Red Bulls II get Late Winner on “Experimental” FC Montreal

Junior Flemming’s Lone Goal Ruins FC Montreal’s Inaugural Game at New Home

SportsTristan D’Amours — Published May 21, 2016

“I think in most games we can get back to the locker rooms and tell ourselves that we played well,” said FC Montreal captain Louis Beland-Goyette. “But I’m getting a little annoyed to say that we played well and we don’t win.”

FC Montreal tried to go for the full three points but got caught on the defensive side. A cross from the right flank fooled goalkeeper Eric Kronberg and Flemmings took his chance to send his team back home with the win.

According to Beland-Goyette, despite their good plays and hard work in the past games, Montreal still hold and 0-8-0 record at the end of the day.

“Not everybody watches the game, they only remember about the loss and it needs to change,” said Beland-Goyette.

FC Montreal head coach Philippe Eullaffroy admitted that a last minute push made the team unbalanced defensively but emphasized on his team’s lack of finishing.

“We had four, five good opportunities to score and we missed four, five, and they had few and they score one,” said Eullaffroy. “Every time we have the opportunity to kill them, we got to take it.”

Due to many players getting called up to the Canadian under 20 national team camp in Costa Rica, Montreal head coach Philippe Eullaffroy decided to go with a starting lineup he called “experimental.” Many players were not playing in their usual positions.

Some of the changes included central midfielder Marco Dominguez, who was moved to the right side of the defence. Janouk Charbonneau, who normally occupies the right back position, was playing in central defence.

The camp was later cancelled and the players flew back from Costa Rica and came back at midnight the day before the game. Having endured several hours in a plane, Eullaffroy did not change his initial lineup.

“We brought them back on the game sheet but obviously they were not in the best conditions to start so we trusted the ones we worked with for this game and I think it was for the better,” said Eullaffroy. “We saw some [of the] boys that got in were not in great shape so I think we made the right decision.”

The team, already lacking options offensively, has lost striker Jacques Haman, who was released by the Montreal Impact organization for various reasons, including visa issues.

“We miss that: a forward that could score us ten goals in the season,” said Eullaffroy. “Now we hope the the Davids [Choiniere] and the Ballous [Tabla] of this world continue to progress and instead of one scoring ten, a couple will get five each.”

“We also hope that at the professional level, the injuries will stop and a forward from the pros could give us a hand in USL.”

After playing the first game back from a point-less five-game away stint, Montreal heads back out on the road next week. Eullaffroy’s squad will face the Richmond Kickers in Virginia on Saturday May 28.