Like every year, CF Montreal begins its season with a series of matches abroad, giving it time to have a more welcoming temperature to play at home.
Playing its third of six consecutive matches on opposing pitches to begin its 2024 season, the Montreal team continued its good momentum by winning 3-2 against Inter Miami, Sunday at Chase Stadium.
CF Montreal (2-0-1) came to Miami with the goal of winning a second straight match after beating FC Dallas 2-1 on March 2.
CF Montreal head coach Laurent Courtois was keen to point out that there are positive aspects to starting the season with several games abroad.
“These first six games are really special for us in terms of travel and mental fatigue,” Courtois said. “But at the same time, the benefit is that we’re together and we’re having a good time. We’re getting to know each other a little bit faster.”
Inter Miami lost their first game of the season, but beat Orlando City SC 5-0 in their last encounter.
Quebecer Samuel Piette said the team knew it wouldn’t be an easy place to play.
“It wasn’t easy,” said the CF Montreal defensive midfielder. “I’m especially proud of the fact that everyone contributed.”
Fernando Álvarez, Matías Cóccaro and Sunusi Ibrahim scored the goals for CF Montreal.
Leonardo Campana and Jordi Alba replied for Inter Miami (2-1-1), who were playing without their international star Lionel Messi. Sergio Busquets and Luis Suarez started the match as substitutes.
Piette admitted that Messi’s absence did not bother his team’s players, even if they would have liked to take on the challenge of facing him.
“It’s a bit of a mixed feeling,” Piette said. “We all wanted to play [against Messi] to be able to say that we played against the best soccer player of all time, but at the same time, we know how much he could have hurt us, especially at the end of the game.”
CF Montreal controlled the ball well early in the game and were awarded a corner kick at the end of the sixth minute of play. Mathieu Choinière made a nice cross to Cóccaro, who was however unable to make a good shot and lost his balance in the process.
Cóccaro had another great chance a minute later, when Montreal threatened near the penalty area. His shot was blocked by a defender.
The Uruguayan wasn’t done threatening. A long bomb from CF Montreal turned into a race between Cóccaro and the Inter Miami goalkeeper, as the latter completely missed his attempt to grab the ball in mid-air. Cóccaro, however, looked for the perfect finish instead of shooting directly into an abandoned net.
Álvarez made sure his teammate forgot that moment, scoring with a header in the 13th minute from the team’s second corner kick moments later.
Alba thought he had tied the score in the 22nd minute, but the sequence turned out to be offside, like most of Inter Miami’s attacking breakthroughs in the first half.
Both teams had two shots on target in the first half, with CF Montreal having the better scoring chances despite having 41% possession.
In the 60th minute, Inter Miami scored again with a goal that was called back due to offside.
Inter Miami made three changes in the 66th minute, bringing on Nicolás Freire, Diego Gómez and Busquets.
CF followed with changes two minutes later, but it was Inter Miami who seemed to take advantage the most. Following a corner kick, Campana headed the ball into the back of the net to tie the game in the 71st minute.
After a fine first half without being rewarded, Cóccaro finally found the back of the net. Choinière scored a magnificent free kick and Cóccaro headed the ball into the net in the 75th minute.
Just three minutes later, Inter Miami made a mistake when they wanted to push forward. The Montreal team took advantage of this to quickly restart and Josef Martínez made a clever pass to Ibrahim, who made it 3-1.
But Inter Miami didn’t give up. Busquets recovered a ball near the penalty area and passed it to Alba, who curled a beautiful shot into the top right corner of the net to beat goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois in the 80th minute.
Nine minutes of added time could have hurt CF Montreal late in the game, but the team managed possession well to keep the opponent away from Sirois.
CF Montreal will play its next game on March 16, against the Chicago Fire at Soldier Field.
