For 90 minutes, CF Montréal and the New York Red Bulls battled to a deadlock. Nothing separated two Eastern Conference sides desperate for three points, and there was nothing particularly memorable to that point.
Then Amro Tarek was called for handling the ball on a sliding challenge in the box. Referee Allen Chapman pointed to the spot and madness in Montréal ensued.
When the smoke cleared and the bell stopped tolling, CF Montréal wrapped up a 2-1 win Saturday night that nobody at Stade Saputo will soon forget.
“It was a crazy end to the game and it's a textbook case of being calm and cool,” CF Montréal head coach Wilfried Nancy said afterward. “I told the players at halftime, in all honesty, that I knew we could win this game. But we had to be even more calm, not get into their game and that we were going to find that pass that could beat them. I'm proud of the players because we took a lot of risks tonight by attacking with three, so I'm very happy.”
Nancy called it “a first time for me,” and anyone watching would surely agree.
Let’s recap, shall we?
While sliding, Tarek made contact with Bjorn Johnsen’s cutback into the box from the endline with his hand, resulting in a penalty kick call in the 92nd minute.
Johnsen, who had just entered the match in the 85th minute, chased down the ball and held onto it at the spot despite Mason Toye’s pleas to give it to him. Nancy said after the game he wasn't pleased Johnsen took the PK because he was still fresh into the match.
Red Bulls goalkeeper Carlos Coronel dove to his left to stop Johnsen’s attempt but, just after teammates mobbed the Brazilian backstop for his save, Chapman made his way to the Video Review monitor. The decision was made for the kick to be retaken because Coronel stepped off his line before Johnsen sought the game-winner.
Toye then stepped to the spot in the 96th minute, with the West Orange, NJ, native trying to bury his hometown team. But Coronel went to his right to save the low attempt. And as he quickly tried to put the ball back into play, Chapman blew his whistle and made another trip to the monitor where he ruled Coronel, again, left his line too soon.
"To score a penalty, it’s not about technique or tactic or physical," Nancy said. "It’s all about emotional control."
Up stepped Victor Wanyama, in the 97th minute, for a third bite of the apple. Nancy couldn’t watch.
“I didn’t watch when Victor took it because it was too much,” he said. “Good for us and we move on.”
Coronel stayed on his line this time and got both hands on Wanyama’s 98th-minute attempt, but the ball caromed into the net to end the drama.
“It’s just a crazy situation, honestly,” Red Bulls defender Andrew Gutman said. “I mean, you ask a goalkeeper to make one save, you don’t ask him to make three penalty kick saves, that’s unrealistic. For him to do what he did is honestly incredible, I’ve never seen something like that. He’s a great goalkeeper and a great guy and he didn’t deserve that at all.”
Wanyama ran to the corner flag to celebrate the winner, Coronel kicked the post and in the 103rd minute, Chapman blew his whistle to end the drama in Montréal.
“People can look at the penalty kick call a few different ways. As an attacking player, you want the referee to give you the call,” CFM midfielder Djordje Mihailovic said. “I know the PK scenario was a bit unusual. I’ve never played a game where you take a PK three times. At the end of the day, as long as the ball goes in the and we get three points it doesn’t matter to me.”
