Union takeaways: Jim Curtin slams referee mishap that sparked collapse in Montreal

MONTREAL — Reviewing the Union’s 3-2 loss to CF Montreal on Saturday night at Olympic Stadium.

Mikael Uhre. It couldn’t be anyone else, since he scored his first two goals of the season and they were both great finishes. But that wasn’t the story of this game, and let’s not take too long to get to it.

7. The Union’s shots on target in the game, their highest total of the season.

8. Shots Montreal took after Julián Carranza’s red card. Six of them came after Damion Lowe subbed in for Alejandro Bedoya in the 87th minute and the Union switched their formation to a 3-5-1.

» READ MORE: Refereeing controversy mars Union’s collapse in 3-2 loss at CF Montréal

We’ll go a little longer than usual here because of the circumstances.

“I thought the second half looked like us and we talked about that at halftime. Got our two goals, we were pretty comfortable and in control. And then, you know, the red card happens. The second foul on Julián [Carranza] is a yellow card for sure. The first one, there’s no contact whatsoever. So, a big mistake there. And then the game turns to chaos.”

— Union manager Jim Curtin.

“I still haven’t seen all the plays, and I can’t really comment too much on it, but yeah, the word [expletive] show comes to mind.”

— Curtin on the double-video review that first overturned Montreal’s equalizer, then restored it.

“The thinking there is they were getting at us in the wide areas, and get a third center back in there to clear balls. They’d be able to release Kai [Wagner] out wider, quicker, be able to release Olivier [Mbaizo] out wider, quicker. I’ll own that part of things for sure. Something that we tried. I thought we were taking on some water.”

— Curtin on why he subbed out Bedoya for Lowe.

“Anywhere in the world, if you look at that game and you’re watching an MLS game for the first time, I would just say you wouldn’t be impressed with the chaos. You know what I mean? When you look at that, it’s not good for our league. …

I know everybody tries to do the best they can, and I understand when there’s mistakes. I know they try to get it right. But just to the eyeballs, that can’t look good for anyone. I guess it was exciting for the fans, for sure, but it’s not professional.”

— Curtin’s final remarks of the night.

“On the bench, they have some gadgets that they can show the replay. I went there and the coach said, ‘You know, it’s a goal — there was somebody on the [end] line.’ So I went back to the ref to try to complain. I complained to the fourth official.

I asked him to just communicate with the VAR and also the ref, because there was somebody that he hadn’t been picked up by the camera, so can you check again? The referee was [saying], good point, and he went back to check, and he made the right decision.”

— CF Montreal midfielder and captain Victor Wanyama offers his version of events.

Atlanta United 5, Portland Timbers 1. Led by Argentine World Cup winning-midfielder Thiago Almada and new big-money striker Girorgos Giakoumakis, Atlanta delivered an explosive win to improve to 3-0-1 on the season. The Five Stripes also got an impressive performance from 18-year-old academy-bred defender Caleb Wiley, who had a goal and an assist.

The Union host Orlando City on Saturday at Subaru Park at 7:30 p.m., in a game that will be free on Apple’s streaming platform. Because MLS is playing through a FIFA window this week, both teams will be shorthanded.

But the Union will be especially shorthanded, with eight players expected to be gone with national teams: Damion Lowe (Jamaica), Brandan Craig (U.S. U-20s), Olivier Mbaizo (Cameroon), José Andrés Martínez (Venezuela), Richard Odada (Kenya), Jack McGlynn (U.S. U-20s), Dániel Gazdag (Hungary), and Quinn Sullivan (U.S. U-20s.)

Add in Andre Blake’s injury absence and Julián Carranza’s red card, and the Union might not be able to have a full bench.

» READ MORE: How to watch Union games in the new Apple MLS Season Pass streaming package