Sep 23 Montreal Impact Battle to a 0-0 Draw Against Mexico's Atlante FC in CONCACAF Playoff Game

The team to beat in group C, is Atlante FC of Mexico and the Montreal Impact had an opportunity to do so tonight as they hosted the already seeded team in the group phase. Usually, a heated rivalry takes many, many meetings in important games to build up, yet the Impact and Atlante disproved this theory and the evidence was provided at every ball possession and every ensuing tackle for recovery.

In the end, the nil-nil decision was arguably the most exciting game of the Impact's season and after the emotional play on the pitch overflowed to gamesmanship at the post game press conference, the table is set for the second meeting in Mexico between the Impact (1-0-1 4 points) and Atlante FC (1-0-1 4 points) as both look to advance to the next round.

A little bit of info on tonight's adversary. In 2007, Atlante FC won the opening championship in Mexico's first division. That title secured their place in the CONCACAF Champions League as one of the eight top seeded teams. In their first game of the group stage, they beat CD Olimpia 1-0 while at home in Mexico. Atlante FC is no stranger to the CONCACAF, having won the Champions Cup in 1983 and finishing runner up four times in 82 years. This is The Impact's first run at the CONCACAF, being the first Canadian team ever to qualify. After nine games in Mexico's regular season, Atlante FC is ranked 3rd with a record of 4-1-4.

In a wildly entertaining first half, Atlante appeared as if they were going to walk all over the Impact as they controlled most of the play for the first 15 minutes of play. Although they did not manage a legitimate shot on 'keeper Matt Jordan, who is perfect through these CONCACAF games, they did manage to control the play during this time span. Then the Impact settled in and realized they could compete against this team.

Montreal became aggressive which resulted in 3 yellow cards as well as setting Mexico on their heels a tad, allowing for Montreal's fair share of opportunities. Sandro Grande, at the 14th was called for knocking down his man and upon receiving his yellow card, proceeded to chastise his prey as if to say he was embellishing his pain. Grande was consequently pushed away by another  Atlante FC player for his effort. The came Montreal. At the 19th on a sequence from mid-field, Leonardo Di Lorenzo managed to cross the ball into the box and Peter Byers was able to get a head on it, however it landed right in the hands of Atlante 'keeper Federico Villar. Byers received his yellow approximately 9 minutes later when he was able to split the defenders inside the box and were it not for being taken down, would have had a clear shot on Villar. A penalty kick right? That's what Byers thought and was assessed a yellow for mouthing off to the ref. Not to be outdone, Luis Venegas, who was tired of being outplayed by Byers, got the opportunity to basically maul the Montreal forward not once but twice before he was given a yellow.

Credit to goalkeeper Villar, who was tested much more in the first than his Impact counterpart, showing his confidence and bravado when, during a cross into his zone, Villar leaped and mad a one handed catch which he converted into a beautiful throw to midfield which resulted in a potential scoring opportunity for Mexico, were it not for Impact defender Stefano Pesoli, who stopped the Mexican forward short. At the 36th, Joey Gjertsen recovered a loose ball at the 25 and let a rocket go that actually brought Villar back to reality and forced him to leap in order to deflect the ball over the crossbar.

And then in the 40th, all hell broke loose. David Testo hauled down Fernando Herrera and when Testo walked away from the scene of the crime, Herrera, "injured" as he was, managed to try and take a swipe at Testo, a jest neither he nor his 10 other team-mates appreciated which resulted in a near riot at midfield with all members of both teams engaging in a pushing match. Once the dust settled, with the 4th ref running onto the field to help restore order, Testo was the only person deemed worthy of a yellow. The half would end after a Joey Gjertsen near miss after he managed to get the ball through a wall of defenders, forcing Villar to dive and thank his lucky stars that the goal was not 2 inches wider.

Atlante FC would start the 2nd as they did the first, seemingly in control, however Montreal took it to them again and continued to get the lion's share of chances, often and early, however one play in particular, at the 54th minute, the Impact would have surely liked to have back. on a Montreal free-kick from the 38, Sandro Grande was able to not only bend the ball inside the box, but also managed to beat the off-side. His team-mates inside the box, Nevio Pizzolito and Peter Byers, alone in front of Villar, decided to pass to each other rather than shoot and were unable to get a legitimate shot on goal, perhaps thinking they were, in fact offside. While both sides would have liked a win tonight, the second half, while very entertaining, was not as robust as the first as the defense tightened up with neither side wanting to commit that final fateful error to cause the opponent's go-ahead goal.

The year's most exciting game ended in a 0-0 draw with all 12,187 in attendance staying till the final whistle, a first, as I am usually accustomed to seeing a steady stream of fans heading for the parking lot, win or lose 10 minutes before game end.

In the post game press conference, when asked if he fielded his best team for this game, Atlante head coach José Guadelupe responded "No, we had a league game last Sunday where we played our A team and for this one, with the exception of ('keeper) Villar, it was basically our B team. Coach Limniatis, not to be out-quoted, responded with "Well, we had a chance to study their team and I can't see how he can say that, especially with all the substitutions they made. They have the same 18 players on a rotation and also, this was the same team that beat Olimpia 1-0 (on September 18th, at home in Mexico) The battle that was left on the field, some how found it's way into the press room.

Sandro Grande, when asked to say a few words regarding the night's events, also lauded the team's effort and went on saying " I hope everyone realizes what we are accomplishing here. Team Canada, unfortunately is in last place and they met basically the same countries, yet here we are today in 1st place." Joey Gjertsen added that this was an "exciting time for them to be representing Montreal, the USL as well as Canada on the world stage and we are still having fun while we are doing it".

The fun continues as the Impact have one of the roughest schedules to date, including a away and home sting with Seattle for round 1 of the USL playoffs against Seattle this coming weekend.

NEXT GAMES:

Friday September 26th Vs Seattle (USL playoffs game 1 of 2)

Sunday September 28th Seattle @ Saputo Stadium (USL playoffs game 2 of 2)

CONCACAF GAMES:

• Wednesday, October 1 – IMPACT @ CD Olimpia – @ Honduras – 10 pm*
• Wednesday, October 8 – IMPACT @ Joe Public – @ Trinidad & Tobago – 8 pm*
• Tuesday, October 21 – CD Olimpia @ IMPACT – 8 pm*
• Tuesday, October 28 – IMPACT @ Atlante FC – @ Mexico – 10 pm*

Tags: Atlante FC \ concacaf \ David Testo \ Joey Gjertsen \ John Limniatis \ Montreal Impact \ peter byers \ playoffs \ Sandro Grande