CF Montreal finishes worst season with 2-0 loss to Whitecaps

MONTREAL · CF Montreal capped off its worst season in club history with a 2-0 loss to the visiting Vancouver Whitecaps on Saturday afternoon at Stade Saputo. Cheikh Sabaly and Mihail Gherasimencov scored for Western Conference champion Vancouver, which secured second place overall in the Supporters' Shield standings. Montreal finished last in the Eastern Conference with six wins, 20 losses and eight draws for 26 points, two points fewer than it earned last season. The hosts were shut out for the 14th time this season.

"The overall assessment of the season will be negative in terms of results, but there are some interesting takeaways as well," said interim head coach Philippe Eullaffroy. "The positive side is that 90 per cent of the games, we were coherent, we were interesting, and we played up to the level of our opposition. In the final third, we failed, and that was the decisive factor." The game's first half saw little offensive activity as both teams traded long stints of harmless possession before heading into the break scoreless. The second half began with a flurry of chances, as Sabaly and Montreal's Noah Streit both hit the crossbar with point-blank shots within two minutes. Rayan Elloumi then forced a quick save from Montreal goalkeeper Samsy Keita.

Sabaly made up for his miss in the 50th minute, finishing into an empty net after Keita saved his initial shot on a Vancouver break. "The first half was overall, defensively good, but the second half, we killed ourselves with two bad passes," said Eullaffroy. "We gave the ball to Vancouver, who are maybe the best team in offensive transition, and they punished us." Montreal defender Brandan Craig, who received the Jason DiTulio Award from his teammates, said the difference was clinical finishing. "There were individual mistakes, but that happens all the time. The difference is the team at the top of the Western Conference put away their chances, and we didn't," said Craig. "In the second half, we tried to be more aggressive, and it caused us some mistakes in behind and through our lines." Montreal had several positive moments after Sabaly's goal but could not seriously trouble Whitecaps goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka. Gherasimencov added an insurance goal from a difficult angle in the 83rd minute to secure the result for Vancouver (19-8-8). The match was played in front of an uncharacteristically quiet crowd, as both of Montreal's main supporters' groups, Collectif IMFC and 1642MTL, announced they would not attend the club's final two home games in any capacity.

With files from The Canadian Press, Winnipeg Free Press and Sportsnet