With this victory, combined with a win from Atlante FC over CD Olimpia, the Impact could officially qualified for the CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal round.
Rocco Placentino (4'), Tony Donatelli (12' and 78’) and Peter Byers (43') scored for the Impact. Kerry Noray (9') scored the lone goal for the Caribbean side.
"It's a great win due to a big effort from the whole team," said Impact head coach John Limniatis. "When you score four goals, you have great chances to win. Once again tonight we did well defensively. We proved again to everybody that we have a very good team that is capable of qualifying for the next round."
"We are quite happy with tonight's result and to be almost sure to move onto the next round," said Donatelli. "We are very proud of ourselves for what we have accomplished."
Impact midfielder Rocco Placentino opened the scoring in the 4th minute of play. Posted inside the box, Placentino deflected a low cross from Tony Donatelli, which came in from the right, beating Joe Public FC goalkeeper Alejandro Figueroa to his right, not far from the post.
Joe Public FC tied the game in the 9th minute, while the Impact was bottled up in its own end. Forward Kerry Noray, all alone on the right side of the area, beat Matt Jordan with a point-blank shot to his right.
Impact midfielder Tony Donatelli scored what proved to be the winner in the 12th minute of play. Posted on the right side, Donatelli took a long pass from Leonardo Di Lorenzo, dribbled over several metres and fooled the Joe Public goalkeeper with a precise left-footed shot.
Just before halftime, forward Peter Byers scored the insurance goal for Montreal. On the play, Joey Gjertsen deked his way past the Joe Public goalkeeper, who came out to challenge, and centred the ball to Byers who scored from the goal line into a wide open net.
Donatelli scored his second goal of the game towards the end of the second half. After accepting a deep pass from Felix Brillant, Joey Gjertsen attracted a defender and centred the ball to Donatelli, who was all alone against Figueroa to score his third goal of the tournament.
Di Lorenzo, who had missed the last two matches due to a light concussion, was part of Montreal's starting eleven.
Joe Public FC's leading scorer, Gregory Richardson, missed the match as he was serving a one-game suspension. Head coach Keith Griffith also missed the match because of a virus, giving way to assistant coach Derek King.
The Impact will play its final two CONCACAF Champions League group stage games on Tuesday, October 21 against CD Olimpia at Saputo Stadium, as well as the following Tuesday, October 28, against Atlante FC in Cancun, Mexico.
GAME SUMMARY
PHOTOS PÉPÉ
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Source : Patrick Vallée, Impact de Montréal
Info : 514-328-3668 (poste 227)
