Piatti and Mancosu score in the win, McCarthy provides reply for Fire
BRADENTON, Florida – The Montreal Impact continued its preseason preparation for the 2018 season with a second win in a row, this time by a 2-1 score against the Chicago Fire, Wednesday night at IMG Academy. Nacho Piatti and Matteo Mancosu found the back of the net in the first half, before Dax McCarthy brought his team back in the game after the break.
“We have the satisfaction of victory. We gave it a good fight, it was a good friendly game with a lot of intensity,” said Impact head coach Rémi Garde. Everything was not perfect, but we were well organized. The players worked well and respected the instructions. We were efficient and were rewarded for it. We did not always hold possession, but it was conscious. We organize ourselves to be solid and I think that we were today.”
Bleu-blanc-noir defensively sound
The Impact’s good defensive work in training was visible during this second preseason game. The team’s organization without the ball allowed to limit the opponent’s attacking movements and the turnovers caused by Montreal’s press paid dividends.
In the 34th minute, Fire defender Brandon Vincent made a bad pass in midfield and Saphir Taïder picked it off. Running at Chicago’s center backs, he gave the ball in Piatti’s path, free in the inside left channel. The Argentinean, cutting inside as he entered the box to beat a defender, finished his chance and gave his team the lead.
“We put a lot of emphasis on the defensive side of things,” said midfielder Samuel Piette. “We knew we were facing a good possession team. It was important to be well positioned and keep our shape. We applied that well today and it paid on the counter. We played our cards well and we got the right result.”
Less than 10 minutes later, Zakaria Diallo beat a few Fire players by dribbling through the midfield and found an unmarked Piatti on the left. He ran with the ball all the way to the box and tried to lob goalkeeper Richard Sanchez, but hit the post. Raheem Edwards was in the right spot to take advantage of the rebound, crossing the ball right away on the ground for Matteo Mancosu, who put the ball in an empty net.
“I take away from this game the collective and defensive performance,” said center back Zakaria Diallo. “We were very solid defensively, the midfielders and the forwards worked together with the defenders. Unfortunately, we conceded on a set piece, we really wanted the clean sheet, but there is a lot of satisfaction to take away from this performance.”
Many changes in second half
All Bleu-blanc-noir players who were on the field in the first half were subbed off after the break, except for Diallo. The effect of the changes was not significantly felt and the defensive rigour kept on until the end of the game.
Montreal’s lead came close to being even wider in the 52nd minute, as Chris Duvall sent a dangerous cross on the ground towards the middle, where Michael Salazar was looming, but he could not make enough contact with the ball to deflect it between the posts.
The Impact caved on a set piece in the 55th minute. After a foul by a Montreal defender, Diego Campos sent a free kick toward Dax McCarthy. The veteran midfielder redirected the ball with his head past Clément Diop.
“The goal we conceded came off a set piece. It’s disappointing, but from a structural point of view, we are satisfied,” said defender Daniel Lovitz. “I think we were pretty solid and we were not under duress as much as we put them under. We were all on the same page. The coach insisted on the fact we needed to be all on the same line and that we needed to move as a unit. I think we did that well today.”
Upcoming games
The Impact will continue its preseason preparations against the Tampa Bay Rowdies, this Saturday at 7:30pm at Al Lang Stadium, the Philadelphia Union on Wednesday, February 21 at Joe DiMaggio Sports Complex, and finally, New York City FC on Saturday, February 24 at 5pm at Al Lang Stadium.
The team will kick off its season with two games on the road, in Vancouver on March 4 and Columbus on March 10, before playing its home opener at Olympic Stadium on Saturday, March 17, at 3pm, against its biggest rival, Toronto FC.
LINEUP
MTL - Evan Bush (Clément Diop 46’); Jukka Raitala (Daniel Lovitz 46’), Zakaria Diallo, Víctor Cabrera (Thomas Meilleur-Giguère 46’), Michael Petrasso (Chris Duvall 46’); Ignacio Piatti (David Choinière 46’), Saphir Taïder (Ken Krolicki^ 46’), Samuel Piette (Marco Donadel 46’), Shamit Shome (Clément Bayiha* 46’), Raheem Edwards (Michael Salazar 46’); Matteo Mancosu (Anthony Jackson-Hamel 46’)
*Impact Academy player
^Player on trial
CHI - Richard Sanchez (Stefan Cleveland 61’); Rafael Ramos (Christian Dean 61’), Johan Kappelhof (Jorge Corrales 61’), Grant Lillard, Brandon Vincent (Jonathan Campbell 61’); Dax McCarty (Elliot Collier 61’), Mo Adams, Brandt Bronico (Omar Castro 61’), Diego Campos, Jon Bakero (Maximiliano Moreira 61’); Nemanja Nikolic (Albert Ruiz 61’)
GOALS
MTL – Ignacio Piatti 34’ (Saphir Taïder)
MTL – Matteo Mancosu 42’ (Raheem Edwards)
CHI – Dax McCarty 55’ (Diego Campos)
CAUTIONS
CHI – Brandon Vincent 36’
MTL – Matteo Mancosu 37’
CHI – Grant Lillard 40’
MTL – Ken Krolicki 53’
MTL – Daniel Lovitz 70’
CHI – Christian Dean 87’
CHI – Omar Castro 89’
