MONTREAL – CF Montréal advanced to the Canadian Championship final after shutting out Forge FC 2-0 on Wednesday night at Stade Saputo.
After a scoreless first half, Ariel Lassiter broke the tie in the 54th minute on a shot deflected by Forge FC's Alessandro Hojabrpour. Sunusi Ibrahim then doubled the Montreal lead in the 78th minute with his fifth career Canadian Championship goal.
In the championship game, CF Montréal will face the winner of the other semi-final between Vancouver Whitecaps FC and Pacific FC played on Wednesday night. The final will be played on Wednesday, June 7, at 10pm EDT in British Columbia.
CF Montréal will play its upcoming MLS match this Saturday against Inter Miami CF at Stade Saputo at 7:30pm (Apple MLS Season Pass, BPM Sports, TSN 690).
COMPLETE SUMMARY HERE
GAME NOTES
-Rudy Camacho became the third player in Club history to reach the milestone of 1,000 minutes played in the Canadian Championship (since the Club joined MLS).
-Defender Zachary Brault-Guillard played his 10th game in the Canadian Championship.
-Jules-Anthony Vilsaint played his first ever game with CF Montréal (all competitions).
-The Bleu-blanc-noir now has a 3-0-0 record against Forge FC in the Canadian Championship.
-Since 2012, the Club has a 13-0-4 record at Stade Saputo in this tournament (32GF-8GA)
HERNÁN LOSADA
“We had a lot of possession in the first half, but it was hard to create chances. We added an extra striker and that helped us afterwards. The first goal opened the game for us. I asked the players to take a little more risk and finish the actions because anything can happen in these opportunities. The whole team did well tonight. I want to congratulate all the people at the Club who play a role behind the scenes and who contributed to the success of this group because a place in the final is never easy. This tournament is very important to the Club. We put together a very competitive lineup in every game in this tournament. We respected every team and we are very proud to be in the final.”
MATHIEU CHOINIÈRE
“We adjusted after halftime and found the space to get chances and score. We wanted to move the ball quickly and attack the opposing net. It was our objective to have an opportunity to win a trophy. It is always nice to play in a final. It's another memorable moment with my brother. We used to talk about it when we were young and it is wonderful that it happened again tonight.”
