Jul 05 Montreal Impact Fall 1-0 to the Puerto Rico Islanders

It seemed as if the Montreal Impact had not played in weeks. In reality, although they played 2 games in the recent past, it has been 2 weeks since they last played at Saputo Stadium, but that's how it goes when your team is winning. You can't wait for them to get back home. The Impact did, in fact, come home to face off against the Puerto Rico Islanders, a team they have had substantial success against in the past. In fact, they have not lost to the Islanders in their last 12 games going 9-0-3 during that stretch. The Impact went into this game looking to extend that streak to 13 and their current unbeaten streak to 6. The Islanders however, had other plans.

The game did not quite start the way the Impact would have wanted as a seemingly harmless cross into the Impact's penalty area resulted in a tap in by the Islanders' Josh Hansen who quickly made the game a 1-0 affair in the 4th minute. The semi-good news was that it was all Impact from this point on, reminiscent of the comeback against the Seattle Sounders game last week where the Impact fell behind at the 80 minute mark, only to come back 4 minutes later.

There was no lack of effort or chances for the Impact in the first half including, at the 10 minute mark, a corner kick by Leonardo Di Lorenzo that was saved by 'keeper Bill Gaudette who almost went into his own net on the way down. Flurries by the Impact at the 16th and 18th minutes were also thwarted by the Islanders defense with great efforts by Di Lorenzo, Roberto Brown, David Testo and Patrick Leduc, who was playing in his 192nd game as an Impact player. This game puts Leduc in 3rd place overall in games played, just passing former Impact player Lloyd Barker.

The first half was full of of interesting, if not peculiar plays including an offside at the 19th minute that confused everyone including Roberto Brown who found himself all alone in front of Islanders 'keeper Bill Gaudette as the play was called extremely late. A yellow card was assessed to John Krause of the Islanders in the 39th minute after a scrum had formed following a blocked header by Fabrice Noel on Roberto Brown. In the ensuing play, Bill Gaudette stomped on Impact defender Stefano Pesoli who was looking for his second goal of the season, causing ill will at large on the pitch. The impact left the field at the half down 1-0.

After minimal, legitimate scoring chances ten minutes into the 2nd half, coach Limniatis opted for a spark on defense and replaced Severino Jefferson and Gabriel Gervais with Mauro Biello and Rocco Placentino respectively. Biello came into the game despite suffering from a fractured wrist. In an attempt to muster some offense, Adam Braz, who was looking to streak down the right side of the field toward the ball, earned himself a yellow card for an alleged tackle on Josh Hansen, while it seemed that Hansen had half fallen on the ball. From he 67th minute, the Impact gave the fans many plays worth taking note of when Rocco Placentino snuck along the goal line at the 67th and crossed to Roberto Brown who made Gaudette make another impressive save on the goal line. Moments later Leonardo Di Lorenzo would rattle a bullet of the inside part of the crossbar, only to have the ball carom down just outside the goal line, recalling one of the earlier games in which the Impact could not buy a goal before embarking on this 5 game unbeaten streak.

Newly acquired Tony Donatelli was inserted into the line-up when he replaced Di-Lorenzo at the 77 minute mark with time running down but the Impact could just not find a way to solve this Islanders team. A team they had not lost to in the last 12 and encounters. The same team that had not , until this point, won a road game this season.

The Impact did manage some exciting opportunities in extra time including an attempt at 4 yards from goal by newcomer Tony Donatelli who somehow managed to punt the ball over the net, narrowly missing the opportunity to score his first goal in his first game with the Impact.

If there are a few positives that can be taken from this game, they are that the Impact never gave up, having dominated the game from the moment the Islanders scored the game's only goal. The sold out crowd of 13, 034 never gave up on the Impact either, cheering their effort to the bitter end.

Coach Limniatis, when questioned about the effort was pensive and retrospective, in explaining the loss saying that the Impact needed to be more aggressive inside the box and finish their plays. Limniatis reflected on what was quite evident if you took a look at the standings going into tonight's game. If the Impact would have won, they would have been in a tie with the Carolina Railhawks for the 7th and last playoff spot in the standings.

The Impact will have a week to reflect on the loss and missed opportunity after which they will host the Seattle Sounders  on Sunday July 13th at 3:30 PM.

Tags: Montreal Impact \ Puerto rico islanders \ soccer \ USL