Impact goalkeeper Greg Sutton collected his third shutout in as many starts in the playoffs. It was also his sixth career shutout with Montreal in the post-season, a club record.
"We did what we wanted to do, which is to match their intensity level from the beginning of the game," said head coach Nick DeSantis, who saw his players control the ball for most of the first half. "Then, Freddy found the opening. It was a great team effort to come into Syracuse and come out of it with a two-goal win."
Commodore opened the scoring at the 71st minute. Syracuse defender Jason Perry tried to pass back a cross attempt by Gabriel Gervais, but Commodore intercepted the ball and placed a lob over goalkeeper Byron Foss. The Salty Dogs had come close to scoring on a similar play a few seconds earlier.
At the 72nd minute, Biello, Montreal’s all-time leader in terms of minutes played in the playoffs, doubled his team’s lead with a shot to the left of Foss, after accepting a pass from Eduardo Sebrango in the penalty area.
The Impact found itself with a one-man advantage starting at the 50th minute of play, as Temoc Suarez received his second yellow card of the game following a tackle on Zé Roberto. He was therefore ejected. Syracuse’s Rene Rivas was also ejected at the very end of the game, following his second yellow card of the night, for elbowing Zé Roberto.
Zé Roberto had angered some Syracuse players in the first half when he came into contact with ‘keeper Foss while trying to put his foot on a loose ball on a scoring attempt.
"The guys stayed focused, they kept their heads," said DeSantis. "The team that’s mentally stronger usually comes out on top."
Sebrango put his name on the scoresheet for the third straigth game in the post-season. He now has two goals and one assist. Commodore and Biello both scored their first goal of the playoffs.
"I don’t care about the fact that I hadn’t scored in a while," said Biello, whose last goal dated back to April 30, in the second game of the 2004 regular season. "The important thing is that we go all the way to the championship final. We have one leg in the final, but it’s not over. We want to get another win at home this Sunday."
To win the two-game home-and-away, aggregate-goal series and therefore reach the A-League championship final, DeSantis’ squad will now only need to come up with a tie, Sunday afternoon, in the return match to be played at Claude Robillard Sports Complex starting at 4:00 pm (live on Fox Sports World, CKAC). A loss by one-goal margin would also be enough.
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SOURCE:
bcomm
INFO:
Stéphane Banfi
514-328-3668 (ext. 27)
