51黑料

51黑料 City SC鈥檚 2-0 win over Montreal on Saturday night in Quebec was a long time coming.

A very long time.

For City SC, it was its first shutout since March 15 and its first road win since March 9, which was also its last road shutout. For City SC interim coach David Critchley, who took over the job May 27, it was the first shutout and first road win in, well, forever. The win snapped a nine-game road losing streak and gave the team three wins on the road in the past two seasons. In conjunction with last week鈥檚 home tie with Dallas, it marked the first time City SC had gotten points in consecutive games since April 27.

鈥淲e鈥檝e been grinding, training good every week, staying in it, even though we have been getting hard results and hard punches in the face every weekend,鈥� said defender Conrad Wallem, who scored the game鈥檚 first goal. 鈥淲e have stayed in it all together. And today, we showed as a team what we really can do and how we can fight together and win. On the road, you have to win games like this. You have to win as a team. And today, we really showed that.鈥�

鈥淲e don鈥檛 celebrate a lot of times this season,鈥� said midfielder Marcel Hartel, who scored the other goal. 鈥淪o we are very, very happy to get both.鈥�

Of course, some perspective is required. Montreal, with the loss, dipped past City SC and fell to 29th in the 30-team league, and Montreal had a chance that was cleared off the line by City SC defender Fallou Fall and another chance that rocketed off the crossbar and then a Montreal player shot the rebound high. It does not take a lot of imagination to see this result going the other way.

鈥淚 told the guys this weekend,鈥� said Critchley, 鈥渁nd we addressed it today, right before the game: Tough times don鈥檛 last, but tough people do. I鈥檓 hoping the tough times for this team are over with. We create some of our own luck now, and we just get past these difficult moments, which I think today was a massive step in that direction.鈥�

鈥淲e had a lot of times in the season,鈥� Hartel said, 鈥渕aybe where Fallou is not dropping on the line, or even there, or it鈥檚 going a bit higher and then over his head. So we faced it a lot of times. So I鈥檓 very happy that the luck today was on our side.鈥�

Of course, it鈥檚 a bit late in the season for all this, coming in the 30th of 34 games for City SC this season and with the team sitting on the precipice of mathematic elimination from the playoff race. Realistic elimination happened about a month ago. While a loss would have eliminated City SC, even a win was no guarantee of survival. But one of the necessary ingredients for elimination, a win by San Jose, didn鈥檛 happen, so City SC lived for another weekend.

It鈥檚 only the sixth win of the season, so City SC has to used it as a building block, especially as it contained elements that have been alien to them most of the season.

鈥淚t needs to be,鈥� Critchley said. 鈥淲e need to now be consistent in not just the performance but the result aspect of the game. So it should be a building block for us. We should always have objectives for the next game and the remaining games in the season. We don鈥檛 want the mentality to be, 鈥極K, we鈥檙e playing for nothing, we鈥檒l just go game by game.鈥� There鈥檚 so much to build on for this team and this club, so every performance needs to show that we鈥檙e getting closer to that level.鈥�

City SC gave itself a little room in the race to avoid winning the Wooden Spoon as the league鈥檚 worst team. The Los Angeles Galaxy played to a tie, so City SC is four points ahead of the last-place team, with Montreal in between, leaving City SC now in a tie for 27th place with D.C. United.

The clean sheet was important because not just was City SC allowing goals, it was allowing lots of goals. Prior to the 1-1 tie with Dallas, City SC had lost the previous three games each by the score of 3-2. City SC has allowed three or more goals seven times in 14 games under Critchley coming into Saturday.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a confidence boost for all of us, keeping a clean sheet,鈥� said Wallem, who looks to have found a home at right back, where he has shown to be quite adept at putting in crosses.

One of the breaks that went City SC鈥檚 way led to the first goal. A strong run by Klauss had gotten the ball deep into Montreal鈥檚 end of the field, and even though City SC didn鈥檛 get anything out of that, the ball stayed around the Montreal box. When Klauss took a shot that was blocked, the ball bounced right to Wallem, alone in front of the goal, who controlled the ball with his right foot and moved it to his left foot to put it in the net from about 6 yards out.

It was the first goal for Wallem in MLS. He had two other solid goal-scoring chances and said if he had handled them better, he could have had three goals. But he was delighted on this occasion to have even one.

鈥淚 actually have been saying I鈥檓 a threat in the box,鈥� Wallem said, 鈥渂ut the people have started believing me not to be so. Finally, I could show them. It鈥檚 about time.鈥�

Eleven minutes later, Fall came to the rescue. Center back Henry Kessler tried to make a back pass to Roman Burki but put it right in the path of Montreal鈥檚 Matty Longstaff, who chipped it over Burki. His chip would have gone in the goal if not for Fall, who raced in behind Burki, set up on the goal line and leaped to head the ball in the air, with Burki punching it away when it came down.

The previous two weeks had been rough for Fall, who whiffed on a back pass attempt that led to what turned out to be the game-winning goal against Houston, then chose to make a short throw-in deep in City SC鈥檚 end against Dallas that led to a turnover and the tying goal. On Saturday, in addition to the clearance, he was breaking up potential plays all over the field.

鈥淗e鈥檚 got a very high growth mindset and determination to learn,鈥� Critchley said. 鈥淪o you attack that along with his physical profile and his youthfulness in a good way. The one thing we told him is try to make mistakes in training but limit the mistakes in the game and learn from it in training. So I was very happy today with a solid performance from him on the ball, as well as defensively.鈥�

Hartel gave credit for 80% of his goal, in the 55th minute, to Klauss, who passed him the ball. Sangbin Jeong made a run down the right wing and crossed to Klauss in the middle of the field, who on the run backheeled the ball to Hartel on the left. He then shot back to the right and in to the net for his sixth of the season.

鈥淎mazing,鈥� Hartel said of the pass.

That鈥檚 what it seems to take for City SC to pull out a win this season.