ST. PETERSBURG – The Montreal Impact picked up its first win of the 2017 preseason against an MLS opposition, a 4-2 triumph over D.C. United. The attacking players were particularly under the spotlight tonight, with Dominic Oduro, Nacho Piatti, Matteo Mancosu and Anthony Jackson-Hamel all finding the back of the net.
After the first five minutes, during which both teams studied each other, the Impact took over the ball on the left wing through Piatti. The Argentine sent Matteo Mancosu behind the Washingtonian defence and the Italian sent a cross towards Oduro, too high, but recovered by Chris Duvall on the right. The defender found Marco Donadel in front of the area. He passed the ball to Oduro, who played it first time to Patrice Bernier before getting free and dispatching the captain’s cross into the goal. On the other side, the American capital’s representatives had a hard time affirming themselves in the interplay, their first chance coming from the foot of Patrick Mullins, who shot off target. However, in the 14th minute, D.C. United replied with one of their go-to plays in 2016: Lloyd Sam sent a precise cross to Steve Birnbaum, who jumped higher than everybody else to head the ball to the right of Evan Bush to level the score.
Six minutes later, Marco Donadel, after a corner, led the counter-attack from the top of his own box. He played the ball to the left for Nacho Piatti, who sent it in Mancosu’s path behind the defence. The Italian was first to the ball and goalkeeper Travis Worra had no choice but to bring him down in the box. Piatti calmly dispatched the subsequent penalty to the left side of the goal, sending the keeper the wrong way. Louis Béland-Goyette entered the game in the 39th minute, taking over Marco Donadel who got injured after a contact. The half’s last five minutes were under the Impact’s control, the team keeping the ball for the most part.
“If we are going to press a little bit higher, when we win it, we want to be able to keep it and rest with the ball, to manage the game and play the game on our terms,” said Impact head coach Mauro Biello. “I think they did a good job at the end of the first half to win back the ball, but also in showing the patience to know when to keep the ball and when to go forward.”
After the break, in the 52nd minute, Piatti and Mancosu traded a couple of passes on the left wing, allowing the Italian to get free in the D.C. United box, but his left-footed shot was blocked and sent behind for a corner by the centre-back. On the corner, Hernán Bernardello put his foot on the ball before crossing to the near post. Goalkeeper Eric Klenofsky and forward Patrick Mullins got mixed up, the latter flicking the ball towards the far post, where Mancosu was forgotten by the D.C. backline. He simply headed the ball into an abandoned goal.
Then, in the 56th minute, Víctor Cabrera cleared the ball while sliding, but the object found Ian Harkes’ left foot. The midfielder shot right away and Cabrera, who was getting up, tried to block the ball but deflected it and caught Evan Bush wrong-footed. Six minutes later, Mauro Biello rotated his squad, making nine changed to his starting eleven; only Bush and Béland-Goyette stayed on the field.
Ben Olsen followed suit three minutes later, allowing seven new players to join the game. The match lost a bit of its rhythm, but in the 90th minute, just before stoppage time, Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla was isolated on the left flank and controlled a long ball. He beat Jalen Robinson with skill before giving the ball at the top of the box to Anthony Jackson-Hamel, who controlled the ball and shot towards goal. His shot was deflected and caught Klenofsky wrong-footed, beating him to his left.
“Offensively, I was happy. We were able to score a goal on the build-up and one on the counter. These are things we talk about and work on all the time. I’m happy with the second team that came on as well, who showed their strong attitude to close the ball down and win the ball high up the field. They were able to score a goal.”
The Montreal Impact will face the Philadelphia Union this Wednesday, February 22, at 7pm at Joe DiMaggio Sports Complex. This game will be broadcast online at www.impactmontreal.com.
LINE-UPS
MTL – G- Evan Bush; D- Daniel Lovitz* (Anthony Wallace, 62’), Laurent Ciman (Wandrille Lefèvre, 62’), Víctor Cabrera (Kyle Fisher, 62’), Chris Duvall (Hassoun Camara, 62’); M-Ignacio Piatti (Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla, 62’), Patrice Bernier (Calum Mallace, 62’), Marco Donadel (Louis Béland-Goyette, 39’), Hernán Bernardello (Michael Salazar, 62’), Dominic Oduro (Andres Romero, 62’); F- Matteo Mancosu (Anthony Jackson-Hamel, 62’)
Unused substitutes: G- Maxime Crépeau; D- Aron Mkungilwa; F- Nick DePuy
DCU – G- Travis Worra (Eric Klenojsky, 45’); D- Nick DeLeon (Jalen Robinson, 65’), Steve Birnbaum (Bobby Boswell, 65’), Taylor Kemp (Alhaji Kamara, 81’), Sean Franklin (Kofi Opare, 65’); M- Marcelo Sarvas (Rob Vincent, 58’), Lloyd Sam (Lamar Neagle, 65’), Jared Jeffrey (Ian Harkes, 65’), Luciano Acosta (Chris Dunkin, 65’), Patrick Nyarko (Sébastien Le Toux, 65’); F- Patrick Mullins (Jose Guillermo Ortiz, 58’)
Unused substitutes: None
* Player on trial
GOALS
MTL – Oduro 6’
DCU – Birnbaum 14’
MTL – Piatti 21’
MTL – Mancosu 53’
DCU – Cabrera (OG) 56’
MTL – Jackson-Hamel 90’
CAUTIONS
DCU – Kamara 90’
