FC Cincinnati look to keep their homefield winning streak intact when they battle CF Montreal on Wednesday night.
FC Cincinnati (7-1-3, 24 points) have won all six of their home matches en route to a tie for first place in the Eastern Conference with the New England Revolution. All six victories have come by one goal.
“It’s hard to win,” Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan told reporters. “Blowing teams out is not easy to do, and I don’t think that we’re going to step on the field and blow out anybody. You have to be really productive to be able to finish off all your plays and score three, four or five goals. Maybe we saw a couple of those games last year and outside people expect that, but that’s hard to do.”
Helping the Orange and Blue achieve success is the fact they have yet to trail at home.
“Playing with a lead is important,” Noonan said. “Our ability to see out games, but I think we’ve been able to see games out in a strong way. … The energy that we get at the end of these games when we’re protecting a lead, the crowd really does make a difference.”
Cincinnati is coming off a 2-1 home victory over D.C. United. Luciano Acosta and Alvaro Barreal scored the goals.
Montreal (5-6-0, 15 points) is just 1-5-0 on the road but has been playing stingy defense while winning four straight MLS matches.
All four contests were 2-0 victories, including last weekend’s home win over Toronto FC. Lassi Lappalainen and Chinonso Offor scored.
“Both teams brought intensity,” Montreal defender George Campbell said. “We had a good run of games and showed that we are the better team right now. We knew what to expect from each other. It made the game more competitive. At the end of the day, we stuck together and didn’t give up any easy scoring chances.
“That gives us the confidence to win. Staying compact on defense also gives us confidence going forward.”
Jonathan Sirois has been in goal for the four consecutive shutouts in MLS play and Montreal has gone 404 minutes without allowing a goal. The franchise record of 420 minutes was set in 2018.
The series is tied at 3-3-1. Montreal won both 2022 meetings.
–Field Level Media
