SEATTLE, Washington – The Montreal Impact only conceded late, Saturday night at CenturyLink Field, but nevertheless suffered a 1-0 loss to Seattle Sounders FC (1–3-0, 3 pts). United States international Clint Dempsey, back from two 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia qualifiers, scored the only goal of the game.
“We played a quite solid road game against a team playing with urgency,” said head coach Mauro Biello. “We let it slip on a set piece, but defensively, we were once again solid on the road, and we created good chances. We have to believe that we can score goals, and we’ll keep working on that.”
Seattle broke the deadlock in the 79th minute. On an Andreas Ivanschitz in-swinging corner at the far post, Dempsey rushed into the ball’s path to nod it in, past goalkeeper Evan Bush.
The Impact (2-2-0, 6 pts) remains top of the Eastern Conference on tiebreakers, edging ahead of the Philadelphia Union and the New England Revolution.
“I think we did not get as many clear scoring chances as we would have liked but we created half chances and crosses,” said Evan Bush, who played his 50th career MLS game. “At the end maybe it could have ended 0-0 but we gave a poor goal on a corner. It was not meant to be the night.”
Biello had made just the one change to the starting lineup that took on FC Dallas on March 19. In central midfield, Kyle Bekker replaced Calum Mallace, who did make the substitutes’ bench.
The Impact gave a disciplined first-half performance against a ravenous opponent that had posted three losses to begin the season, two of which occurred at CenturyLink Field. Despite heavy pressure in the early going, the Impact was defensively sound, which allowed for spells of possession later on.
Back from the locker room after the break, Montreal took the initiative and created fine chances that did not, however, translate into goals. Goalkeeper Bush then put his stamp on the encounter, making a fingertip save on a dangerous Dempsey free kick in the 65th minute.
“We had our chances to score, but sometimes, you come up short,” said defender Donny Toia. “I think we needed a little more urgency, going forward. All around, we worked hard and gave everything we had. But unfortunately, we came up short tonight.”
Team captain Patrice Bernier, who had been off the field due to a hamstring injury, made his 2016 debut in the 72nd minute when he came on for Harry Shipp. Bernier thus made his 105th MLS appearance for the Impact, a club record.
The Montreal Impact’s next game will take place on Saturday, April 9 against Columbus Crew SC (TVA Sports, 98,5fm, TSN Radio 690). Excellent tickets are still available on impactmontreal.com. Season tickets starting at only $339, as well as Pick-4-Packs, are also available on impactmontreal.com.
LINEUPS
MTL – GK-Evan Bush; D-Donny Toia, Victor Cabrera, Laurent Ciman, Hassoun Camara; M-Kyle Bekker, Eric Alexander, Lucas Ontivero (Johan Venegas 78’), Ignacio Piatti, Harry Shipp (Patrice Bernier 72’); F-Dominic Oduro (Anthony Jackson-Hamel 69’)
Subs not used – GK-Eric Kronberg; D-Maxim Tissot, Wandrille Lefèvre; M-Calum Mallace
SEA – GK-Stefan Frei; D-Tyrone Mears, Brad Evans, Chad Marshall, Dylan Remick (Joevin Jones 74’); M-Cristian Roldan, Osvaldo Alonso, Aaron Kovar (Jordan Morris 57’), Andreas Ivanschitz, Clint Dempsey; F-Nelson Valdez (Oalex Anderson 68’)
Subs not used – GK-Tyler Miller; D-Zach Scott, Oniel Fisher; F-Herculez Gomez
GOAL
SEA – Dempsey (Ivanschitz) 79’
CAUTIONS
MTL – Camara 64’
SEA – Ivanschitz 67’
MTL – Ontivero 75’
MTL – Toia 78’
