By Canadian Press

CF Montreal drops 1-0 decision to D.C. United

Apr 15, 2023 | 7:43 PM

MONTREAL — CF Montreal’s poor start to the Major League Soccer season continues, falling 1-0 to D.C. United during their first game at Stade Saputo on Saturday night.

Lewis O’Brien scored the lone goal for United (2-4-2), giving them their first win since opening day. Montreal (1-6-0) has now gone 270 minutes without scoring a goal.

Both teams lined up in relatively defensive formations and gave very little space in their own end to start the match. After the 20-minute mark, Montreal began asserting themselves and playing higher up the pitch.

In the 39th minute, Chinonso Offor had a golden opportunity to open the scoring, but was brought down in the box. No penalty was called as it was deemed there was not enough contact to warrant a spot kick.

However, it took only 15 seconds of second-half action for that momentum to be undone. A shot from just outside the box by Mateusz Klich bounced into the path of O’Brien who scored.

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This is now the fourth consecutive game where Montreal has conceded within five minutes of the restart.

With the lead secured, D.C. dropped into a more defensive low block, stifling Montreal attacks before they could even get started.

Around the 70th minute, Montreal switched from its usual five-back formation to a more conventional four defender setup and found much more success. However, they could not convert that pressure into an equalizer, having still scored just three goals this season.

The game also saw the debuts of newly acquired players Bryce Duke and Ariel Lassiter, who were brought in during a trade with Inter Miami this week.

Montreal will now direct its attention toward the Canadian Championship as the squad will hosting Vaughan Azzurri on April 18, while United heads to Exploria Stadium to face Orlando City on April 22.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2023.

Tristan D’Amours, The Canadian Press