Montreal Impact Vindicated in 2-1 Victory over Vancouver Whitecaps
If ever one was looking for a game to be better set as a heated grudge match, this one had all the makings. Montreal's game plan last Thursday against Toronto FC was to rest certain starters while playing their last game of the Nutrilite Championship, a game that meant absolutely nothing to the Impact. Normally, this would make complete sense as the Impact had a USL game to play only two days later. However, what ended up happening was that Montreal allowed the Toronto FC to not only embarrass them at home, but with the 6 goals against that the Impact allowed, sparked controversy as they allowed TFC to take the Championship from Vancouver, who was sure to have clinched it on goal differential.
After all the finger pointing and allegations (and there were a lot) were said and done, it was only fitting that the team the Impact should meet less than 48 hours later would be the Vancouver Whitecaps.
This game was not without its sub-plots. According to sources, "the Whitecaps took the Impact loss personally and would be out for blood." Impact coach Marc Dos Santos, visibly upset by the routing that he felt it necessary to apologise to the Whitecaps at their hotel later that evening, had a lot riding on today's game, hoping his strategy of resting some players would pay off. The Whitecaps, also quite upset by the whole debacle would appeal to the Canadian Soccer Commission with regards to the ruling that a team has to field its best 11. And in one other game note, the Ultras de Montreal, the Impact's booster club that occupies a major part of the section behind then net, boycotted the first half in protest of the Impact's latest play. They would regret that decision as the Impact had alot to prove on many levels and to many people.
After a brief feeling out period that would last approximately 15 minutes, Rocco Placentino would get the crowd to finally cheer for something and it would be well worth the wait. At the 35th minute, Placentino would recover the ball to the right of Whitecap 'keeper Jay Nolly. Showing great patience and having lots of time to set up his play, Placentino precisely punted a curving shot out of Nolly's reach to his left and the ball quickly caromed off the inner left post and into the net.
With Saputo Stadium still abuzz over this goal, Placentino had his hand in the Impacts second goal only 4 minutes later. On a drive down his left hand side, Placentino managed to fight off one defender and get another to chase him to the touch line just outside the box. While many, including yours truly, were expecting an attempt at goal by Rocco, he showed great vision by opting to cross the ball into the box where Roberto Brown was waiting, controlled the pass, performed a mini spin-a-rama and pelted the ball past a helpless Jay Nolly for a 2-0 Impact lead. With the half pulling to a close, the Whitecaps had a great opportunity to head into the dressing room only down by one, when, on a final drive, forward Marion James first hit the crossbar and defender Marco Reda hit the right post, both of which Montreal 'keeper Matt Jordan watched until the ball was cleared out of danger's way.
The Ultras found their way back to their seats in the second half and the tempo would rise as the two teams would look to end this game with a win.
Vancouver would narrow Montreal's lead to one with Marlon James marker at the 63rd minute. On a crossed ball that could have been deemed a hand ball as it went off Stefano Pesoli, the play was allowed to continue and James capitalised on his chance with a blast past Matt Jordan. The impact would not give up and took the play back up the field with a flurry of their own with deRoux, Placentino, Brillant and Sakuda getting shots on Jay Nolly, who was equal to the task.
Unfortunately for the Whitecaps, even an incredible 7 minutes of extra time could not help them to at leat pull out a tie as Matt Jordan made 2 impressive saves in extra time that surely could have changed the outcome of the game had he not have been as sharp as he was
"Yes I do feel vindicated" said Impact coach Marc Dos Santos, when asked about his recent decisions. When queried on his opinion pertaining to the long extra time alotted at game's end, Dos Santos also added the long extra time in Vancouver and replied, "I'm 32 years old, but after all that I feel like I'm 40."
"Last Thusrday was an embarrassment" said Rocco Placentino, named player of the game. We wanted to come out today and prove what we could do in front of our fans." when asked if he is now looking forward to the Impact's next game on Tuesday against Miami, Placentino responded "I'm looking forward to the 3 points."
With this win, Montreal joins Vancouver in the USL Division 1 standings at 5th place. They will vie for those aforementioned 3 points on Tuesday June 23rd at 7:30 PM against Miami FC.
pic by photos pépé
Bookmark
Email this
Trackback(0)
TrackBack URI for this entryComments (0)
Write comment
This content has been locked. You can no longer post any comments.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
