RICHMOND, Virginia – FC Montreal won 2-1 against the Kickers in Richmond, Saturday night, at the City Stadium.
After a first half with no goals, the Bleu-blanc-noir was first to get on the board in the 52nd minute with a penalty, after a foul committed on Alessandro Riggi in the box. Montreal’s winger took a low shot on the right on the penalty, scoring his first goal of the season.
Montreal doubled its lead in the 75th minute. David Choinière dribbled in the left side of the box, shifting two defenders before passing back to Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla, who shot on his first touch in the top right corner.
Richmond was awarded a penalty in the 76th minute, but goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau saved Jason Yeisley’s shot, diving to his left, as well as shutting down the shot on the return.
A few minutes later, the Kickers fell to 10 men after an ejection to Samuel Asante for a dangerous kick on midfielder Louis Béland-Goyette.
The locals pushed in the end of the game and reduced the lead to one goal in the 88th minute. Brian Ownby found himself alone against Crépeau and took a low shot to the right to beat him.
FC Montreal resisted to Richmond’s pressure at the end of the game and won its first game of the season.
“We were not able to apply the game plan in the first minutes and found ourselves in trouble, but we adapted well for the rest of the game,” said FC Montreal head coach Philippe Eullaffroy. “We were in the same situation in Bethlehem after leading 1-0 and stumbled. Here, we scored a second goal. The experience makes us better game after game.”
“We didn’t want to take only one point in this game and we wanted to come back to Montreal with the three points,” said midfielder Marco Dominguez. “We are really happy. We were all on the same page. Today, we applied our principles of play.”
The next FC Montreal game will be on Saturday, June 4, at 3pm EDT against the Rochester Rhinos at Claude-Robillard Sports Complex. Fans can buy tickets and enter the stadium on the Southwest side of the field starting at 2pm. Tickets cost $5, with $1 going to the Montreal Impact Foundation. Admission is free for season ticket holders on presentation of their membership card.
LINEUPS
FC Montréal: Maxime Crépeau; Janouk Charbonneau, Jems Geffrard (Nevello Yoseke 79’), Thomas Meilleur-Giguère, Zachary Sukunda (Simon Lemire 79’); Louis Béland-Goyette, Marco Dominguez, Alessandro Riggi, David Choinière (Philippe Lincourt-Joseph 90’), Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla; Charles Joly (Aron Mkungilwa 31’)
Subs not used: David Paulmin, Heikel Jarras, Mastanabal Kacher
MLS players
Richmond Kickers: Charlie Horton; William Yomby, Hugh Roberts, Braden Troyer; Lucas Paulini (Romulo Peretta 72’), Samuel Asante, Yudai Imura, Travis Pittman, Luiz Fernando (Brian Ownby 57’); Sunny Jane (Anthony Grant 57’), Jason Yeisley
Subs not used: Sawyer Gaffney, Owusu Sekyere, Nathan Shiffman, Jackson Eskay,
GOALS
MTL: Alessandro Riggi (PEN) 52’
MTL: Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla 75’
RIC: Brian Ownby 88’
CAUTIONS
RIC: Brian Ownby 60’
RIC: William Yomby 72’
MTL: Louis Béland-Goyette 81’
MTL: Aron Mkungilwa 90’
MTL: NEvello Yoseke 94’
EJECTION
RIC: Samuel Asante 81’
