There was something poetic about watching Federico Bernardeschi seated in his chair on the athletics track surrounding the soccer field at the Claude-Robillard Sports Complex.
Under a drizzle and sometimes intense rain reminiscent of the Montreal fall, the Toronto FC designated player had a breathtaking view of the through traffic on Christophe-Colomb Avenue and the row houses of the avenue Émile-Journault.
A sort of return to the past for the former Fiorentina and Juventus player, who has played his share of rather modest grounds against teams who are just as modest in the Italian Cup. If the scene is common on the Old Continent, it was still unprecedented until this evening in our half-country. Never has a Ligue1 Quebec club – in this case CS St-Laurent – faced one from the prestigious Major Soccer League in the context of the Canadian Championship.
This is possibly why there were 6,482 of them to witness this moment which will inevitably mark a turning point in the history of Quebec soccer. From the first to the last minute and despite the fact that the visitors scored 3 goals and the space of 26 minutes in the 2nd half, they stubbornly refused to sit down, forcing the journalists crowded into the improvised press gallery to watch almost the entire meeting standing so as not to miss any of the action.
And there was some action during the 90 minutes of this first leg which would certainly not have ended 3-0 if CS St-Laurent had been a little more opportunistic and the referee had not missed an obvious handball in the penalty area while the score was still 1-0. An opposition which obviously greatly impressed the coach du Toronto FC John Herdman.
« [Le CS St-Laurent] would certainly have deserved a better fate this evening. He could have scored one, maybe two goals, said the former head coach of the men’s national team at a press conference. I was really captivated by the crazy atmosphere that reigned throughout the stadium this evening.
“I asked the guys to be patient and I warned them that we would have to work very hard to create scoring opportunities. [Le CS St-Laurent] managed to contain Kosi Thompson early in the game, but we were able to open the game from the second half onwards. »
The locals were indeed extremely pugnacious in the first minutes, even if their TFC rivals sometimes looked like monsters alongside them. The CS St-Laurent attackers particularly struggled to win against defender Aimé Mabika, a 6-foot-6-inch giant.
But it was really after the break and with three changes at that time that Toronto FC got going. Matthew Longstaff (50th), Deandre Kerr (59th) and Bernardeschi (76th) – who entered the fray in the 65th minute – all took advantage of defensive errors to shake the strings. However, CS St-Laurent fought until the last second.
“I am very proud of the effort made by our players,” said CS St-Laurent head coach Nicholas Razzaghi. It’s obviously difficult to stay focused [pendant 90 minutes] especially when we are not used to these levels of play and physical intensity. But I think we played a great game. We created chances to score…
“That said, I can’t help but be disappointed, because I know the qualities and the potential of this group. If he could train five times a week, how far could he go? I know that all the players on this team have a lot more to offer than what they showed. »
CS St-Laurent will obviously have a lot to do if it hopes to qualify for the semi-finals of the Canadian Championship – the return match will be presented on May 21 at BMO Field in Toronto – except that in the eyes of almost everyone world this evening, it was Quebec soccer that stood out the most.
“I saw three players this evening who were good and who we could hear about soon,” admitted Herdman, who however did not want to identify them. Their coaching staff did a great job as well. These are people who are extremely brilliant. »
“All the players on our team can hope to play at a better level,” Razzaghi continued. They proved it against Halifax [en ronde préliminaire du Championnat canadien]. And they did very well against an MLS club, without any prior experience. When you don’t know what to expect, it changes everything. We have a lot of potential. »
“Guys like Bernardeschi, we watched them on TV in the Champions League,” concluded defender Nathan Goulet. To have him in front of us in Montreal is a bit of a dream come true and now we want to take his place. We can now dream about it. »
2024-05-09 04:02:06
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