CF Montréal 0-2 Columbus Crew result, stats and report

The Result That Tells You Everything

CF Montréal 0, Columbus Crew 2. Final score. Job done for Columbus. And for Montréal, another humiliation to add to a pile that is getting very difficult to look at.

The thing is, this was not a match where the losing side were unlucky. They were not undone by a wonder goal or a refereeing decision. They were beaten by a team that was sharper, harder to play against, and more clinical. Columbus did the basics. Montréal did not. End of.

Montréal Cannot Score. Columbus Figured That Out Early.

Look at Montréal's last five matches in MLS coming into this. Four goals in five games. Fourteen conceded. Zero clean sheets. That is not a run of bad luck. That is a team with no standards and no accountability in large portions of the pitch.

And this match was no different. Montréal had 55 per cent possession. They put in 18 crosses. They had nine shots. But they had only two shots on target and created zero big chances. Zero. You can move the ball around all you like. If there is no desire to make something happen when it counts, possession means nothing. I do not need a laptop to tell me that.

Brayan Ceballos was booked inside two minutes for a foul. That set the tone. Montréal were sloppy, they were frantic, and they never looked like a team with a plan to win a football match.

Columbus Were Better. Simple As That.

Columbus Crew were not brilliant. Their own form coming into this was patchy. One win from their last five in MLS, with losses to New York Red Bulls and DC United in their two most recent outings. But none of that mattered on the night because they faced a Montréal side offering absolutely nothing in terms of resistance.

Columbus had 13 shots, eight of them on target or blocked, and they put three on target. More importantly, they scored from two of them. That is called execution. That is called attitude when it matters. Columbus won 44 duels to Montréal's 34. They made 14 interceptions to Montréal's seven. They competed. The home side did not.

Farsi Opens The Account, Méndez Kills The Game

Mohamed Farsi broke the deadlock on 57 minutes with a right-foot shot, assisted by Sean Zawadzki. Clean, simple, effective. The kind of goal that punishes a defence that has been giving up goals for fun.

Montréal tried to respond. There was a VAR check involving Prince Owusu at the 60-minute mark. Two substitutions came on at 63 minutes, Wikelman Carmona Torres and Dante Sealy replacing Fabian Herbers and Gennadiy Synchuk. The manager was clearly looking for something. He did not find it.

Brais Méndez made sure of the points on 68 minutes with a free kick. That was that. A team already struggling defensively, now chasing the game, with no clinical edge up front. Unacceptable. The game was over.

The Numbers Do Not Lie

Montréal committed 20 fouls to Columbus's 11. They picked up two yellow cards, including Samuel Piette in the 84th minute for a foul. They went offside five times. Columbus went offside zero times. One side was organised and disciplined. The other was a mess.

Columbus also hit the woodwork once and missed a big chance, so they could have had more. That tells you how comfortable they were. They had a chance to spare and still won by two goals against a home side that had more of the ball.

Montréal's goalkeeper was barely tested in a meaningful way. Columbus's keeper made two saves and kept a clean sheet. That is what a functional defensive unit looks like. Montréal have not kept a clean sheet in any of their last ten MLS matches. Not one. That is a standard that is completely unacceptable at any level of the professional game.

Montréal's Problems Run Deep

Listen, you can look at the injury list and point to a suspended player and two players out through injury, one of them a long-term absence since April. Circumstances are not ideal. But that does not explain a side that has conceded 20 goals in their last ten MLS matches and scored nine. It does not explain 14 goals conceded in the last five alone.

The problem is not the squad. The problem is standards. The problem is that this group of players does not seem to understand what it means to compete for ninety minutes. When Columbus scored that second goal, the match was dead. Montréal had neither the desire nor the quality to change it. That is the most damning thing I can say about any side.

Columbus's win in the reverse fixture earlier came back to bite Montréal too. CF Montréal had beaten Columbus 2-1 back in August. So Columbus had a score to settle, and they settled it efficiently and without drama. That is a professional performance.

What Has To Change

Accountability. That word needs to be said loudly inside that Montréal dressing room. Players need to look at themselves and ask honest questions about their attitude, their desire, and their commitment to the basics. Clean sheets. Winning duels. Being hard to beat. None of that requires exceptional talent. It requires will.

Right now CF Montréal have none of it. And until that changes, results like this will keep coming. Columbus Crew 2, CF Montréal 0. Fully deserved. End of.