At long last, CF Montreal picked up their first home win of the 2025 season with a 1-0 victory over visiting New York City FC on a rainy night at Stade Saputo.
Canadian international Victor Loturi’s second goal of the campaign helped Montreal (3-12-5, 14 points) claim their second win in three outings. The result marked just the second clean sheet of the season for goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois.
Two of their three wins on the season have now come against NYCFC (8-7-4, 28 points), who sit just outside automatic playoff qualification following the surprise defeat.
In the 22nd minute, a long curling strike from Dante Sealy flew off the gloves of goalkeeper Tomas Romero and all the way to midfielder Loturi, whose rebound, powerfully struck and low to the ground, tucked neatly into the bottom left corner of goal. The gong of the North Star bell was a pleasant sound for Montreal fans, whose team had tallied just six goals at home all season beforehand.
New York’s best chance of the first frame came from a Julian Fernandez cross that bounced fortuitously off Montreal defender Luca Petrasso in the eighth minute. Sirois was judged to have halted the deflected attempt before it crossed the goal line.
In the second half, substitute Jules-Anthony Vilsaint had a wonderful opportunity to double the home team’s lead off a delicate flick from Prince Owusu sprung him on an open path toward goal. Goalkeeper Romero ultimately had little trouble turning away a weakly hit effort from Vilsaint.
It was a rare opportunity in a relatively quiet affair that saw the visitors manage only two shots on goal.
Montreal will be doubly pleased to collect points given their multitude of absences. Along with long-injured Bryce Duke and Fabian Herbers, Joel Waterman and Nathan Saliba remain with Canada at the CONCACAF Gold Cup. Designated player Giacomo Vrioni also remained out of the lineup with an elbow injury.
Assistant coach Mehdi Ballouchy was the man in charge for NYCFC with manager Pascal Jansen away for personal reasons.
–Field Level Media
