April 14, 2024 – Major League Soccer (MLS)
FC Cincinnati News Release
MONTRÉAL – It was a cold and rainy night at Stade Saputo. Under the watchful eye of the Olympic Stadium tower and the blinding floodlights surrounding the open-air grounds CF Montréal calls home, it rained for 90 minutes of soccer and then some. It started before kickoff, and the steady flow of water from the sky didn’t let up until well after the final whistle.
FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan described the evening as perfect weather for a game and gave no credence to the game being played under a constant barrage of rain as any sort of excuse or solace to the performance his club put on display. Saying “If you’re a player, that’s great conditions.”
It did though seem at times perhaps that FCC and their opponents were playing the same game under very separate conditions. The Orange and Blue bogged and beaten by the waves of wetness, and The Blu-Blanc-Noir lit by the fire of their home opener after months away from the friendly confines of their home grounds and supporters.
FC Cincinnati fell 2-1 to CF Montréal Saturday night in Quebec, losing a consecutive match for just the third time under Noonan and dropping to 3-2-3 with 12 points and finishing the night in fifth place in the eastern conference.
The frigid temperatures combined with the precipitation left most in the stadium gathered together for warmth, donning signature Canadian toques and scarves. But you would never know it was cold from the cheers of supporters sections and the fire that fueled CF Montréal was instantly apparent.
Right when FCC captain Luciano Acosta kicked off the game, rolling the pass back to Pavel Bucha before he touched it back to Matt Miazga, the CFM forwards came flying forward to pressure FCC’s ball carrier. The backline held up for a moment, but the pressure became too much shortly thereafter, and before the clock had reached double-digits, FC Cincinnati had surrendered their opening possession, and CF Montréal was on the hunt.
And it would stay that way for most of the first half.
“It was their opener. I anticipated, and we talked through as a group, that it might look a little different just with them wanting to set the tone early on,” Noonan said postgame. So there was certainly a struggle about playing through that pressure; it took way too long to get into a rhythm.”
CF Montréal looked like an entirely new and different team that they had through the opening six matches of the season for them….
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at OurSports Central Major League Soccer MLS News…