By Canadian Press

Third time’s the charm: late penalty drama gives CF Montreal 2-1 win over Red Bulls

Aug 14, 2021 | 8:59 PM

MONTREAL — A Victor Wanyama goal from the penalty spot eight minutes into second-half stoppage time gave CF Montreal a 2-1 win over the New York Red Bulls on Saturday night to snap a five-game winless skid.

Sunisi Ibrahim also scored for Montreal (7-7-5) while Patryk Klimala netted the lone goal for New York (5-9-4).

With the game tied 1-1 after 90 minutes, Bjorn Johnsen’s cross hit Amro Tarek’s hand three minutes into stoppage time and the referee pointed to the penalty spot.

Johnsen’s attempt was saved by Carlos Coronel, but after video review, the referee deemed the Red Bulls goalkeeper was off his line.

Mason Toye stepped up for the penalty re-take, and again Coronel made the save. But for the second time, the referee determined Coronel was off his line.

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More than four minutes after Johnsen took the initial penalty, Wanyama made no mistake on Montreal’s third try from the spot. Coronel got a hand on the powerful shot that sailed into the top corner of the net.

The win was CF Montreal’s first since July 17 against Cincinnati. 

There seemed to be extra motivation in the match, from both sides, given that Montreal and New York were eighth and ninth respectively in the Eastern Conference coming into this one.

Both sides lined up in mirroring 3-4-1-2 formations leading to an understandably quiet start to the game.

As the first half progressed, Montreal started imposing its will and got the best chance of the half.

Toye dribbled into the 18-yard box and put the ball on a platter for Zachary Brault-Guillard, who fanned on the shot and put it right into Coronel’s hands.

Chances kept coming for the home side when both Mathieu Choiniere and Djordje Mihailovic saw blistering shots narrowly miss the target.

Despite the pressure, first blood went to New York, which converted a penalty in the third minute of first-half stoppage time.

A sloppy tackle from Aljaz Struna took down Andrew Gutman in the box. Klimala slotted the spot kick into the bottom right corner.

The goal did little to deflate CF Montreal though, which came out firing in the second half.

Sending wave after wave of attacks, the best opportunity to equalize came in the 69th minute when Joaquin Torres played a perfect ball in to Toye, who put it wide from six yards out.

It only took two minutes for CF Montreal to fix their mistake as Ibrahim finished an acrobatic header from point blank range.

Montreal doubled down on the attacking approach in a bid to get all three points, which proved the right tactic given Wanyama’s late heroics from the penalty spot.

New York’s next opponent will be the Columbus Crew on Aug. 18 while CF Montreal faces FC Cincinnati that same day.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 14, 2021.

The Canadian Press