MONTREAL - A strong game by the visiting goalkeeper and a bit of bad luck led to a 1-0 loss for the Montreal Impact on Saturday night at Stade Saputo, against the Eastern Conference leaders D.C. United, despite dominating in all the statistical categories.
“It’s frustrating for sure, but I’m extremely proud of the guys tonight,” said Impact head coach Frank Klopas. “We made good decisions and held the ball, and if you look at the stats, we dominated against the first place team, but unfortunately we walk away with nothing.”
And adding to the Impact bench boss’ frustration was the amount of fouls and cards given in this game.
"When I look at the amount of fouls we commit and the number of yellow cards we get, we made eight fouls and three yellow cards,” added Klopas. “D.C., they commit 20 fouls and they got one yellow card. If it were Donadel making those fouls, he would have been red carded for sure. They need to call the game both ways; there are two teams on the field."
D.C. United scored early when an Impact defender lost his footing, resulting in a turnover and a break for Chris Rolfe, who was alone in front of goal and placed it low left corner in the 13th minute. That was the red and blacks’ only shot on goal.
“We played a very MLS experienced squad and they managed the game very well,” said midfielder Dilly Duka. “They showed us how to compete in this league, in spite of seeing all those shots.”
Despite giving up the early goal, the Impact saw more of the possession on the night with 68% and was constantly in the offensive third with 25 shots.
“The reality is we played a good game, but we were lacking on our finishing,” said defender Wandrille Lefèvre. “That happens sometimes, as long as it doesn’t happen all the time. It’s unfortunate because we had a chance to climb the standings with a positive result.”
Other highlights
In the 20th minute, making his first start, Costa Rican Johan Venegas played a lovely through ball for Andrés Romero, but the Argentine’s tough angle blast was blocked by Hamid.
Romero was again played through in the 34th minute by Eric Alexander, this time getting a toe on the ball, but Hamid came sliding out to stifle him again.
The second half was still tilted for the home side, Donadel played a short free kick into the box, finding Oduro short post, but his header towards the opposite corner went wide in the 60th minute.
Ten minutes later, Lefèvre received a similar ball in the box, and his header took the same direction away from goal.
IMFC kept pushing in the game’s final minutes, with ball after ball played into the box for Miller, Piatti and Duka, but all attempts went just inches wide of goal.
The Impact will play its next game at Stade Saputo this Wednesday at 7:30pm, against the Vancouver Whitecaps FC, in the first leg of the Canadian Championship finals aggregate goal series (Tickets: ticketmaster.ca). The decisive game will then be played in Vancouver on August 26. The winner of the series will qualify for the 2016-2017 CONCACAF Champions League.
LINEUPS
MTL – GK-Evan Bush; D-Ambroise Oyongo, Wandrille Lefèvre, Victor Cabrera, Eric Miller; M-Calum Mallace, Eric Alexander (Dilly Duka 58’), Johan Venegas, Ignacio Piatti, Andrés Romero (Anthony Jackson-Hamel 82’); F-Dominic Oduro
Subs not used: GK-Eric Kronberg; D- Donny Toia; M-Nigel Reo-Coker, Calum Mallace, Maxim Tissot
DCU – GK-Bill Hamid; D-Bobby Boswell, Chris Korb, Steve Birnbaum, Taylor Kemp; M-Chris Rolfe (Chris Pontius 84’), Davy Arnaud, Nick DeLeon (Conor Doyle 46’), Perry Kitchenl F-Jairo Arrieta (Sean Franklin 71’), Alvaro Saborio
Subs not used: GK-Andrew Dykstra; D-Kofi Opare; M-Facundo Coria, Markus Halsti
GOAL
DCU – Rolfe (Kitchen) 13’
CAUTIONS
MTL – Piatti 40’
MTL – Venegas 45’
DCU – Arnaud 64’
MTL – Donadel 74’
DCU – Franklin 78’
