Atlanta United falls on the road to CF Montréal 1-0

It was a battle of the blue at Stade Saputo in Montreal, Quebec as Atlanta United traveled north of the border to face CF Montréal. Atlanta United played from behind with 10 men on the field for most of the second half and leave Canada with a 1-0 loss in regular season play.

The opening 15 minutes Saturday felt balanced, but CF Montréal created the most dangerous looks in that time. Josef Martínez, facing his former club for the first time this season, received a warm welcome from traveling 17s, and it was the seasoned striker who took the first shot of the match in the third minute. His right-footed attempt ended up being blocked by center back Noah Cobb. Montréal followed it up with a shot from Kwadwo Opoku in the 13th minute that sailed over goal.

A decent opportunity arrived for Atlanta United in the 28th minute. Playing off Daniel Ríos outside the 18-yard box, Bartosz Slisz clipped a ball through two Montreal defenders for Saba Lobjanidze who was running on. Slisz’s pass was on the money into space toward the endline, but Montréal goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois read it correctly and gathered it up before Saba could reach it.

"Playing away from home is difficult," interim head coach Rob Valentino said in his post-match press conference. "The idea was that we defend together and we look to counter a lot. That was one way. The other way was link-up play whether it was through Danny Ríos or whether it was through Xande [Silva] and then to get Saba in behind. And we didn't do that enough tonight. So, that's on me."

The excitement built in the final 15 minutes of the first half as both teams created some good attacking chances. For Montréal, they worked the ball from right to left and eventually to the feet of Raheem Edwards. He cut several times to evade his defender, then put the ball on his left foot for a shot. Atlanta’s big, bald wall Brad Guzan quieted the supporters who were on their feet at Stade Saputo and came up with a huge save that kept the match scoreless in the 34th minute.

"I felt like the first half, it wasn't pretty at times, but we defended relatively well," Valentino said.

Atlanta United followed up the play with a good opportunity of their own. Tristan Muyumba chipped a ball toward the endline where Xande Silva was running on. The winger crossed the ball toward the far post where Ríos and Lobjanidze were positioned, but the Montréal goalkeeper knocked the cross away to deny Atlanta a chance to score the opening goal.

Then, Montréal drew a foul when Atlanta's Stian Gregersen was shown a yellow card, and the home team was awarded a direct free kick from about 19 yards out. In a situation familiar to Atlanta United supporters, Martínez took the kick for Montréal. He attempted to squeeze a shot into the top corner of his former teammate Guzan’s net, but it went a few inches wide.

Atlanta United, a team that often owns the possession battle, possessed 34 percent in the first half. They finished the first 45 mintues without a shot on goal and a total of three shots taken. Montréal took nine shots in the first half, three on target.

"I think we did a good job of keeping ourselves in the game in that first half, even though we didn't have a lot of the ball as well," starting center back Noah Cobb said.

Following the halftime break, the home side opened the scoring. Edwards made a long cross to the far post and Ruan bounced a header past Guzan to make it 1-0 CF Montréal in the 51st minute.

"Maybe tonight we missed some chances or didn't get many chances but it's a silly goal to give away from us defenders," Cobb said. "We win together, we lose together."

Atlanta United went down to 10 men in the 55th minute. Gregersen earned his second yellow card of the match and was shown a red, leaving the visitors one man short trailing a goal.

Guzan came up with three more massive saves to give Atlanta United a chance. The first occurred in the 75th minute and prevented Martínez from scoring. During a Montréal attack, the ball ended up at the feet of Martínez centrally right at the six-yard box line. The striker tried to slot it in from point blank range, but Guzan made the stop to deny his former teammate.

The veteran goalkeeper made another save in the 80th minute to keep Montréal from doubling their lead. In the 88th, he extended to get just enough to knock a well-hit strike from Montréal's Mason Toye over the crossbar.

Guzan finished the night with six saves.

Atlanta United created some moments in the second half in an effort to equalize. Off a corner kick, Saba found Ríos with a line drive cross to the far post that was cleared away for a corner kick. Later in the 68th minute, a ball was played across goal to Ríos in a dangerous area, but he couldn't quite get a shot. Two minutes later, Saba made a move in a 1v1 situation and fired a shot that was blocked. Jamal Thiaré, coming on as a substitute in the second half, slid a short pass in the 74th minute to Jay Fortune in the center of the box, but the play didn't result in a shot. In the 79th minute, Atlanta United was awarded a long direct free kick that eventually was blocked for a corner kick.

In the end, Atlanta United could not break through. The team ended the night without a shot on goal and was shutout for the first time since May 25.

"It's a lack of concentration and execution," Valentino said.

Atlanta United entered Saturday's meeting looking to bounce back following two straight MLS road losses and elimination this past week in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. Instead, they find themselves on the other side of three consecutive MLS road matches with zero points.

Following this long stretch away from Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta United returns home for a double matchweek. First up, Atlanta hosts New York City FC for a midweek match on Wednesday, July 17. Then, they welcome defending MLS Cup champions Columbus Crew on Saturday, July 20.