MONTREAL (AP) — Defender Ruan Gregorio Gregorio Teixeira scored a second-half goal and goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois did not have to make a save on the way to his fifth clean sheet of the season as CF Montreal defeated Atlanta United 1-0 on Saturday night.
Neither team scored until Ruan used assists from Raheem Edwards and Ariel Lassiter in the 51st minute to score his second goal of the season for Montreal (6-9-8) and the sixth of his six-year career. It was the fourth assist this season for Edwards and the sixth for Lassiter.
Click to Gallery
MONTREAL (AP) — Defender Ruan Gregorio Gregorio Teixeira scored a second-half goal and goalkeeper Jonathan Sirois did not have to make a save on the way to his fifth clean sheet of the season as CF Montreal defeated Atlanta United 1-0 on Saturday night.
Atlanta United's Daniel Ríos, left, moves in on CF Montreal's Victor Wanyama (2) during the first half of an MLS soccer match in Montreal, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
Atlanta United's Derrick Williams, left, and Tristan Muyumba (8) move in on CF Montreal's Josef Martínez, center, during the first half of an MLS soccer match in Montreal, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
CF Montreal's Ariel Lassiter (11) and Atlanta United's Derrick Williams (3) challenge for the ball during the first half of an MLS soccer match in Montreal, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
CF Montreal's Nathan-Dylan Saliba (19) and Atlanta United's Xande Silva (16) challenge for the ball during the first half of an MLS soccer match in Montreal, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
CF Montreal's Ruan reacts after scoring against Atlanta United during second-half MLS soccer match action in Montreal, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
CF Montreal's Raheem Edwards, left, and Atlanta United's Bartosz Slisz, right, challenge for the ball during first-half MLS soccer match action in Montreal, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
CF Montreal's Raheem Edwards, left, is brought down by Atlanta United midfielder Bartosz Slisz, right, during first-half MLS soccer match action in Montreal, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
CF Montreal's Ruan, top, leaps over Atlanta United defender Ronald Hernández, bottom, during second-half MLS soccer match action in Montreal, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
CF Montreal's Fernando Álvarez (4) challenges Atlanta United's Daniel Ríos (19) during the second half of an MLS soccer match in Montreal, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
Atlanta United (6-11-6) was forced to play a man down four minutes later after defender Stian Gregersen was given a second yellow card, leading to a red card and a one-match suspension.
Brad Guzan saved six shots in goal for Atlanta United. Guzan had three saves in a scoreless first half.
Montreal ups its unbeaten run at home to seven, going 3-0-4. The streak matches a club record set three times, most recently in 2021.
Atlanta United entered the match having lost its top two scorers — Thiago Almada and Giorgos Giakoumakis — to transfers.
Atlanta United leads the all-time series 7-4-3. The club clinched a playoff spot for the fifth time in club history with a 4-1 win over Montreal at the end of last season. Montreal improves to 4-2-2 against Atlanta United at home.
Atlanta United returns home to play New York City FC on Wednesday. Montreal travels to play the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sport
CF Montreal's Ariel Lassiter (11) and Atlanta United's Derrick Williams (3) challenge for the ball during the first half of an MLS soccer match in Montreal, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
Atlanta United's Daniel Ríos, left, moves in on CF Montreal's Victor Wanyama (2) during the first half of an MLS soccer match in Montreal, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
Atlanta United's Derrick Williams, left, and Tristan Muyumba (8) move in on CF Montreal's Josef Martínez, center, during the first half of an MLS soccer match in Montreal, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
CF Montreal's Ariel Lassiter (11) and Atlanta United's Derrick Williams (3) challenge for the ball during the first half of an MLS soccer match in Montreal, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
CF Montreal's Nathan-Dylan Saliba (19) and Atlanta United's Xande Silva (16) challenge for the ball during the first half of an MLS soccer match in Montreal, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
CF Montreal's Ruan reacts after scoring against Atlanta United during second-half MLS soccer match action in Montreal, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
CF Montreal's Raheem Edwards, left, and Atlanta United's Bartosz Slisz, right, challenge for the ball during first-half MLS soccer match action in Montreal, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
CF Montreal's Raheem Edwards, left, is brought down by Atlanta United midfielder Bartosz Slisz, right, during first-half MLS soccer match action in Montreal, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
CF Montreal's Ruan, top, leaps over Atlanta United defender Ronald Hernández, bottom, during second-half MLS soccer match action in Montreal, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
CF Montreal's Fernando Álvarez (4) challenges Atlanta United's Daniel Ríos (19) during the second half of an MLS soccer match in Montreal, Saturday, July 13, 2024. (Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press via AP)
DOHA, Qatar (AP) — International mediators were set to hold a new round of talks Thursday aimed at halting the Israel-Hamas war and securing the release of scores of hostages, with a potential deal seen as the best hope of heading off an even larger regional conflict.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt were to meet with an Israeli delegation in Qatar as the Palestinian death toll from the 10-month-old war climbed past 40,000, according to local health authorities. Hamas has not said whether it will participate, accusing Israel of adding new demands to a previous proposal that had U.S. and international support and to which Hamas had agreed in principle.
A cease-fire in Gaza would likely calm tensions across the region. Diplomats hope it would persuade Iran and Lebanon's Hezbollah to hold off on retaliating for the killing of a top Hezbollah commander in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut and of Hamas' top political leader in an explosion in Tehran.
The mediators have spent months trying to hammer out a three-phase plan in which Hamas would release scores of hostages captured in the Oct. 7 attack that triggered the war in exchange for a lasting cease-fire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
Both sides have agreed in principle to the plan, which U.S. President Joe Biden announced on May 31. But Hamas has proposed “amendments” and Israel has suggested “clarifications,” leading each side to accuse the other of making new demands it cannot accept.
Hamas has rejected Israel's latest demands, which include a lasting military presence along the border with Egypt and a line bisecting Gaza where it would search Palestinians returning to their homes to root out militants. Hamas spokesperson Osama Hamdan told The Associated Press the group is only interested in discussing the implementation of Biden's proposal and not in further negotiations over its content.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denies Israel has made new demands, but he has also repeatedly raised questions over whether the cease-fire would last, saying Israel remains committed to “total victory” against Hamas and the release of all the hostages.
The two sides are also divided over the details of the hostage-prisoner exchange, including who among the Palestinian prisoners would be eligible for release and whether they would be sent into exile. Hamas has demanded the release of high-profile militants convicted of orchestrating attacks that killed Israelis.
The most intractable dispute has been over the transition from the first phase of the cease-fire — when women, children and other vulnerable hostages would be released -- and the second, when captive Israeli soldiers would be freed and a permanent cease-fire would take hold.
Hamas is concerned that Israel will resume the war after the first batch of hostages is released. Israel worries that Hamas will drag out the talks on releasing the remaining hostages indefinitely. Hamdan provided documents showing Hamas had agreed to a U.S. bridging proposal under which talks on the transition would begin by the 16th day of the first phase and conclude by the fifth week.
More recently, Hamas has objected to what it says are new Israeli demands to maintain a presence along the Gaza-Egypt border and a road dividing northern and southern Gaza. Israel denies these are new demands, saying it needs a presence along the border to prevent weapons smuggling and that it must search Palestinians returning to northern Gaza to ensure they are not armed.
The demands were only made public recently. Hamas has demanded a full Israeli military withdrawal, which was also part of all previous versions of the cease-fire proposal, according to documents shared with the AP that were verified by officials involved in the negotiations.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed across the heavily guarded border on Oct. 7 in an attack that shocked Israel's vaunted security and intelligence services. The fighters rampaged through farming communities and army bases, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
They abducted another 250 people. Over 100 were released during a weeklong cease-fire in November, and around 110 are believed to still be inside Gaza, though Israeli authorities believe around a third of them died on Oct. 7 or in captivity. Seven were rescued in military operations.
Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed 40,005 Palestinians and wounded 92,401, Gaza's Health Ministry said Thursday, without saying how many were militants. The offensive has left a swath of destruction across the territory and driven the vast majority of Gaza's 2.3 million people from their homes, often multiple times.
Successive evacuation orders and military operations have driven hundreds of thousands of people into a so-called humanitarian zone along the coast where they live in crowded tent camps with few services. Aid groups have struggled to deliver food and supplies, prompting warnings of famine.
Hamas has suffered major losses, but its fighters have repeatedly managed to regroup, even in heavily destroyed areas where Israeli forces had previously operated. Its top leader and one of the architects of the Oct. 7 attack, Yahya Sinwar, is still believed to be alive and hiding inside Gaza, likely sheltering in Hamas' vast tunnel network.
Hezbollah has meanwhile traded fire with Israel along the border in what the Lebanese militant group says is a support front for its ally, Hamas. Other Iran-backed groups across the region have attacked Israeli, American and international targets, drawing retaliation.
Iran and Israel traded fire directly for the first time in April, after Iran retaliated for an apparent Israeli strike on its embassy compound in Syria that killed two Iranian generals. Many fear a repeat after the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was visiting Iran for the inauguration of its new president. The explosion was widely blamed on Israel. Israel has not said whether it was involved.
Hezbollah has meanwhile vowed to avenge the killing of its commander, Fouad Shukur, raising fears of an even more devastating sequel to the 2006 war between Israel and the militant group.
Still, Iran and Hezbollah say they do not want a full-blown war, and a cease-fire in Gaza could provide an off-ramp after days of escalating threats and a massive military build-up across the region.
Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel.
Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war
Senior Advisor to U.S. President Joe Biden Amos Hochstein, gestures as he meets with Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati, in Beirut, Lebanon, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
Palestinian Rania Abdelfattah, 34, who was badly injured during what she said a rocket attack at her home in Deir al-Balah killing most of her family, during the war in Gaza, receives medical treatment at the New Administrative Capital Hospital, just outside Cairo, Egypt, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Palestinians displaced by the Israeli air and ground offensive on the Gaza Strip flee from Hamad City, following an evacuation order by the Israeli army to leave parts of the southern area of Khan Younis, Sunday, Aug. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza hold photos of their loved ones during a protest calling for their return in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - A worker unzips a body bag to display a Palestinian family, consisting of five children aged 2 to 11 and their parents, in the morgue at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, after an Israeli strike hit their home in the Nuseirat refugee camp, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza hold photos of their loved ones during a protest calling for their return in Tel Aviv, Israel, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza hold photos of their loved ones during a protest calling for their return in Tel Aviv, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
Relatives and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza hold photos of their loved ones during a protest calling for their return in Tel Aviv, Thursday, Aug. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariel Schalit)
An Israeli warship passes the coast of Haifa, Israel, Wednesday, Aug. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)
