May 29, 2024
CF Montreal end their winless streak with a victory over DC United at Stade Saputo
It was bound to come sooner or later – CF Montreal’s winless streak has come to an end, with a decisive and thorough victory at home against an undisciplined DC United side, in a game that not only saw a barrage of goals – but multiple cards as well.
CF Montreal hadn’t won a game prior to tonight since April 13th, including a loss to a lower level team in the Canadian Championship. While there were several draws along the way, CF Montreal has struggled to score – until tonight.
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It took CF Montreal just six minutes to find the back of DC United’s net, when Jules-Anthony Vilsaint broke away with the ball off a terrible back pass from Matti Peltola that he intercepted and was in against just one defender, Steven Birnbaum, and with Ariel Lassiter on his left side. Vilsaint slid a smooth and precise pass over to Lassiter who beat the DC United keeper with ease.
A few minutes later, Vilsaint sent a long pass to the left side of the field to Joaquin Sosa who came ever so close to doubling his sides lead, until a lunging slide from Birnbaum knocked Sosa’s shot out of bounds. CF Montreal was surging early on were looking good doing so.
Vilsaint was playing well but suffered an injury that caused him to be substituted off at the 18-minute mark, for Sunusi Ibrahim. CF Montreal have been badly bitten by the injury bug all season long, and losing Vilsaint – especially after being such a key performer early on in the match, surely stings.
Ten minutes later, Christian Benteke scored the equalizing goal while CF Montreal defender Gabriele Corbo lay injured in his own box, on a play that would have otherwise been offside – leaving Benteke to tap the ball over the challenging goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois, nearly stepping on Corbo in the process. None the less, the goal stood and the game was tied.
Sunusi gave CF Montreal back the lead on a brilliant header than came off an equally nice cross into the box from Ruan. Sunusi found himself all alone and with time to take a step back before smashing the ball into the goal.
Matti Peltola was given a yellow card for a tackle on CF Montreal’s Bryce Duke, bringing him down while Duke was away on goal. CF Montreal was awarded a free kick from just outside the box, and capitalized on the chance. Ruan leaped over the ball, kicking it gentle backwards to a charging Mathieu Choinière who fired a low, hard blast into the left bottom corner of the DC United net, for a 3-1 lead.
Benteke again scored to bring DC United back within a goal, off a cross from Jared Stroud. Benteke found himself all alone on the penalty dot and riffled his shot just under the crossbar, leaving a diving Sirois no chance to parry the shot away.
Late in injury time of the first half, DC United’s Peltola was given his second yellow card of the night, and shown the red card and was sent to the showers. Referee Ismail Elfath had been incredible busy in the opening half, showing five yellow cards and a red – and issue a further two yellow cards in the second half.
The only goal of the second half came in the 73rd minute, when Lassiter fed a pass through the box and found Sunusi for a tap in goal at the side of the net. CF Montreal once again took a two-goal lead and this time held on as the time ticked off the clock.
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Dominik Yankov did come close to adding to Montreal’s tally several minutes later, but goalkeeper Alex Bono was able to push the ball wide. CF Montreal kept the pressure on for the remainder of the match and finally gave their fans something to cheer about.
CF Montreal are next in action on June 1st when they visit Chester, Pennsylvania for a match against Philadelphia at Subaru Park. DC United will host Toronto FC at Audi Park on the same day.
