CF Montreal lost 3-0 to Atlanta United in the latest round of Major League Soccer (MLS), the league of the United States and Canada. Two Chileans faced each other in the match: Alexis Sánchez for the Canadian team and Paulo Díaz, a center-back for Chile, for the US side.
According to BioBioChile, the defeat leaves the club of "Wonder Boy" in 29th place out of 30 in the overall standings. The outlet places it at the very bottom of the Eastern Conference, although its summary refers to second-to-last place in that conference. La Tercera, which provided minute-by-minute coverage, reported that the match was played at Saputo Stadium, Montreal's home ground, and that both Chileans started.
Atlanta settled the match in the first half. Paraguay's Miguel Almirón opened the scoring in the 22nd minute, and Argentina's Giuliano Galoppo, who joined from River Plate, extended the lead in the 41st. In the 60th minute, Swiss striker Breel Embolo, 29, who has played at the World Cup for his country, made it 3-0.
Sánchez played until the 81st minute, when Guatemala's Olger Escobar replaced him. According to the statistics cited by BioBioChile, the Tocopilla native was among his team's standout performers, alongside English midfielder Matthew Longstaff and US center-back Brandan Craig.
Paulo Díaz, who joined Atlanta this season, played the full 90 minutes. He finished as the second-highest-rated player on the pitch, with a score of 7.8 out of 10, behind only Almirón, who was named player of the match.
The loss follows a previous 2-1 defeat to Toronto FC, in which Montreal conceded a stoppage-time comeback. After that match, coach Philippe Eullaffroy pointed to his squad's emotional management. With only one club below it in the overall standings, Sánchez's team is slipping further away from the playoff places.
