The smell of volleys began to emerge from Wanderers Grounds Wednesday night in Halifax, through thick and thin. Next, Baloo Tabla showed he was ready to do his part for the greater good of Montreal.
Tabla scored twice in the final moments of the second half to give Montreal a 3-1 win over HFX Wanderers in the Canadian Football League quarter-finals.
Tabla, who was making his Montreal debut since October 24, 2020 after injuring his thigh, broke the 1-1 tie at 89.NS Minutes after a pass from Zachary Brault-Guillard.
Then he sealed the result of the match in the second minute of stoppage time, to complete a great match between two players with Lacey LaPalainen.
“I’m really happy. It might not seem like it, but I’m happy, I’m really happy to be back on the field, because I’ve had minutes. I’m really grateful to the coach because it hasn’t been easy for the last six or eight months because of the injury. I’m really happy because I helped the team” , repeated the tabla via video conference after the match.
Matko Miljevic, who played the first match with the Montreal team, scored the other goal for Montreal in the first half.
Cory Bennett caused a frenzy among Nova Scotia fans by opening the scoring before the first half hour of play was completed.
With this win, Montreal Forge FC will face Hamilton in the semi-finals. Forge FC (9-7-1) is third in the Canadian Premier League (CLC) with 28 points. The date and venue of this match remains to be determined.
In another Canadian Championship match, Toronto FC easily defeated York United 4-0. In the semi-finals, he will face Pacific FC (Victoria), who beat Cavalry FC (Calgary) 1-0 late on Wednesday night. It was a duel between the two clubs of the Legislative Council, which ranked first and second in the league with 36 points and 32 points, respectively.
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Throughout the match, Montreal controlled the ball approximately 67% of the time and directed 21 shots into the opposing net, including five on target, as opposed to just two (both on target) for the Wanderers.
Wilfried Nancy’s men also attempted almost double passes (680 vs. 343).
“We have to be realistic. They forced us to play at a speed that we were not comfortable with,” said Wanderers coach Stephen Hart.
“For this reason, we did not execute when we had the ball and when they got the ball, the accuracy, the technique and the movement of the ball were impressive. Sometimes we defended well, but we always played with the back foot. Thanks to them, it is a well deserved victory.”
In his team’s first game in the Canadian Championship, amid a busy schedule, Wilfried Nancy left several of his key players out.
Thus, Dgeorgi Mihajlovic, Rommel Koyoto, Victor Wanyama, Joaquin Torres and Matthew Schwiner did not wear a uniform.
In addition, Lapalainen, Tabla, Brault Gillard, Kemal Miller and Bjorn Johnson started the match on the sidelines.
“A decision had to be made, before making this choice, of course, I thought about it for a long time with the working team. We play in a few days, we are fine, the players who played deserve to play because the group lives well, the group,” Nancy said after her team’s victory. good together.”
“I had to put this team down and congratulate them because the workout wasn’t easy. I really wanted them to do something right and that’s what they did. I’m really happy for the whole group.”
CF Montreal will resume its Major League Soccer activities on Saturday evening when it visits the Columbus Crew.
Domination…but helplessness
In the first half, the Montreal club held the ball nearly 70% of the time, made 398 passes – compared to their opponents’ 177 passes – and attempted six shots compared to the two Wanderers.
However, the players of both teams returned to the locker room with a 1-1 draw. To achieve this equality, CF Montreal had to come from behind.
On their first chance in the match against Sebastian Brezza, Wanderers advanced with a powerful and accurate shot from Bent at 27.NS Accurate.
Emmanuel Maciel’s shift into a defensive zone led to a Bent goal.
Miljevic responded with a left-footed shot that found the upper left of the net at the 35th minuteNS Accurate.
“On the match preview, I said (to the players), ‘There may be tough times, but I want us to be calm and calm, and always have the ‘urgency’ when you have that urgency to defend,” Nancy said.
“But what I liked is when we scored the goal, I felt that my team is not in a panic. It comes from everyone. It bodes well for the future. The idea is to go as far as possible in competitions to be successful.”
CF Montreal continued to hold the ball in control for the vast majority of the second half to the point where the Wanderers couldn’t fire a single shot towards Breza.
However, despite their long presence in enemy territory, it seemed that the Montreal club would have to decide the outcome of the match on penalties … until the appearance of the drum.
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