Daniel Rios scored on a penalty kick in the 94th minute as CF Montreal outlasted visiting Orlando City FC for a dramatic 2-0 victory on Saturday.
Montreal (4-7-0, 12 points) won for the third time in four games (2-1-0) by finally scoring in the final minutes after creating numerous chances.
Rios scored his first goal in MLS competition for Montreal after Orlando’s Robin Jansson was called for a foul by tackling Luca Petrasso’s legs.
On the ensuing penalty kick, Rio send the ball into the upper right corner as he lifted a right-footed shot over goalie Maxime Crepeau’s diving attempt.
Rios scored his clutch goal after scoring in Montreal’s 5-0 win over Calgary Blizzard SC in the opening round of the Canadian Championship on Wednesday.
After Rios scored, Dagur Thorhallsson tallied in the eighth minute of stoppage time by putting a right-footed shot from the middle of the box into the upper right corner.
The late goals were among 25 shot attempts for Montreal. Montreal saw 11 shots get blocked, but six attempts were on target.
Thomas Gillier made four saves, but he also was aided by his defenders. Not long before the clutch goal by Rios, Dawid Bugaj blocked a shot by Duncan McGuire in the 88th.
Orlando (3-8-1, 10 points) was unable to win a third straight contest after pulling off an unlikely comeback over Inter Miami last week. The Lions have not won in Montreal since Decision Day in the 2021 season.
Crepeau, a Quebec native, made three saves and his teammates finished with nine shot attempts. He kept the game deadlocked by denying Petrasso’s header off a corner kick in the 58th.
Before the dramatic goals, Montreal missed the net four times in the first half and also saw Wikelman Carmona get denied in the opening minute. Montreal also saw Ivan Jaime miss the net after making a 1-on-1 move in the box in the 18th.
In the initial minutes of the second half, Petrasso hooked a shot to the left and Victor Loturi missed the net in the 59th before misfiring on a header eight minutes later.
–Field Level Media
