Aug 12 Impact Winless in 4 after 0-0 Draw Vs Baltimore

The Montreal Impact were in dire need of a win yesterday as they hosted the even lower seeded Baltimore Crystal Palace at Saputo Stadium in front of 12,443 fans. 

They dominated the play from start to finish going 24-7 in shots. They perhaps had a rallying point, if not a wakeup call with the freshly announced release of Peter Byers. They put on a great spectacle for their faithful with a hit post and many great efforts thwarted by the opposing ‘keeper, but in the end, no goals to show for it and the eventual result would be a 0-0 tie.

 On the positive side, given the absences due to injury (Defenders Stephen deRoux (cheek) and Simon Gatti (groin), as well as forward Marco Terminesi (appendicitis) ) as well as defensive pillars Nevio Pizzolitto  and Adam Braz out (5th caution suspensions) the Impact dominated from start to finish. They had three scoring chances in the first 10 minutes of the match. After 45 minutes of play, the Impact was leading the Crystal Palace 11-3 in shots. But it was the Baltimore goalkeeper Evan Bush who was obviously in the zone, making at least 3 game saving stops to frustrate the Impact all night long. 

Bush dove to stop a header from Tony Donatelli within the first 9 minutes. He also blocked a header from Wesley Charles in the 68th minute, as well as a strong shot from Philippe Billy in the 72nd.

“Call him Harry Potter or something” said coach Marc Dos Santos at the post game press conference “We faced a goalkeeper that was on top of his game. We have to continue to play like we did tonight in order to get good results.”

Impact ‘keeper Matt Jordan registered his second shutout of the season and while nowhere near as busy as his counterpart, was called upon to make  two consecutive stops from forward Yaikel Perez in the 76th minute of play. “I was just glad that I could get my body in front of one and my face in front of the other” Jordan would later say of the game saving stops in the latter part of the game.

Veteran Midfielder Patrick Leduc became the 5th player in club history to reach the 15,000-minute played mark with the Impact. after Mauro Biello (22,288 minutes), Nevio Pizzolitto (20,779 minutes), Nick De Santis (18,303 minutes) and Patrick Diotte (16,031 minutes). He obviously had mixed feelings about the accomplishment versus the team’s result.

“We had control of most of the match but the draw is not satisfying,” said Leduc. “I am proud to have reached that mark. I would have never thought to have reached this mark. It’s a great accomplishment.”

And newly acquired French defender, Richard Pelletier, who joined the Impact Monday, played his first career game with the Impact, which was pleasantly surprising to all on hand as it was originally reported that Pelletier would not be able to clear all red tape until at least the end of August.  He replaced Leduc in the 78th of play.

Maybe a road trip is what the team needs.. at least one would hope.The Impact will be play its next two matches on the road this Saturday on August 14 in Rochester, and then the following Saturday August 21 where they will try and avenge last night’s non win, in Baltimore. The next home game at Saputo Stadium wil be on August 27 against the Rochester Rhinos  

Tags: Baltimore Crystal Palace \ Evan Bush \ game recap \ Marc dos santos \ Matt Jordan \ Montreal Impact \ Patrick Leduc \ Richard Pelletier \ Saputo Stadium \ soccer