Aug 10 Impact get Shut OUt in Carolina

The Montreal Impact (6-9-6) , who could have leapfrogged over the Carolina Railhawks with a win last Saturday was instead  shutout 2-0 by the home team Hawks  (7-4-7) and by hearing the team talk, it’s just a matter of bad breaks.

“The RailHawks were lucky to go into the locker room with a 1-0 lead,” stated Impact head coach Marc Dos Santos. “It’s unfair because we did well. In the second half, we had to play catch up and we still had chances. We clearly saw that the second goal was offside.”

“We have to keep are heads up because we played well tonight,” said defender Nevio Pizzolitto. “We were unlucky. It’s too bad to have lost tonight, but we have to continue to work. It’s not over.”

Eduardo Sebrango  and Antonio Ribeiro provided a few glorious chances with Ribeiro’s effort in the 2^nd half hitting the goalpost.

The RailHawks, who had only given up 15 goals (tied for 1^st) in their last 18 games,  opened the scoring in the 45th minute  when midfielder Josh Gardner let a solid shot off from the top of the box to beat Impact goalkeeper Matt Jordan to his right.

Jordan faced 11 shots. And in the 22^nd minute, specifically had to be sharp,  deflecting a shot from Floyd Franks by the tips of his fingers that hit the post. Jordan again was put to the test in the 85th minute blocking the powerful free kick by Daniel Paladini.

Then, in what appeared to be a flagrant offside, but which didn’t end up being a factors as far as the scoreboard was concerned, the RailHawks doubled their lead in the 83rd minute with two Hawks players on a breakaway and Étienne Barbara passing the ball to Cory Elenio, who then scored in an open net.

The Impact are having issues scoring, this is obvious, but one has to wonder if there is not a higher power putting obstacles in their way when it comes to their strikers.

Marco Terminesi, who was recently acquired at the forward position, played a grand total of 11 minutes in the last 2 games and has recently undergone an appendicitis, keeping him out of the lineup for at least 3 weeks. He is scheduled to return to the team with about 3-4 games left in the season. Let’s hope those games mean something for the Impact when he does return.

For all the specifics regarding the injuries, yellow cards, suspensions etc, please read the official Impact game recap.

Tags: Antonio Ribeiro \ Carolina Railhawks \ Eduardo Sebrango \ game recap \ Marc dos santos \ Matt Jordan \ Montreal Impact \ NASL \ Nevio Pizzolitto \ soccer \ USSF