Sep 09 Ali Gerba, Or Ali Baba? Impact Come From Behind and Win 3rd Straight Vs Puerto Rico

The words “Open Sesame" must have been uttered at the opposition’s goal by the new striker, Gerba as of late. He scored another 2 goals last night, leading the Montreal Impact to a come-from-behind 2-1 victory over Puerto Rico, a team they were trailing in the standings prior to the game.

With this win, their third in a row, the Impact is now sixth in the USSF Second Division standings with 34 points, one point ahead of Puerto Rico, and three points behind the Carolina RailHawks.

“This is a very important win for us and we collect three big points,” said Impact head coach Marc Dos Santos. “We battled during the whole game. The conditions were not easy, but the players adapted well and showed character by coming back from behind. Our second half substitutions also responded very well. Now we have to go to Miami with the same attitude.”

And the happy story with Gerba and the Impact continues: In one fell swoop, Gerba set another new team record by scoring two or more goals in a third consecutive game. He has scored seven goals in the last three matches, becoming the team’s leading scorer. Remarkable, given that he has only been with the team since mid July.

The Impact was losing 1-0 when Ali Gerba tied the match in the 60th minute. He then gave his team the go-ahead and winning goal 15 minutes later with a powerful shot from 30 yards out that beat Puerto Rico’s ‘keeper, Gaudette top corner.

The Impact will play another game on the road, this Saturday in Florida at 7:30pm, and then head back home to Saputo Stadium on Sunday September 19 to host  the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

After these two games, only two will remain against the number 1 and 2 teams in the USSF division (Austin Aztex and Vancouver Whitecaps, respectively)

Read on for the full Impact game recap.