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Posted by
Steve Bottjer,
April 30, 2015 |
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Steve Bottjer
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@BottjerRNO
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The Montreal Impact were looking to put the cherry on top of their fairytale run in the CONCACAF Champions League on Wednesday evening. After drawing against Club América in Mexico last week and earning a slight advantage with the away goal in a 1-1 draw, the two sides were set to decide which team would walk away as champions with the second leg in Montreal.
Playing in front of a club record crowd of 61,004 fans at Olympic Stadium, the atmosphere for this match was awesome as the Impact supporters drowned the massive stadium in a sea of the blue and endeavoured to give their side a major boost as the 12th man and see the Impact come out on top against a club that had previously won the Champions League tournament five times.
The Opening 45
Montreal came out of the gate with a clear game plan and were the dominant side in the opening forty-five minutes, as the Club America defense struggled to deal with the Impact counter attack.
The Impact opened the scoring on a phenomenal run by Andres Romero in the 8th minute.
Club America came very close to equalizing in the 13th minute when a free kick was headed back across the box to a wide open Dario Benedetto for a tap in into the open net. However, the Argentine forward missed a glorious chance and saw the ball bounce off the crossbar and post and out before being cleared by the Impact.
Montreal had a fantastic chance to double their lead on the break in the 24th minute when Ignacio Piatti showed excellent composure in the America box but ultimately saw his shot stopped by keeper Moises Munoz.
With Montreal looking rock solid defensively it was the more celebrated Mexican side that looked out of sorts as the half played out. Laurent Ciman authoritatively lead the Impact from the back while the visiting team struggled to contain the quality of Piatti and the pace of Dominic Oduro.
The Second Half
Unfortunately for Impact supporters, this match ended up being one of two halves, with Club America taking complete control in the second half with a dominating run of play against an Impact side that looked like they might over exhausted themselves in the first half.
Benedetto evened things up in the 50th minute in which some sleepy defending by the Impact allowed the forward to deliver a top class goal with a pretty volley.
Club America took the lead in the 64th minute when Darwin Quintero delivered a cross to Oribe Peralta, who headed it home and gave his side the lead in both the game and on aggregate.
Benedetto then completed a hat trick and sealed the tournament victory for America with goals 66th and 81st minutes.
To their credit, the Impact pushed to get back into the game until the final whistle. However, Montreal was only able to score one consolation goal in the 89th minute when Piatti set up Jack McInerney.
With the loss, the home side fell 4-2 (5-3 on aggregate) in a match in which the quality of Club America simply proved to be too much handle over the course of the full ninety minutes.
Man of the Match
Ignacio Piatti
Argentine midfielder Ignacio Piatti terrorized the America back line for pretty much the entire first half and earned assists on both Montreal goals. The Impact’s Designated Player was a force to be reckoned with on the counter attack. Piatti was fouled relentlessly by the Club America defenders and should have had a player sent off for a clear second yellow. Impact fans will be wondering if the game might have turned out differently if the visitors had ended up playing the second half with ten men.
Montreal Line-up
GK-Kristian Nicht; D-Nigel Reo-Coker, Bakary Soumare, Laurent Ciman, Donny Toia (Maxim Tissot 70'); M-Marco Donadel (Jack McInerney 67'), Calum Mallace (Patrice Bernier 79'), Andrés Romero, Ignacio Piatti, Dilly Duka; F-Dominic Oduro
Subs not used: GK-Maxime Crépeau; D-Wandrille Lefèvre, Eric Miller; F-Kenny Cooper
Post-Match Reaction
"Regardless of the outcome, I am extremely proud of what this team has accomplished," said head coach Frank Klopas, who brought his assistants to the postgame press conference. "We gave everything on the field, the support was incredible from our fans and the atmosphere was second to none. We fell a little bit short, but we should be proud with what we did as a team."
"It's been tough," added midfielder Calum Mallace. "We pretty much have a brand new team this year, but our run in this competition made us believe that we are in this together and we're going to stick together for the rest of the year."
"We've done great in this tournament. We played well with our style of play, by counter attacking against these Central American teams," said McInerney. "In MLS, it's going to be a little bit different, but we have a skillful team and we're going to see a lot more of the ball. Players grew close when we traveled and we can use that to our advantage for rest of the season."
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