Football
2021 Major League Soccer, Regular Season
MTL 
5
FT
 CIN
4
Reuters 3y

Ahmed Hamdi's brace rallies CF Montreal past FC Cincinnati

Ahmed Hamdi scored two late goals as CF Montreal rallied twice from a pair of two-goal deficits for a 5-4 win against the visiting FC Cincinnati on Saturday.

Hamdi tied it 4-4 in the 74th minute and gave Montreal the lead from just above the goal mouth in the 87th minute.

Montreal, playing on its home pitch for the first time this season, won its third straight game.

- ESPN+: MLS chat and more on ESPN FC Daily (U.S. only)

Brenner had two goals for Cincinnati, which saw its four-game unbeaten streak snapped. The Orange and Blue lost to Montreal for the first time in four all-time matches.

Montreal midfielder Joaquin Torres nearly gave the home crowd an early boost when his shot in the second minute hit the crossbar.

But it was the visitors who would ultimately strike first. Haris Medunjanin took a cross from Luciano Acosta and struck to the right when goalkeeper James Pantemis positioned himself for a straight-on kick to make it 1-0 in the sixth minute.

Montreal had a pair of chances a few minutes later, including a post from Torres in the 10th minute, but it was once again the visitors who capitalized.

Pantemis was slow to return the ball to his defender and a speedy Brenner ran in to get his foot on it first to double the lead to 2-0 in the 14th minute.

Mason Toye directed a header off a cross from Lassi Lappalainen by goalkeeper Kenneth Vermeer to cut it to 2-1 in the 21st minute.

Vermeer made a save on Victor Wanyama but the ball was loose in front of him and Torres beat defender Nick Hagglund to it to even the score 2-2 in the 34th minute.

Gustavo Vallecilla deflected midfielder Alvaro Barreal's free kick in the 42nd minute to put Cincinnati back in front, 3-2.

Brenner restored the two-goal advantage in the 46th minute with a behind-the-back kick to send the ball by defender Joel Waterman and Pantemis.

Toye narrowed it to 4-3 on a penalty kick in the 72nd minute.

^ Back to Top ^