Final Score: CF Montréal 2-0 Vaughan SC
Goalscorers: Rea 31′, Ibrahim 36′
2023 Canadian Championship
Preliminary Round

Match in a minute or less

CF Montréal advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2023 Canadian Championship on Tuesday night, defeating League1 Ontario side Vaughan SC 2-0 at Stade Saputo.

For the first 30 minutes, the two sides were evenly matched — and it was Vaughan’s Omar Marzouk that had the first great opportunity to score. He managed to in behind Montréal’s backline in the fifth minute after a pass over the top from Joe Di Chiara, but wasn’t able to beat Logan Ketterer in the Montréal goal.

Sean Rea gave Montréal the lead with a 30th minute strike, firing the ball into the bottom right corner of the net after collecting it from a corner kick. Just five minutes later, Sunusi Ibrahim doubled Montréal’s advantage, finishing off a well-executed counter-attack by the home side to make it 2-0.

That’s how the match would end, as Vaughan held their own against a stronger opponent. They had a handful of chances throughout the 90 minutes, but couldn’t take advantage of any of them.

Three Observations

Rea scores first CF Montréal goal with game-winning rocket

Sean Rea scoring marvellous goals is something that regular consumers of content at CanPL.ca might have almost come to expect from the 20-year-old Canadian.

It was the former Valour FC loanee, and reigning Canadian Premier League U21 Player of the Year award recipient, that scored the winning goal in this match, shooting the ball into the bottom right corner of the goal in the 31st minute. Rea did well to control the ball with his first touch after it came at him quickly from a corner kick, before putting his laces through the ball and sending it past the diving Gianluca Catalano.

BUT ⚜️#CFMTL open the scoring in the 2023 #CanChamp via former #CanPL star SEAN REA, who follows up on a saved effort with a quick response off a corner 🎯

🔴 https://t.co/7JFAUhgRAE pic.twitter.com/U61ljL7cEt

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) April 18, 2023

“It feels amazing honestly, this has been a dream come true since I was a young boy coming through the academy,” Rea said in an interview with OneSoccer after the game. “I’ve always dreamed of scoring my first goal with the club at home in front of our fans, and I’m super happy I was able to do that tonight.”

REACTION 🎙️

Hear from #CFMTL goal-scorer (!) and former #CanPL star SEAN REA following his team's comfortable #CanChamp win over Vaughan 🍁🏆

POST-GAME 🔴 https://t.co/7JFAUhgRAE pic.twitter.com/gM5a1oV2rH

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) April 19, 2023

Moments before Rea scored, he forced an acrobatic stop out of Catalano with a shot from the edge of the penalty area. He hit the ball perfectly, and it was from the ensuing corner that he scored his goal.

He was also involved in many of the team’s best attacking moments, going the full 90 minutes in an attacking midfield role that he thrived in.

Vaughan show flashes of brilliance, but fail to make few chances count

Despite being the clear underdogs, and lacking some of the depth and quality that CF Montréal possesses, Vaughan SC actually looked like the sharper of the two teams early on in this match, and the League1 Ontario side certainly held their own at Stade Saputo throughout the 90 minutes.

It was the visitors who had the first shot on target in the match, and it’s one that will keep Omar Marzouk up at night. Former Cavalry FC midfielder Joe Di Chiara played a perfect long pass over the head of Rudy Camacho, which Marzouk ran onto, holding off the Montréal defender. Marzouk’s second touch went a bit too far in front of him, and while he was able to catch up to it and get a shot away, it reduced a clear shot on target to an effort from a tighter angle that Logan Ketterer was able to make the save on.

That would be their only shot on target in the match, but it was still a promising attack for Vaughan, and an early warning to Montréal that they meant business.

In the final seconds of the first half, Marzouk had a second good opportunity, but was again denied by the finest of margins. After Di Chiara played the ball to Raheem Rose down the left flank, Rose played a low pass into the box toward Marzouk, but he overran it slightly. He stuck out his leg, stretching to try and get a touch on it to get the ball on target, but his effort was in vain.

Rose, who captained the side on the night, had a few shots as well, but struggled to hit the target.

“The pace of the game is just different,” Rose said after the match when asked about a second half effort that went over the crossbar. “It’s hard to stay calm, but when I did get the opportunity it was like playing at the park. Take your time, take a breath, take a shot.

“Unfortunately it went over, but I thought it was a great effort.”

In goal, Gianluca Catalano put in a strong performance as well, doing everything he could to keep Vaughan in the match. He made an acrobatic save in the first half to deny Sean Rea’s shot from the edge of the penalty area, but would be beaten by Rea from the ensuing corner. In the second half he made a big stop on Ariel Lassiter as well, diving to his right to turn the ball away.

While they were beaten on the day, there was a lot to like from the League1 Ontario club, and it was a performance they can be proud of, and build on as they turn their attention back to the remainder of the season.

“It was the little things that mattered, and Montréal did those little things better than us,” said Vaughan boss Carmine Isacco. “The reality is that it’s an MLS team versus an amateur adult team, but we still wanted that fairytale, we all believed in that fairytale, and it didn’t happen.

“Now it’s going to take character to get back into our league and get motivated to do the next things after this incredible atmosphere, incredible field, and incredible day for us. There’s a lot of disappointment in that room, and that tells me a lot as well.”

Montréal need to build on performance and improve MLS form

CF Montréal have had a poor start to the 2023 Major League Soccer season, and the hope from their camp after this match is that it can spark some life into them as they return their focus back to the league.

The club had scored just three times in their first seven games prior to Tuesday night’s contest, and conceded 17 times — good for a 1-0-6 record and a -17 goal difference. Those numbers are worrying enough for the team that finished just a few points off the top of the MLS standings a season ago, but to make matters worse, all three of those goals came in their one victory — a 3-2 win over the ten-man Philadelphia Union, with two of them coming in the 90th and 98th minutes to snatch victory at the death.

They hope that 2-0 victory in front of their home fans, and the confidence that can come with moving onto the next round of the cup competition, will translate to more success at the MLS level, against stronger opponents.

Montréal looked sharp on the ball, and the service that was provided by Ilias Iliadis, Bryce Duke, and Ariel Lassiter was especially promising — as that trio combined to create ten chances, with Lassiter assisting the second goal with a perfect low cross to Sunusi Ibrahim at the back post.

BUT ⚜️⚜️#CFMTL go up 2-0 over Vaughan SC as Sunusi Ibrahim gets on the end of a low cross and taps home with ease 💪

🔴 https://t.co/7JFAUhgjL6 pic.twitter.com/789Xbs1FgM

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) April 18, 2023

Head coach Hernán Losada was pleased with his team’s efforts on the night, but stressed the importance of this just being the first positive step in what they hope will be the start of a much better run of form.

“Keep on trying, and if it doesn’t work, keep on trying because that’s the most important thing, don’t lose the confidence to be faithful to the way we want to play,” said Losada after the match, mentioning that it’s common to see visiting teams at Stade Saputo sit back and defend against them. “I really liked today that the circulation of the ball was a lot quicker than other games, especially when you play against teams that are in a medium-low block, and that’s going to happen a lot.

“The quick ball circulation is important, then every defender that has the ball at his feet has two or three options to play forward. Today I saw it a lot, and it’s up to us to try to replicate these kind of movements in more competitive games that are coming right now.”