ORLANDO, Florida - In its first match of the 2024 season, CF Montréal earned a point on the road with a 0-0 draw against Orlando City SC on Saturday evening at Inter&Co Stadium.
The Bleu-blanc-noir will now return to Montreal for training before flying to Dallas for its match next Saturday at Toyota Stadium at 8:30pm EST.
COMPLETE SUMMARY HERE
MATCH NOTES
-Goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois recorded his 12th career clean sheet with four saves.
-Matías Cóccaro, Dominic Iankov and Ruan all played their first career games with CF Montréal (on the starting XI).
-Josef Martínez also played his first game with the Club, entering the game in the second half.
LAURENT COURTOIS
“Tonight's result characterizes how we want to be known. Credit to the players for their heart and the staff for preparing them for this. I thought that in some stretches we produced some quality play. We deserve this point and we're proud of what we've achieved. It is a deserved clean sheet against this opponent. We're pleased that the players were able to stick to the game plan."
JOEL WATERMAN
“This year will be similar defensively, but more intelligent. We're going to play deeper. We like to keep our defensive line high and be aggressive, but at the right time. We responded to their runs and avoided balls in behind, reducing the space behind us. Cóccaro worked hard and wreaked havoc with all his passion. Josef (Martínez) and Sunusi (Ibrahim) were very good. It was a point we deserved, but it has to be the norm now. We need to improve and get our first win. There is still a lot of work to do, but this first match was important. We cannot give up as many games on the road this year. We need to stay compact and win.”
GEORGE CAMPBELL
“We've worked hard internally to be solid defensively and not concede goals. We're working hard to step up and hold our lines. At the end of the day, it paid off. We have leaders in defence. As hard as we work on the pitch, we do the same off it, from a tactical point of view. Tonight's performance was the result of a lot of hard work by our five defenders. Collectively, we talked a lot about this and it paid off tonight.”
