The last time CF Montreal and FC Cincinnati met, we had a real rodeo in the first game of the year played at Stade Saputo, on July 17th.
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Montreal had won 5-4 in a completely crazy meeting during which the favorites of the crowd had twice closed two goals to then see Ahmed Hamdi score the winning goal in the 87e minute. He had also tied 13 minutes earlier.
It goes without saying that the Montreal players want a slightly different duel on Wednesday night in Cincinnati.
“I hope we will have a more normal game where we can have more control over the game, which is the most important,” noted Joaquin Torres.
As a defender, Rudy Camacho especially hopes that the team will be more opaque than a month ago.
“I hope we will take fewer goals. It’s a game we weren’t happy with at the end, even though we had won. “
Whoever is the general of the defensive brigade this season recognizes that the Montreal eleven was not at his best defensively
“I would like us to find defensive stability and continue to score goals. We were in a streak where we made a lot of mistakes that created a mess in the game. “
This 5-4 victory was the first in the history of the Quebec team against the Ohio team, which is a real pet peeve for Montreal.
And the worst part of all of this is that it is an enigma for Wilfried Nancy, who cannot explain why his club are struggling so much against Cincy.
“Honestly, I don’t know why this team is giving us so much trouble. It may be a coincidence.
“What I know is that they [les joueurs de Cincinnati] are making good progress since the last time we played them. They pose a lot more problems for the opponent. “
Cincinnati is once again flirting with the bottom of the MLS standings, edging only Toronto FC, which has had a dismal start to the season.
Jaap Stam’s troop occupies the 13e rank in the Eastern Conference and haven’t won in their last eight meetings.
What that statistic doesn’t say is that Cincinnati suffered just two losses in that streak that was punctuated by six draws.
We could therefore also say that Cincy has just played three games unbeaten, having canceled against DC United, the New York Red Bulls and Orlando.
You can be sure that no one at CF Montreal sees Cincinnati as an easy opponent. After all, Nancy’s men have only one victory in their last six duels.
“We don’t take anyone lightly,” Camacho said. We also played against Miami, which hadn’t won for a long time and we had a poor performance. “
Montreal therefore has no intention of letting Cincinnati have fun in front of their fans.
But the Quebec team will be in the second game of a series of three in a week. The head coach could also choose to rotate in order to keep good elements fresh for the meeting in Philadelphia on Saturday.
There will certainly be some absent, including goalkeeper James Pantemis, still on the sidelines due to COVID-19 protocol.
Mason Toye will also be out, as he suffered a shoulder injury on Saturday. Also injured will be Romell Quioto and Lassi Lappalainen.
Zero in eight
FC Cincinnati are having a difficult eight-game winless streak. But the Ohio team suffered just two losses during that time, getting six draws, which isn’t bad.
It’s already better
Cincinnati may allow a lot of goals (30), but the offense is doing much better than last year. In 17 games, the team scored 18 goals while in 2020, Cincy had only scored 12 in 23 games.
Comfortable quickly
For some reason, Cincinnati is comfortable against Montreal and early in the game too. Since joining MLS, the team has scored 13 times in the first quarter of an hour of play, including four times against Montreal.
Muzzled seven times
It’s not easy to win games when you’ve been shut out on seven occasions since the start of the season. This means that Cincinnati has only scored in 10 of its 17 games this year. We understand better why this team has only three victories.
Bleached at home
Glimmer of hope for CF Montreal: Cincy is not very good at home, as evidenced by his record of no wins, three losses and four draws. The Ohio team have scored just six goals at home against 12 abroad.
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