MONTREAL, Quebec – The Montreal Impact is back in first place in the Eastern Conference standings with a 5-0 win over the Houston Dynamo, Saturday night, in front of a sellout crowd of 20,801 spectators at Stade Saputo. Marco Di Vaio, with a brace, Felipe, Jeb Brovsky and Andrea Pisanu scored in the win. Felipe and Justin Mapp added two assists.
The Impact is now six points in front of Houston with 24 games played for both teams and two points in front of Kansas City, which lost 1-0 to Chicago, Friday.
The Impact opened the scoring in the 35th minute. Midfielder Justin Mapp, positioned just outside the 18-yard-box, played through Marco Di Vaio on the right side. The Impact’s DP faked a right-footed shot, cut back to his left and hit the far post top corner with a bender.
Mapp set up the second Impact goal just two minutes later when he switched the ball from the right corner of the box to the opposite side to Felipe. The Brazilian, near the edge of the box, used a stutter step to get the defender off balance and placed one with the inside of his foot calmly towards the opposite post.
In the 58th minute, Designated Player Hernan Bernardello’s corner from the left side was deflected by Houston’s Brad Davis before it fell to Impact defender Jeb Brovsky, who scored his first career goal at Stade Saputo, by making a run to the far post to tap the ball in.
Di Vaio managed to get his second of the game in the 71st minute when on a two-on-one break, midfielder Patrice Bernier faked right and played a lateral ball to Di Vaio who put it home into an empty net. Di Vaio is now first in the league with 15 goals.
In the 91st minute, second half substitute Andrea Pisanu scored his first goal in Impact uniform when midfielder Felipe put him behind the Houston defence. Pisanu placed the ball perfectly passed Hall on his right side with a calm finish.
Goalkeeper Troy Perkins registered his 7th shutout of the season, finishing the game with five saves.
Head coach Marco Schällibaum served the first of a two game ban following an incident against D.C. United last Saturday.
This was the 5th of six games played in front of more than 20,000 people at Stade Saputo.
Post-game comments
“I think if we look at our game today, it was important to manage our team well this week with Wednesday’s game,” said Impact assistant coach Mauro Biello, who earned his first win on the sidelines. “We saw tonight a fresh attitude on the field, lots of play on our side and a big win for us.”
“It’s momentum we can’t waste right now, going into Philadelphia it’s going to be a tough road match,” said Brovsky. “Putting in this 90 minute complete performance was something that we really needed. Shutting the door on the team like that was really important.”
“We’ve already played well this season, but this was the first time we played well the whole 90 minutes,” added Di Vaio. “Today was a very big game for us and we were very concentrated. We know we have a good team and we also have something more than the other teams.”
Upcoming game
The Impact travels to Philadelphia to face the Union on Saturday, August 31 at 7:30pm.
Lineups
MTL – GK-Troy Perkins; D-Jeb Brovsky, Alessandro Nesta, Matteo Ferrari, Hassoun Camara; M-Hernan Bernardello (Davy Arnaud 73’), Patrice Bernier, Andrés Romero, Justin Mapp (Andrea Pisanu 80’), F- Felipe, Marco Di Vaio (Daniele Paponi 88’)
Subs not used: GK-Evan Bush; D-Adrian Lopez; M-Collen Warner, Sanna Nyassi
HOU – GK-Tally Hall; D-Corey Ashe, Jermaine Taylor (Eric Brunner 46’), Bobby Boswell, Kofi Sarkodie; M-Brad Davis, Boniek Garcia, Adam Moffat (Alexander Lopez 62’), Andrew Driver (Jason Johnson 80’); F-Will Bruin, Giles Barnes
Subs not used: GK-Erich Marscheider; D-Warren Creavalle; F-Brian Ching, Cam Weaver
Goals
MTL – Di Vaio (Mapp) 35‘
MTL – Felipe (Mapp) 37’
MTL – Brovsky 58’
MTL – Di Vaio (Bernier, Felipe) 70’
MTL – Pisanu (Felipe) 90+’
Caution
HOU – Driver 72’
