ORLANDO, Florida – CF Montréal suffered a 2-0 loss to Orlando City SC Sunday afternoon in the Club’s opening match of the 2022 MLS season at Exploria Stadium. Brazilian midfielder Alexandre Pato (49’) opened the score for the home side followed by Benji Michel who doubled Orlando’s lead 10 minutes later. CF Montréal will resume play in its home opener against the Philadelphia Union at Olympic Stadium on Saturday, March 5 at 4pm.
COMPLETE SUMMARY HERE.
MATCH NOTES :
-Defender Kamal Miller earned his 50th career start in MLS.
-Defenders Gabriele Corbo and Alistair Johnston as well as midfielder Ismaël Koné earned their first MLS starts with Montreal.
-Forward Romell Quioto will miss the next match following a red card issued in the second half.
-Forward Kei Kamara played his 360th MLS match, becoming the 13th all-time MLS leader for games played.
WILFRIED NANCY
“We played well in the first half, and we had good moments. We wanted to start the second half in the same way but we defended poorly on the first goal and made a mistake on the second. But after that we had control of the match in terms of what we wanted to do and our game plan. But we must also manage our emotions. Overall, we have to be better.”
ALISTAIR JOHNSTON
“We know that coming on the road is never easy in this league, especially against a team that plays a physical style. It was a wake-up call about what MLS is. It is a lot of travel and a lot of games in a short period of time. We need to put this result behind us and move on. I thought it was a good performance. Even when we went down to 10 men, we did well. I think it can be considered a good start. Today was the first time this back-five played together. A lot of young players playing together. And the best way to learn is getting thrown in the fire. With time and experience, you can begin to feel moments when it isn’t a good idea to force balls into certain spaces, especially when we’ve just conceded a goal already. And that’s something that only comes with experience.”
VICTOR WANYAMA
“We need to keep cool heads and try to bury our chances. We had a few chances today that we didn’t take advantage of. The final third needs to be better as a team. On the second goal, everyone was out of position. With the heat and fatigue, everyone was getting frustrated because Orlando was controlling the game for a bit. But in a match it is normal. We are going to have periods without the ball. But we need to remain calm, and we didn’t. Football is a game of chances. They took their chances, and we didn’t. We gave them an edge by getting the red card, but it is something we can learn from. We need to do it quickly and move forward.”
