FC Montreal’s Unbeaten Streak Snapped by Louisville City FC
Tarek Morad’s Second Half Goal Ends Montreal Streak At Five
FC Montreal’s weakness of conceding goals minutes after halftime was enough to put a stop to their unbeaten streak that ended at five games. A goal by midfielder Tarek Morad sealed the 1-0 win for Louisville City FC at Complexe Sportif Claude Robillard.
At the 48th minute, a corner kick situation saw Louisville take the game winning goal. Morad was left to himself and headed the ball from his far post position past David Paulmin and into the net.
For FC Montreal assistant coach Simon Gatti, who was stepping in for suspended head coach Philippe Eullaffroy, the game winning goal was an attitude problem.
“On a corner kick, you need a fight where I have my player in my zone and if the ball comes, I have to win the ball, that’s it,” said Gatti. “I don’t have a problem if you’re in your zone and you fight but the guy is six foot two and [scores the goal] okay.”
“But if you’re there and no one makes a header with no pressure, now it becomes an attitude issue.”
For Gatti, what makes this situation more of an issue to him is that a situation like a corner kick where the play is stopped, players have time to prepare. It was up to the players to anticipate and take care of the defensive corner kick.
“The question is: ‘Am I going to win my fight?’ And we lost on this fight,” said Gatti.
Mele Temguia: A Long-Awaited Return
Central defender Mele Temguia made his first start of the season after suffering through a series of leg injuries which put him on the sidelines for the whole season. Despite only playing the first half, both him and the coaching staff were happy with his production.
“It has been a little more that eight months that I haven’t started in a game,” said Temguia. “I would have liked to have a better impact on the field but I got feedback from the coach at the half and the staff look satisfied so that’s good for me.”
Temguia wants to use his performance as a stepping stone and do better in the last few games of the United Soccer League season.
“I was very happy for Mele and his performance. He hasn’t played since last year and he added impact,” said Gatti. “I always say jokingly but you can’t draw a better central defender. Tall, strong, fast, muscular. For someone who has not played in eight months, I was surprised.”
“On the bench we were asking each other: ‘Are we going to change Mele after 25 minutes?’ But we were happy with him.”
Kyle Fisher: The Kid Is Alright
Kyle Fisher, the central defender Temguia was paired with, also received praise from Gatti. After being drafted by the Montreal Impact in the 2016 MLS Superdraft, Fisher has benefitted from several loans with FC Montreal this season and his coaches have taken notice.
“Since the start of the season [Fisher] has made a good progression in terms of restarts,” said Gatti. “On the physical side, he will win headers, he will put his body forward, but in his distribution and his decision making I found that he got to another level.”
FC Montreal will look to bounce back from their loss to Louisville on September 7 where they will host the Charleston Battery at Complexe Sportif Claude Robillard.
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