Anthony Jackson-Hamel ties score in stoppage time for Bleu-blanc-noir
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA – Mauro Biello’s squad continued its preparation towards the 2017 MLS season on Wednesday night, tying 2-2 against Philadelphia Union at Joe DiMaggio Sports Complex in Clearwater. The Impact now boasts a preseason record of two wins, one loss and one draw.
The first two minutes were dictated by the Impact, who was able to install its passing game thanks to the patience of the two centre backs. The Union threatened for the first time in the fourth minute, Jay Simpson crossing for Alejandro Bedoya from the left, but Daniel Lovitz intercepted and Maxime Crépeau recovered. In the eighth minute, the Impact had its first shot at Andre Blake’s goal. Patrice Bernier won the ball at the halfway line, giving it to Hernán Bernardello who had space in front of him to put the burners on. The Argentine gave the ball to the left for Nacho Piatti, who curled the ball towards the far post, just missing the target.
A few minutes later, Piatti once again had a look at goal, beating three Philadelphia defenders on the left before aiming for the top corner, but missing. In the 14th minute, the number 10 had another chance to score for the Bleu-blanc-noir, hitting a hard half-volley that the international Jamaican goalkeeper tipped behind for a corner. Then, at the half-hour mark, the Impact thought it had opened the scoring after Piatti, on a short corner, sent a rocket towards goal, but the last touch before the ball hit the net came from Patrice Bernier, who was in an offside position.
In the 34th minute, Philadelphia opened the score for real. Ilsinho shot from outside the box and beat Crépeau, who still reached the ball with his hand but could not prevent it from entering his goal. Only 60 seconds later, Montreal had a great chance to level the score, Hassoun Camara sending Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla behind the defence in the box. The young winger took a good shot, but Andre Blake had smelled the danger and gone off his line to cut the angle. The half finished a few moments after Patrice Bernier had a shot from afar, which asked questions from Blake without beating him. At half-time, Philadelphia Union had a one-goal advantage.
Mauro Biello changed his formation and made eight changes to his line-up for the second half. In the 63th minute, Jim Curtin also made eight substitutions. Three minutes later, Michael Salazar, after good work by Daniel Lovitz who won two aerial duels in the opponent’s box, tried a bicycle kick, which went over the bar.
A little later, Chris Duvall attacked on the right wing, crossing on the ground for Nick DePuy. The American striker, drafted in the first round of the 2017 MLS SuperDraft, finished the action with one sole touch, beating goalkeeper John McCarthy with a low shot, leveling the score.
DePuy almost repeated the same trick he pulled on the University of South Florida in the 76th minute, as he had a chance to score on a breakaway, the Union keeper stopping the menace. Philadelphia thought it had won the game in the 82nd minute, CJ Sapong heading the ball in the goal after Ken Tribbett headed back to the near post a long corner, but for the second time in as many games, Anthony Jackson-Hamel scored in stoppage time. His deflected shot after a cross on the ground by Anthony Wallace beat the opposing goalkeeper. The Impact thus got away with a 2-2 draw.
“We did a good job in our build-up and in recognizing the moments when to go forward,” said head coach Mauro Biello. “I think that's key to exploit space when we see we have a numerical advantage. We unbalanced them well to get to their goal. I'm very happy that we continued to push and were able to score at the end. It's preseason, but the mentality and the mindset start in games like this. I think we deserved that equalizer.”
The last game of the training camp will be played on Saturday night at 7:30pm, against the Tampa Bay Rowdies. The live broadcast will be available for free on impactmontreal.com.
LINE-UPS
MTL – GK- Maxime Crépeau; D- Daniel Lovitz* (Melé Temguia, 77’), Laurent Ciman (Wandrille Lefèvre, 45’), Víctor Cabrera (Kyle Fisher, 45’), Hassoun Camara (Chris Duvall, 45’); M-Ignacio Piatti (Anthony Wallace, 45’), Patrice Bernier (Calum Mallace, 45’), Marco Donadel (Louis Béland-Goyette, 45’), Hernán Bernardello (Anthony Jackson-Hamel, 45’), Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla (Michael Salazar, 45’); F- Nick DePuy
PHI – GK- Andre Blake (John McCarthy, 46’); D- Keegan Rosenberry (Jack Elliott, 63’), Oguchi Onyewu (Ken Tribbett ,63’), Richie Marquez (Raymon Gaddis ,63’), Fabinho (Giliano Wijnaldum, 63’) ; M- Haris Medunjanin (Adam Najem, 63’), Derrick Jones (Roland Alberg, 46’), Ilsinho (Marcus Epps, 63’), Alejandro Bedoya (Brian Carroll, 63’), Fabian Herbers (Anthony Fontana, 77’); F- Jay Simpson (CJ Sapong, 63’)
Player on trial
GOALS
PHI – Ilsinho 34’
MTL – DePuy 68’
PHI – Sapong 82’
MTL – Jackson-Hamel 90’
CAUTIONS
MTL – Bernier 22’
PHI – Fabinho 28’
