CF Montreal will get another chance to turn a corner after they extended a dispiriting winless run to seven matches.
Their next chance to end that rut, which includes four losses and three draws, comes Wednesday when they host D.C. United.
Montreal (3-7-4, 13 points) ended a four-match losing streak Saturday by playing Nashville SC to a scoreless draw. Montreal keeper Jonathan Sirois made two saves. It was a far better defensive performance than the previous MLS match, a 5-1 destruction at the hands of rival Toronto FC.
It didn’t taste as nice as a victory, which Montreal hasn’t experienced since a 2-1 win over FC Cincinnati on April 13, but defender Fernando Alvarez said the team has come “back to the basics” and is trying to get its mentality right.
“It’s really tough to get these results when you’re working that good,” Alvarez said, “because honestly inside of the team, it was really difficult, this feeling the last weeks, because we were working, working a lot.
“Getting that result, it was not easy, but we’re ready to show … that mentality: At least if you’re not playing good, you have to go and fight all the game. Win every battle.”
D.C. United (4-5-6, 18 points) have two losses and a draw since their last win on May 11, most recently tying the Chicago Fire 1-1 at home Saturday.
That winless drought is much shorter than Montreal’s, but the D.C. locker room was hardly a happy place after the Fire match. Christopher McVey scored in the 20th minute for the United before they allowed the equalizer early in the second half.
“Story of the season,” D.C. defender Aaron Herrera said, per the Washington Post. “Take the lead and then come out the second half super lackadaisical and give them a bad goal. It’s shocking we haven’t figured it out yet. Can’t just keep doing the same thing over and over. It’s getting ridiculous at this point.”
Herrera, who has four assists this season, signed with D.C. this winter after two years with Montreal.
Christian Benteke has been D.C. United’s star scorer with 11 goals this season; 10 other players have found the scoresheet, but no one else has scored more than one.
Ariel Lassiter and Sunusi Ibrahim each have two goals for Montreal, whose top scorer, Matias Coccaro (three), is out with a knee injury.
The teams met March 30 in Washington, and Pedro Santos scored for D.C. United to secure a 1-0 win.
–Field Level Media