In any case, it was an extremely well-attended match. About the best you could hope for actually, since it was sold completely out. Around 10,000 people showed up - which is way above the USL average.
Granted, this was the first ever game for the team. So it's still new and exciting. And it was MLS competition, which may have inflated it somewhat.
But still. You can only fill up what is there, so. Off to a great start.
The result left a little bit to be desired, but it wasn't terrible. The Lights lined up in a 4-3-3 with a decidedly mexican-flavored starting 11 (which was kind of to be expected, given the coach and the recruiting so far):
The team started well - for the first 15 minutes they kept the ball pretty well and defended pretty well too, save one great chance that Montreal saw saved by Ferrino on about 15 minutes. Piatti looked really dangerous at times, and rinsed Alatorre and Portugal a few times on our right hand side. But hey, Piatti is going to rinse plenty of right backs in MLS this year, so that's nothing to get worked up about.
At first I thought they were goingt o try to play out of the back a bit. The goalie really seemed to want to dribble the attackers more than I felt was necessary. But their best chance of the first half came from a long clearance up field to the left hand side, which was then whipped into the box and bobbled around a bit before trickling out for a goal kick.
Overall, Montreal definitely had the better of the first half, but that was to be expected. It certainly wasn't an "all-hands-on-deck" experience, with wave after wave of Montreal attacks. A few of the Lights counterattacks broke down a little bit sooner than you would have liked, but they are still getting used to each other.
There was another good half chance on a cross from the right hand side about 10 minutes into the second half. If the forward would have gotten a good connection on it it may have gone somewhere.
There was also a great little moment of handbags here and there. Those always crack me up, especially during friendlies, but hey, everyone out there is ultra-competitive or else they wouldn't be there.
When the goal finally came, it was blindingly simple. From a dead ball, there was a simple over-the-top lob, and two Montreal players were wide open on the left hand side of the box. The Lights had kind of fallen asleep, the center back was running back trying to cover. The goalie came out quick to try to clear the ball. He kind of slapped it to one side, but it ended up going right to another Montreal player to roll into the net.
You could blame the keeper's punch, I guess, but the real mistake was falling completely asleep and leaving one center back to mark two players from a dead ball.
The second was another brain fart. Simple throw in deep in our half, our midfielder tried to play a backpass to a defender to clear - and instead passed it straight to a Montreal attacker. He crossed, the goalie got to it - only to bounce it off a his own center back and into the net.
Again, I suppose you could blame the goalie, but the real mistake was passing it to a Montreal player in the box. You really can't get away with doing that, at any level.
Then, immediately afterwards, came the clown-car moment of the game. Montreal tried a long ball forward, and our goalie came out to meet it. He opted not to clear it upfield - which is fine. However, instead of taking a touch and passing it, he decided to try to dribble two Montreal attackers. Not the wisest move in the history of the sport. Needless to say, he got it pinched off of him, and when he pulled the guy back, he picked up his red card.
Shame, really, he really hadn't had a bad game before that, and had bailed us out a few times. But maybe this will teach him not to be so cavalier about dribbling attackers, because he was kind of asking for it all game.
The rest of the game kind of petered out without incident. Montreal already had it won, we were never going to come back when a man down.
Overall, I think the Lights were always going to lose this game. The defense was actually pretty respectable. There were three bone-headed mistakes, but ultimately they are the kind of mistakes that come from a lapse in concentration and decision-making, not anything systemic. The attack was honestly a bit more disappointing to me. I realize it was MLS opposition, but we really didn't create any chances of note at all.
Man of the Match: for me, it'd have to be Huiqui. Neither of the goals were really his fault, and ultimately he did alright for facing some high-quality MLS opposition.
At the end of the day, it was pre-season, so the important thing was that it was a chance to get familiar with each other and get some fitness.
Same time next week?
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