a few minutes later. Nathan Harrell fired a shot that Robert Thorkelson deflected and forced Panthemis to use his reflexes. But the return arrived at the foot of Ohri who made the final touches.

The odds again turned in Al Ittihad’s favour, in the 61st minute. Carranza had space to attempt a shot. The ball touched Gabriel Corbeau’s foot and then Joel Waterman appeared to slip past Pantmes helplessly.

Carranza got a hat-trick on his toe a few minutes later, but nearly missed the free net. Waterman also acted by stopping the ball at the goal line to leave the score as it was.