New York City Topples CF Montréal to Advance

October 23, 2022 – Major League Soccer (MLS) – New York City FC News Release

New York City Football Club booked a place in the Conference Finals of the 2022 MLS Playoffs with a sensational 3-1 win at CF Montréal. Goals from Maxi Moralez and Héber, plus a Talles Magno penalty, claimed a thumping triumph on a glorious afternoon at Stade Saputo, with Đorđe Mihailovic netting a late consolation for the hosts. The result marks City’s sixth successive victory and sets up a crunch trip to Philadelphia Union next weekend.

Match Recap

NYCFC headed into the contest with an impressive record against the Canadian outfit – victorious in nine of our 16 meetings, unbeaten at Stade Saputo and with four points gained from our 2022 encounters, courtesy of a 4-1 win and 0-0 draw.

Opting for consistency with his starting XI, Interim Head Coach Nick Cushing named an unchanged side to the one that comfortably defeated Inter Miami CF on Monday night, while Talles Magno made a welcome return to the bench, having missed the Round One clash through injury.

With Wilfried Nancy’s side also favoring an attack-minded, possession-based game, the pre-match discussion had dissected the meeting of two tactical minds in the dugout, as second and third place in the regular season standings locked horns – both entering the fixture in strong form with Montréal triumphant in six of their previous seven games.

Cushing had spoken before the game of the importance of starting the game with intensity, and the 200 City fans who made the trip to Canada were rewarded with a dream start, as the visitors opened the scoring inside six minutes.

The Boys and Blue had started brightly, zipping the ball around, and a neat one-two between Gabriel Pereira and Santiago Rodríguez unlocked the home defense – the Brazilian beating goalkeeper James Pantemis to the through-ball and clipping back across goal.

Though the delivery narrowly evaded Héber’s diving header, Moralez was once again in the right place at the right time to control and smash home from close range, for his second 2022 post-season strike, having bagged his 100th career goal in Monday night’s victory.

Montréal responded well and went in search of a quickfire equalizer, as Kei Kamara forced Sean Johnson into an excellent nearpost stop and then headed off the post. With New York forced into an early change with Maxime Chanot injured in the hosts’ first chance, Le CFMTL took advantage to pile on the pressure, finding the back of the net…