On this Saturday evening at Saputo Stadium, CF Montreal came to the end of its streak of 10 games in 33 days, after “having received a slap”.
That slap, according to Impact head coach Hernán Losada, was that loss in the Canadian Championship final three days earlier against the Vancouver Whitecaps. Quite complex to get back in the saddle so quickly. What’s more, his troops crossed swords with Minnesota United, a power on the road.
All logic pointed to a difficult outcome, a grueling evening. However, the reverse has happened.
Without complex, the CFM took advantage of a double from Mason Toye – against his former club – to win 4-0. And so ends the grueling long passage, with fireworks and a shower of goals. A reference match on the offensive level.
The visitors saw all the colors, especially blue behind their often faulted defensive line. After 20 games in gray this season, the club took advantage of their first duel in a home shirt to shine and secure their eighth win in nine home outings.
By the same token, after this 17th meeting in MLS, the point indicating the mid-season, the Montrealers virtually seized 9th place, the last giving access to the fall dance.
They will now be able to let the dust settle, regain their energies and prepare for the final stretch of the campaign.
This is the most important aspect of this crossing of the desert. When called upon to take the helm, the support players have done great service. Losada allowed himself to rotate four centre-backs throughout this streak. He did not hesitate to use different full-backs as well. If in the midfield it was thinner, the convincing performances of Nathan Saliba in the times that run promise for the future.
The position that has been the most interesting, however, is that of attacking point. When Romell Quioto fell in battle, he seemed impossible to replace. The Argentine driver preferred to go there with just one striker in favor of two attacking midfielders. Now that the journey is behind him, he is delighted with the success of the attackers, so much so that he chooses two per meeting.
The workload was divided between Chinonso Offor, Sunusi Ibrahim and Mason Toye.
Ibrahim has had some great outings recently, Toye has ramped up after his return and Offor has remained consistent with what he has shown since the start of the season.
“We don’t have a lot of attackers available, so we absolutely have to build their confidence,” Losada noted after the game.
He concluded by explaining that “that’s the strength of the group”, that the “24 players can all play and have all received minutes”. And this is, according to him, the greatest asset for the future.
When it came to the injuries, Losada momentarily interrupted his sentence, banged his fist gently on his head so as not to bring bad luck.
“He worked hard to come back from his injury. It’s a management of the minutes for his return, we made them progress slowly,” Losada said of number 13.
Toye, for his part, has mentioned several times that his biggest challenge will be to stay healthy. Regarding his former club, passing south of the border, he only has good memories.
“They trained me as number 9,” he said. […] They left small nuggets of gold that I had not noticed at the time in my mind. »
“I have no grudges,” he added.
After such a humiliating loss, maybe Minnesota United don’t share the sentiment.
Don’t think that the fact that he only played 45 minutes is a sign of a bad night at the office. The Quebecer was excellent. Physical and surly, Saliba tried to collect all the balls and injected a dose of much needed energy into a breathless midfielder.
When a collective performance is so convincing, it is more difficult to identify a player who has not lived up to his standards. The Finn was the player who failed to harmonize with his teammates, and while the right lane was working at full speed, Lappalainen’s lane was less dynamic.
It’s a seventh consecutive win at home, in all competitions, for the Montrealers. A sequence during which they did not allow a single goal, partly thanks to their goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois, but also thanks to their tighter defense.
