CF Montreal remain perfect at Stade Saputo after their 2-1 win against Atlanta United Saturday afternoon. Coming into this game, CF Montreal and Atlanta United had identical records, and Wilfred Nancy knew this wouldn’t be an easy game. A game that saw the away side have most of the possession, especially in the first half, Montreal defended well and got the best game of the season out of their keeper Sebastian Breza.
First Half:
CF Montreal got on the board early in this game scoring in the 4th minute. The chance would come from a set piece, that Dorde Mihailovic sent beautifully into the Atlanta 6 yard box, that was met by Kamal Miller who headed past Bobby Shuttleworth for his first goal of the season. Also Mihailovic’s 3rd assist of the season.
The next 15 minutes of the first half would be a personal battle between CFM keeper Sebastian Breza and Atlanta United youngster Thiago Almada. Almada would step up to take a free kick in the 11th minute and hit a stinging low shot towards the bottom right hand corner. Breza would be up to the task and make a fantastic diving save.
In the 19th minute, Alameda again would be looking to beat Breza on his right side, when he tried an audacious effort from around 25 yards that just went wide of the top right corner.
Atlanta would have one more good chance in the first half, and again it would come from a free kick. This time it was Marcelino Moreno who took the shot, and it was heading for Breza’s top left hand corner, but again Breza would make a huge save for CF Montreal.
Second Half:
Atlanta United would eventually level the game, but it did take something special to beat Breza. Moreno would received a deflected cross at the edge of the area, pull off a really silky drag back, and fire in off the inside of the post and into to the back of the net. You can’t place a shot any better, and the game was tied at 1.
Montreal almost had the lead right back as 5 minutes later, off of another set piece, Montreal had the ball past the United keeper, but Andrew Gutman cleared the ball off the goal line.
It would stay tied until the 82nd minute where Montreal would go back in front. Kamal Miller showed some tricky feet as he was able to get by two Atlanta defenders and pick Joaquin Torres who headed past Shuttleworth to make it 2-1. Normally you think it would be Torres with the quick feet and Miller with the header, but it worked out for CF Montreal.
Brooks Lennon would have the last chance to equalize for Atlanta but his low shot/ cross was saved and held on to by Sebastian Breza. Which had to feel good for Breza because it was Brooks Lennon who beat him in the very late minutes earlier on this season.
So CF Montreal have now won 4 of their last 5 games and are unbeaten in their last 7 games (including their CONCACAF champions league). It has been amazing how Wilfred Nancy and the team have turned it around since that horrible start and are now getting results when they weren’t at their best.
Another couple notes from this game. Samuel Piette came on as a substitute again, and Ahmed Hamdi made his first start of the season.
Montreal’s next game will be another home game against Orlando this upcoming Saturday.
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And here is the latest episode of NSFW where Terry is away on vacation and he’s replaced by…me! I had a great chat with Peeze about the NFL draft and NBA playoffs.