FC Montreal Lose USL Season Opener to Bethlehem Steel FC

Fabian Herbers Scores Lone Goal in Steel’s 1-0 Shutout

SportsTristan D’Amours — Published March 26, 2016

“It’s disappointing. Frustrating. We didn’t want to start the season the same way we did last year,” said FC Montreal captain Louis Béland-Goyette. “It doesn’t start the season well.”

With Kyle Fisher and Wandrille Lefevre playing at the centre back position for Montreal, the Steel had a serious plan to attack the flanks.

The fast paced play of Steel winger Eric Ayuk, who was sent down from Major League Soccer affiliate Philadelphia Union, really took its toll on Montreal’s young left back, Aron Mkungilwa.

It was a mistake on the right side of the defense that opened the score late in the first half.

At the 42nd minute, midfielder Leo Fernandez sent a ball up the left flank to winger Walter Restrepo. This completely fooled Montreal defender Fisher who kept going forward and left Steel striker Fabian Herbers with tons of space to run alone in the box. Restrepo crossed the ball to Herbers who buried the first goal of the 2016 USL season.

“The goal happened near the end of the first half. It went very fast,” said Béland-Goyette. “I’m not here to blame anyone but there was some bad covering. It’s a lot of mistakes that lead to the goal so there’s no one to blame.”

“It feels like we lost them in a forest in the first half,” said Eullaffroy. “We didn’t recognize [the players] and that’s what frustrated us the most.”

FC Montreal found ways to attack in the second half. By working the flanks as well, the bleu-blanc-noir managed put in some serious scoring chances. The most threatening Montreal chance came from a cross by fullback Janouk Charbonneau sent to open striker Michael Salazar. He scissor-kicked the ball in spectacular fashion, but it went just over the crossbar.

The match then started to get physical. Three yellow cards were handed out in the span of a few minutes and the tempo of the game slowed down for the Montrealers. This was to the advantage of Bethlehem.

“It’s a challenge for each of us, we’re not the biggest in the league, said Beland-Goyette. “I think that this is something we need to fix with our technical play and our speed to avoid the contact.”

Eullaffroy decided to make a tactical change in the latter stages of the second half, bringing in striker Charles Joly in order to shift from the 4-2-3-1 formation to a 4-4-2 with two strikers Joly and Jacques Haman up top. Unfortunately for Eullaffroy, Haman got injured shortly after the change and the team never benefitted from the coach’s tactic.

“The physical play won’t suffice because we need to get the ball in the net at one point,” said Eullaffroy. “Physically, it’s nice to match the intensity in the second half but now we need to be better in the box.”

Despite getting attacked, Bethlehem stood tall and ultimately, the team that did not make mistakes left Olympic Stadium with three points. The score line remained 1-0, and the disappointment was clearly visible from the home team.

FC Montreal will have a week off to prepare for their next game. They will host bitter rivals Toronto FC II at Olympic Stadium on April 9 at 7:30 PM.