“The best gift anyone gave me. » This is how Matías Cóccaro described Luis Suárez’s jersey that he proudly held –– the word is weak – in his hands when he appeared in front of the ESPN Deportes microphone on Sunday evening.
The Uruguayan and his CF Montreal had just won, 3-2, against Inter Miami in Fort Lauderdale. His compatriot, Luis “el pistolero” Suárez, entered the game at the same time as he himself was leaving the field, after brilliantly giving his team the lead in the 75th minute.e minute.
“I had the chance to speak with Luis Suárez,” he told ESPN, smiling. We also thank our friend Alberto Mora, a Montreal journalist of Colombian origin working for the Golazo Canada site, who helped us with the translation of Cóccaro’s remarks.
“It might not be the case for everyone, but for me, it’s the most important jersey I (received). »
“When my father sees this, he’s not going to get over it,” he said in another excerpt. I remember seeing Suárez in 2006 (with Nacional) against La Rocha. He scored the third goal. »
Checked, it was June 22, 2006. A 4-1 victory for Nacional. The memory of Cóccaro, who was 9 years old at the time, is good.
“I wanted to add a little spice! »
If the evening ended with such palpable joy for the striker, that’s not what was in the cards before he scored the 2-1 goal.
El Zorro missed two golden chances in the first half. The first, at 12e minute, went viral on social networks, so gigantic was the goalkeeper’s blunder, who completely missed his exit. The Uruguayan, however, took too much time, the defense repositioned itself, and his shot, deflected, went over the Florida cage.
“The truth is that I wanted to add a little spice, because I knew Lucho (Suárez) was watching me! “, he joked about his incongruous patience in the box.
At least Cóccaro was saved literally a minute later by Fernando Álvarez’s successful header from corner for 1-0.
And as we said, he recovered himself in the second half. Mathieu Choinière, once again solid in the middle on Sunday, served him a caviar on a free kick, a perfectly placed cross which found the head of the happy mustachioed man.
We leave you in care of this delicious description in Spanish of Matías Cóccaro’s first goal in MLS.
We can never doubt his hard work. Cóccaro, he disturbs the opponents, and Jordi Alba even paid the price during an altercation with the Uruguayan during the match. If he can correct his little mistakes which cause him to miss great opportunities like in the first half, his impact will be all the greater. And his smile even more contagious.
“We should have won this match”
PHOTO REBECCA BLACKWELL, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Gerardo “Tata” Martino, head coach of Inter Miami
If there was one who wasn’t smiling on Sunday, it was Gerardo “Tata” Martino, the head coach of Inter Miami.
“We spent the entire game with the ball in the air, with headers, and forcing their goalkeeper to make saves,” he insisted. It was clearly a match we should have won. »
Is he right to make such a speech? Let’s decipher some statistics to see things more clearly. And let’s start with the most obvious ones.
Inter Miami had 57.3% possession, compared to 42.7% for Montreal. Shots attempted: 15 for the locals, 12 for the visitors. Shots on target are 4 everywhere. So already there, it’s shared, and the CFM is not unworthy.
In terms of projected goals, a useful statistic in particular to establish the portrait of a match at a glance, we are talking about 2.7 xG for Miami, and 2.5 xG for Montreal. In other words, Montreal took better advantage of the quality of the scoring chances it obtained, by scoring 3, compared to 2 for Miami, which could have scored more.
This is the same conclusion that we can draw from this attacking threat graph generated by the specialized site Fotmob: yes, in terms of volume, Miami controlled the game better, but in short, Montreal did better with what he created opportunities for himself.
SCREENSHOT TAKEN FROM FOTMOB SITE
The attacking threat graph for the Inter Miami – CF Montreal match, generated by the specialized site Fotmob
“What concerns me,” conceded Tata Martino, “is that we are not a team that defends with vigor. Whether when the ball is moving or during a set piece. »
The Impact scored twice from a set point, in fact. And for that, we must also give credit to assistant coach David Sauvry, whose mandate is to manage these offensive sequences of frozen play this season.
“Romuald (Peiser) and Lolo Ciman spend a lot of time on defensive plays,” said Laurent Courtois. David works on offensive plays. I’m happy that we’re rewarded, because that’s also the mark of good teams. »
reference: www.lapresse.ca