Evan Bush makes a penalty save in the loss
FOXBOROUGH, Massachusetts – The Montreal Impact saw its series of consecutive wins end at two, losing 4-0 to the New England Revolution Friday night at Gillette Stadium.
Saphir Taïder received a red card early in the contest in the 14th minute, after a contact judged dangerous, and all in all unlucky, by referee José Carlos Rivero.
“If we would’ve had the opportunity to play at 11 against 11, the game’s physionomy would’ve been different,” said head coach Rémi Garde. “Consider the first 15 minutes, when we had two or three interesting situations. After, at 11 against 10, the players did what they could. We still tried to get something out of the match, but it didn’t work out today.”
The Impact hit its stride to start the game, dominating possession in the first 15 minutes, forcing Matt Turner to intervene twice, without however getting a clear chance on goal.
“It hurts to play with 10 men as of the quarter-hour mark,” said midfielder Samuel Piette. “At the end, whether it’s 1-0 or 4-0, we didn’t get the three points, it’s a loss. We’re not going to brood. It’s a marathon, not a sprint, because the season is long. We won’t give up because of this loss.”
Revs profit from the man advantage
The locals wasted no time taking advantage, scoring in the 20th minute thanks to Teal Bunbury, sent in behind the defense.
At the half-hour mark, a defensive mistake by the Impact forced two of Montreal’s defenders to commit a foul in the box. After the play was checked on video review, Diego Fagundez stepped up to take the penalty, but Evan Bush made the save to his right.
“Losing a player so early in the game, it makes a difficult job even harder,” said Bush. “We need to forget this game, and like the coach says, you’re better off losing a game 4-0 than losing four games 1-0. In a game like this, against a team in good form who keeps the ball well, we had to take advantage of our rare scoring opportunities, which we didn’t do.”
The Revs doubled their lead right before half time, in the sixth minute of added time. Andrew Farrell chased a ball headed clear by the Bleu-blanc-noir’s defense and hit it one time to beat Montreal’s keeper.
In the 71st minute, Fagundez received a cross from Kelyn Rowe in the box, controlled the ball and chipped it over Bush, to score the game’s third goal.
In the 80th minute, the Revolution added another goal when Wilfried Zahibo, standing near the far post, redirected a corner in the Impact’s top corner.
Upcoming games
The Montreal Impact heads to the Big Apple to face the New York Red Bulls on Saturday, April 14 at 1pm (TVA Sports, 98,5fm, TSN Radio 690). Afterwards, the Bleu-blanc-noir will play its first game at Stade Saputo this season when it hosts the Los Angeles FC on Saturday, April 21 at 1pm (TICKETS – TVA Sports, 98,5fm, TSN Radio 690).
LINEUPS
MTL – GK-Evan Bush; D-Alejandro Silva, Rod Fanni, Víctor Cabrera, Jukka Raitala, Daniel Lovitz (Raheem Edwards 72’); M-Samuel Piette, Saphir Taïder, Ken Krolicki; F-Jeisson Vargas (Dominic Oduro 86’), Anthony Jackson-Hamel (Louis Béland-Goyette 55’)
Subs not used – Clément Diop, Chris Duvall, Rudy Camacho, Shamit Shome
NE – GK-Matt Turner; D-Andrew Farrell, Claude Dielna, Gabriel Somi, Jalil Anibaba; M-Cristian Penilla, Diego Fagundez (Krisztián Németh 78’), Luis Caicedo, Scott Caldwell (Kelyn Rowe 65’), Wilfried Zahibo; F-Teal Bunbury (Juan Agudelo 70’)
Subs not used – Brad Knighton, Antonio Mlinar Delamea, Chris Tierney, Brandon Bye
GOALS
NE – Bunbury (Zahibo) 20’
NE – Farrell (Fagundez, Somi) 45’+6’
NE – Fagundez (Rowe, Agudelo) 71’
NE – Zahibo (Rowe) 80’
CAUTIONS
NE – Caicedo 85’
MTL – Raitala 89’
EJECTION
MTL – Taïder 14’
