Recap: Late match stunner from Pedro Santos secures a win for D.C. United against CF Montréal
Featured image courtesy of D.C. United, Hannah Wagner.
D.C. United took all three points in a 1-0 win against CF Montréal on a drizzly Buzzard Point evening in front of a home crowd of 18,402.
Troy Lesesne’s men started off the evening putting the pressure on Montréal, which helped to keep a dangerous Josef Martínez in check. An early shot by D.C.’s Christian Benteke found the net but the striker was offside. He seemed to know it, but still popped up off the pitch grinning.
The Bleu-blanc-noir tried to turn the tide, but struggled to find opportunites to test Alex Bono. Instead, they were all tied up in their own half trying to keep a tenacious D.C. side away from Jonathan Sirois. Meanwhile, Martínez hovered near the midline, awaiting his chance to catapult Montréal’s attack. New to the Bleu-blanc-noir this season, Martínez is still settling in but looks just as dangerous as ever.
While the match remained scoreless at the half, D.C. United had managed 12 shots with eight on goal and and an xG of 2 at the half.
Barely 10 minutes into the second half, referee Ramy Touchan tagged Montréal’s Joel Waterman for a red after contact with Ted KuDiPietro that tripped him from behind. However, after VAR the call was reduced to a yellow, much to the chagrin of the Black-and-Red faithful.
Montréal perked up after the call, knowing they had dodged a blow, and started to press D.C. United in earnest. In a particularly fraught moment, it seemed Martínez would at last have his chance to strike, however a good block from Aaron Herrera shut him down.
After a few of the Bleu-blanc-noir’s second half attacks fizzled, they slipped back into their early-match pace, allowing D.C. to regain the upper hand. The Black-and-Red tightened their grip on the match, seeking redemption in front of the home crowd after their last home match against Inter Miami ended in defeat.
Fortunately for the Black-and-Red, their voluminous chances finally yielded. Benteke provided the assist for a stunner from Pedro Santos in the 85′. Entering the match in the 79′ for Conner Antly, Santos made a quick impact.
Head coach Troy Lesesne has a mountain to climb to implement his vision at a club that has been in near constant transition over the past few seasons with coaches and players in and out. He told The District Press, “The only pieces I’m looking at right now are the pieces we have. So, I don’t have a wish list right now or anything like that. I think we have realistic expectations about what we can add this year at the right time.”
He reflected on the the team’s progress so far saying, “The group that we have, I’m very happy with how we’re coming together. Not just because we got three points tonight. But I think every single match you’ve seen us go out and represent ourselves in the identity that we say that we’re going to. And that’s the ultimate judge – if we’re doing the things that we say that we want to and trying to influence the match in the right way.”
For now, the season grinds on. D.C. United hits the road to face Columbus Crew at Lower.com Field on April 6.
Three Takeaways
- Let us entertain you. The Black-and-Red are infinitely more entertaining to watch this season, even when things aren’t going their way. Its refreshing to see the snappy play, quicker turnovers, and CHANCES.
- Not a one man show. D.C.’s roster might lack some depth, but players are showing themselves more than up to the task of creating danger for their opponents.
- Playing through the final whistle. The Black-and-Red are showing tenacity and grit we haven’t seen in quite some time. No matter how the match is going, they are playing through the final whistle, keeping our hope alive.
Watch the highlights from D.C. United vs. CF Montréal
Box Score
MLS Regular Season – Week 7
D.C. United: 1 (Santos 85′)
CF Montréal: 0
Lineups
D.C. United: Alex Bono, Lucas Bartlett, Conner Antley (Pedro Santos 74′), Christopher McVey, Aaron Herrera, Jared Stroud (Kristian Fletcher 84′), Matti Peltola (Jackson Hopkins 62′) Mateusz Klich, Cristian Dájome (Gabriel Pirani 74′), Ted Ku-DiPietro, Christian Benteke
CF Montréal: Jonathan Sirois, Fernando Alvarez, Joel Waterman, Ruan (Sunusi Ibrahim 89′), Gabriele Corbo (George Campbell 89′), Samuel Piette (Nathan-Dylan Saliba 74′), Dominic Iankov (Bryce Duke 73′), Mathieu Choiniere, Matias Coccaro (Lassi Lappalainen 68′), Ariel Lassiter, Josef Martinez
Misconduct Summary
D.C. United: Dájome 53′, Klich 59′
CF Montréal: Iankov 44′, Waterman 57′, Martínez 81′
A fine effort all around, but especially from:
We can’t know yet exactly how good he is, but Lesesne is definitely good at this job. He puts people in positions to succeed, understands how to tactically match up with an opponent, and gets his charges playing with energy and cohesion. Particularly of note in this match was his solution to the left side problem: knowing Antley would not be able to support the attack much, and not wanting to be totally dependent on the right-side interplay between Stroud, Klich, and Herrera, Lesesne deliberately set up Dajome to roam side-to-side and TKDP to roam forward and back, resulting in frequent tactical interchanges where Montreal’s defense did not know who to mark. In part because of this, it took Montreal over 30 minutes to realize that Ruan is quite a bit faster than Antley and ought to be their main attacking outlet… the work that Dajome and Ku-DiPietro were putting in on that flank veiled our vulnerability there.
Finally, as someone who misses DC Washington and prefers not to have a parade of random anthem singers… can we just take the staffer who sang tonight and make the anthem part of her job description? I mean, she’s already employed here. A bump in pay, and voila, problem solved.
She was spectacular. She gave it 100%. Fine post overall!
Sarah, I absolutely agree with all 3 of your take-aways. I’d add a 4th: Troy Lesesne is a damn good coach. He’s got the entire team committed, he’s got players other teams weren’t that interested in (like McVey, Bartlett, Stroud, Antley) contributing consistently. He’s willing to use young players (Jackson Hopkins is no longer a ghost!) If we can free up a few spots and cap money, I trust Mackay to generate some players that will be key to this squad.
Agreed 100%
Now that the relief and elation has worn off somewhat, I gotta say, we have got to not make games we’re so dominant and disruptive that friggin close! All Montreal had to do was convert one of their chances, and we’d be boned!
A lot of positives, including Herrera’s clearance off the line, which gave me life, and Fletcher’s defensive header at the end was top notch. But I’m concerned that the only moment where a player really found time and space to take a shot with their feet was the Santos play so late in the match.
The team needs to figure out how to convert chances with this style, it hasn’t clicked yet in that regard.
Anyway, kudos to the entire backline, an especially strong part of the game.
Agreed all around. I’ll especially want to highlight what Sarah said about being fun to watch. I’ve seen a lot of dreary 0-0s and 1-0s watching DC United over the decade and a half before we went Lesesne. I kept remarking that last night’s match was legit fun to watch. Exciting.
That said, for all the bussing around the net, we didn’t create many clear chances. I thought Peltola and especially Klich passed up on some really good chances to shoot, to attempt passes which didn’t quite work out. I’d like to see that change, but maybe it reflected Montreal’s choices, willing to let those 2 have some chances, while staying close to more dangerous attackers.
Montreal, OTOH Had some really great opportunities. Bono snuffed one out. Kudos to Herrera and Fletcher for the plays you noted (and another when one Herrera picked off a dangerous pass near the PK spot with a flying kick to clear the ball), and the CBs did some good work, too. But Montreal also just whiffed on some clear chances.
We were fortunate to get all 3 points, but the team has definitely leveled up this year. Imagine what we could do with some players who are way more accurate shooting than Dajome or more accurate with crosses than Stroud?!!
I’ve actually been really impressed with the accuracy of strouds crosses. He’s not elite fast, but he stays wide and interplays really well with the attack over there. His accuracy and willingness to draw out players was directly responsible for the two goals we had against St. Louis.
I think that Stroud is – dare I say it? – the Standard on this team right now. He’s not really elite in any area of play but he’s very consistent and gives good effort. If we can pick up a couple more players at his level then we have a decent chance at playoffs.
Stroud is a fine footballer. He is not the problem. Frankly, I don’t think anyone is the problem. THAT WAS FUN.
And, yes, we need to get the finishing going, but this is superbly coached team.
Wanna play DC now? Heck no….(me gusta)
That is a good win. Montreal will be a playoff team. They are similar to DC United so far this season in that they are well coached and greater than the sum of their parts except with a low block and counter system. They already won at Miami. They’ll give other good teams like Columbus, the Red Bulls, and Philadelphia fits with that counterattack.
Absolutely correct. As good as we look, as consistent as we are, what worries me is this: the East is really tough this year. I expected TFC to be a wooden spoon candidate–instead they’re strong. Almost everyone thought we’d be a wooden spoon candidate–clearly we aren’t, we can play with anyone. But what scares me is in a Conference that is so tough, there are no real “bad” teams (not even Chicago–maybe New England is the weak one), if you lose a key player for a month and 5 games, that could eliminate you from the playoffs if you aren’t a strong team who can create a cushion. The East is really super competitive this year and no team that isn’t in the top 3-4 (Columbus, Miami, Cincinnati, maybe Philly) can afford to have a bad month because of injuries or a few key guys just going cold. We are so thin at this point that we’re very vulnerable to this risk–more so than Montreal or NYRB or NYFC or Atlanta.
Given the squad depth and how it’s not quite tooled for the style of play, I don’t know if I’m “worried” about not making the playoffs. All our DP spots are taken, there’s not much wiggle room till we offload some high earners. The returns are encouraging, and I certainly expect us to compete game to game if we have the right makeup of players available, but it’s really hard to pressure them to be a playoff team, much less to make a run.
I think you’re 💯 correct about the strength of the Eastern Conference, and you’re not wrong that absences would hurt. I’m just more encouraged by the uptick of intensity and competitiveness without demanding it be “the season” to break our playoff hoodoo. We may, and it would be fun, but we’re quite some ways from the end of this process.
Darth Garber knows where you reside…..
I missed the game live, so ended up watching last night. Once we had Pirani and fletcher on the field together, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a DC team this fast. Pirani and TKDP were running around folks like they were traffic cones. If Pirani ever figures out how to get involved, this team will present a lot of problems for folks.