CF Montreal surrendered three goals in the first half en route to a 4-1 setback to the Orlando City SC Lions in the group stage opener of the 2024 Leagues Cup on Friday at Inter & Co Stadium.
The Lions, who extended their unbeaten streak to six matches across all competitions, got goals from Dagur Thorhallsson (seventh minute), Facundo Torres (37th minute), Ramiro Enrique (45th minute stoppage time) and Martin Ojeda (57th minute).
After picking up an assist on Enrique’s goal, Facundo Torres recorded his 23rd career assist, passing Kaká for fourth on the Lions’ all-time assist list.
“Well, first, it’s a great night in front of our fans to score four goals against a very difficult rival. Just seeing the team and the evolution that we are looking for. Keeping that momentum that we’ve had in the last six games, it’s all good to see,” said Lions’ coach Oscar Pareja.
“We knew Montréal would come to look for us in the second half and give us some space and that’s what happened. Again, we’re fine in front of the goal and it’s something that makes us look good. Happy with the result but as this competition tells us, we have to get ready for the next one.”
Josef Martínez scored his fifth goal of the year for Montreal in the 69th minute to prevent the shutout.
“Orlando wanted this game more than we did. We need to resolve some defensive shortcomings, get back into the right mindset and turn the page so we can start anew against San Luis,” said Montreal coach Laurent Courtois.
“Now we’re going to get ready for the next game. The result was a disappointment tonight. I can see that we’re struggling in terms of execution and occupying space, as well as making certain decisions. That’s what we’re trying to solve.”
CF Montreal will conclude the group stage of the tournament by hosting Atlético de San Luis of LIGA MX on Tuesday at Stade Saputo.
“I can’t speak for the other players. Sometimes our body language shows frustration when we concede easy goals. I don’t think there’s a tactical problem. We did some good things with the ball. It’s not our weak point,” said Joel Waterman of Montreal.
“However, we were too open and spread out. We need to improve our counterattacking and make ourselves harder to deal with. We left too much space for them to exploit, and they took advantage of it. It could have been better tonight.“
Montreal was outshot 24-10 (10-4 on target) and had two of the match’s seven corners.
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