“Even if it was not our best performance, we are glad to move to the next round,” said Impact head coach John Limniatis. “We did very well defensively and they maybe had one real scoring chance. We are progressing in the tournament so it’s very good.”
“We have written history in Canada,” said defender Simon Gatti. “We knew that the game was not going to be easy, but we got the result that we wanted so it’s satisfying.”
In the first half, Real Estelí midfielder Elmer Mejia had the best scoring chance, in the 33rd minute of play, when his hard shot from 20 meters out hit the crossbar.
In the second half, at the 60th minute, Impact forward Roberto Brown deflected with a header the pass from the left flank from defender Simon Gatti just over the net.
In the 71st minute, midfielder Sandro Grande made a great comeback to stop a two on one attack. Then, a few seconds later, the Impact got an indirect free kick inside Real Estelí’s 18-yard box when goalkeeper Carlos Mendieta collected the ball with his hands after one of his defenders passed it to him. The point blank shot from Leonardo Di Lorenzo deflected on a defender before hitting the right post.
The Real Esteli finished the game with 10 players on the field, after Juan Paulo Chacon was ejected at the 86th minute.
Goalkeeper Matt Jordan registered a second straight shutout against the Nicaraguan club.
In the first game of the series, on August 27 at Saputo Stadium, the Impact shut out Real Estelí 1-0. Midfielder Joey Gjertsen had scored the game-winning goal in the 42nd minute.
The Impact is joining in Group C the Atlante FC (Mexico) and the CD Olympia (Honduras), as well as Joe Public FC (Trinidad & Tobago), which has won against the New England Revolution (MLS, USA) 4-0 Tuesday (6-1 on aggregate goals).
The group stage will consist of four groups of four. All the teams in each group will play each other in a six-match round-robin system (three home games, three away games). The Impact will play its first game on September 17 at Saputo Stadium against Joe Public.
Meanwhile, the Impact will play its next regular season game Friday, September 5 against the Minnesota Thunder (Radio-Canada, FSW, CKAC Sports, THE TEAM 990). Note again that the September 3 game has been postponed to Friday, September 8, due to the game in Honduras.
GAME SUMMARY
PHOTOS PÉPÉ
-30-
Source: Patrick Vallée, Montreal Impact
Info: 514-328-3668 (ext. 227)
