The U15 squad defeated Toronto FC 1-0 in a tightly contested match at Centre Nutrilait on Sunday to record their fourth win in five games. The U17 team lost by a score of 4-1.
A character win for the U15s
“Canadian derbies are not like other games. They are emotional games and ours was no exception," said U15 head coach Esteban Landazabal. “We had to make the players understand what was at stake in the game, especially since it was a first derby for most of them."
The game lived up to its potential in terms of intensity, even if there were few chances in the first half. Owen Graham-Roache received a good cross from Sergei Kozlovskiy and controlled the ball neatly between two defenders before slipping it into the back of the net to open the scoring. It was his second goal of the season.
The second half was a battle in which the young Montrealers showed remarkable resilience, as did their goalkeeper Louka Pohu, who made several spectacular and decisive saves to keep their precious lead until the end. "We are all proud. It's not our best performance but the most important thing in this derby was the victory", he said after the game. “My first saves gave me the adrenaline I needed to have a good rhythm during the game. I'm very happy with my performance."
"To beat Toronto, you have to be at your best. The players worked hard together and showed great progress to win like we wanted to," said Esteban Landazabal. “We suffered together until the end even though we put ourselves into that situation on our own by not converting our chances."
U15 Starting XI: Pohu – Kozlovskiy (cap.) – Nteziryayo – Panait – Germain-Aubrey – Movchan – Monnin – Kadiamba – Santana – Casimir – Graham-Roache
Substitutes: Belzile, Marceau, Savadogo, Dimbu-Vasile, Kontchou, Ampofo Adom, Nué Brito
Goal: Graham-Roache (26th)
A game to forget for the U17s
Earlier in the morning, the U17 players also faced their rivals Toronto FC but the outcome was different. Trailing by four goals at halftime, CF Montréal tried to respond in the second half and managed to score a goal by Diego Chaverra-Gilbert. Both teams ended the game with ten men.
"It's a hard loss to explain. We lacked too many things in the first half: commitment, intensity and focus among others," said U17 head coach Maxime Leconte. “Our pride was not enough to get us back into the game during the second half. We will have to react quickly and get back to work because the season is still long."
U17 Starting XI: Hammache – Pierre Lamarre – Godin – L. De Montigny – G. De Montigny – Sedar N’Diaye – Biello (cap.) – Mavakala – Udell Joseph – Saputo – Happi Emaga
Substitutes: Derrien-Lairet, Pierre Alexis, Chaverra-Gilbert, Arnaud, Fotsing, Domanico, J. Coulanges
Goals: Chaverra-Gilbert (54th) for CF Montréal; Ozimec (7th), Dumitru (22nd) and Landicho-Correia (26th and 28th) for Toronto FC.
