CF Montreal had a big challenge ahead of them when they headed west a few days ago to face the Sounders in Seattle and the Galaxy in Los Angeles.
We knew that they were going to play two normally difficult games, but that it was very possible, looking at the classification, to take results.
What’s encouraging is the 2-1 win in Seattle and the team’s overall performance despite the crushing 4-0 loss to Los Angeles.
Most of the time, soccer is easy to explain. It always comes down to goals for and goals against. It was extremely evident in those two games.
CF Montreal was first able to come back as they lost 1-0 to Seattle.
Two players provided inspiration: Mason Toye, who hadn’t played in a long time, and Kei Kamara. Both contributed to the two goals that gave the club the win. This means that the Montreal team seized the opportunities presented to them.
That was not the case at all on Monday night against Los Angeles. There were several chances to come back as the club went down 1-0, but the result was not like Seattle: the players weren’t able to finish their chances.
The difficulties in defense appeared from the third or fourth minute of play, when the Galaxy had a superb opportunity to score.
The particular problem with the defense was that they weren’t able to deal with the attacks that came in from the flanks. Result: 30 crosses from Los Angeles towards the Montreal goal, which means a lot of danger and normally, with all these crosses there, it is difficult to keep the score low.
The team’s inconsistency in defense and the goals against column do not reflect their third position in the standings. Even though she didn’t deserve to take four goals with her performance, that continues to be the biggest problem for me.
If I am Wilfried Nancy or a member of the technical staff, I particularly highlight the game against Seattle, the good things that the team generated and I try to make people forget the result of Los Angeles as soon as possible.
Another tough game is coming against Sporting Kansas City, a team that is looking for points. We will have to be more careful in defense, and have a little more efficiency in front of the opposing net.
This is the easiest way to explain our sport and all other team sports, for that matter.
