|
|
Montreal Impact 2 – Portland Timbers 1
|
The Prelude to Battle
The Montreal Impact were looking to surprise the league once again, one week after opening the season with an away win over Seattle. This week, the Impact stayed on the West coast and travelled one state south to face the Portland Timbers.
As expected, manager Marco Schällibaum kept the same 4-1-4-1 formation against Portland. Troy Perkins got the start in goal, following his clean sheet the week before. This is his first time returning to Portland after being traded to Montreal last season. Jeb Brovsky, Alessandro Nesta, Matteo Ferrari and Hassoun Camara stayed the same at the back. In the midfield, only one change was made. Sanna Nyassi started ahead of Justin Mapp, who picked up a slight knock since the Seattle visit. Marco Di Vaio led the charge up front.
The Timbers came into this match after a thrilling 3-3 draw against the New York Red Bulls last weekend. Portland boss Caleb Porter kept the same 11 players on the pitch for this match. The only change was in the formation. The Timbers decided to switch from a 4-2-3-1 to a 4-3-3 against the Impact. Goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, the other part of the goalkeeper swap, was facing his old mates for the first time as well.
The Opening 45
The home-side hogged the ball from the opening minutes. However, it was the Impact who grabbed the first chances.
In the eighth minute, Montreal played a quick throw-in to Di Vaio. The Italian squared the ball to an oncoming Felipe. Felipe's shot from 18-yards-out went whiskers past Ricketts's right post.
Three minutes later, the Impact should have opened the scoring. Another quick throw-in led to Pisanu lobbing a ball into the box. Di Vaio's run was unmarked, but the Italian could not finish his in-close header. Ricketts made a tremendous diving stop to deny his former teammate.
In the 27th minute, the Timbers had their first good look at goal. Former Toronto FC striker Ryan Johnson slipped his way through the Impact defence, but Perkins was there to make a sliding save with his feet.
The deadlock was broken on the half-hour mark. Pisanu's free kick from the right bounced towards the top of the box. Ferrari's blocked shot attempt floated to the right side where it was met by Camara's acrobatic overhead kick. Ricketts had no chance as the ball sailed past him.
Portland went for the leveller seven minutes later. The ball went out left to Darlington Nagbe. The winger cut in and laced a shot on net. Perkins bobbled the ball, but was able to secure the blast.
In the 40th minute, Portland fullback Ryan Miller surged up the pitch, dribbling towards goal with Nyassi close on his tail. Inside the box, Miller put on the brakes and contact with Nyassi left him on the floor. The referee stayed quiet.
The Second Half
On the hour mark, Montreal doubled their lead. After being on the pitch for literally seconds, Andrés Romero, making his first appearance for the Impact, chased a ball down to the goal line. The Argentinean squared the ball into the box where Felipe hammered it home past Ricketts.
Romero was close to scoring three minutes later. Di Vaio slipped the substitute in on goal, but Romero could not chip the ball over the last defender.
In the 66th minute, Portland center back Andrew Jean-Baptiste almost reduced the deficit. Diego Valeri played a ball to the top of the box where Baptiste controlled, slipped by Impact defenders and fired a low shot on target. Perkins reached down to make a crucial stop.
The Timbers got the missed opportunity back in the 80th minute. Substitute Ben Zemanski received a switched ball on the right side. He took one touch to control and placed a perfect cross for Ryan Johnson to slide onto. Johnson beat Camara on the inside to be able to finish off the play.
Portland kept up the pressure for the final minutes, but Montreal still had a decent chance. In the 87th minute, Romero burned his defender on the left side byline and rolled his shot at Ricketts. The big rebound was hammered towards goal by substitute Collen Warner, but Ricketts made a huge double save.
Into stoppage time, Camara made a heroic standing tackle on Johnson inside the Impact box to deny the Jamaican a second goal.
In the fourth minute of added time, Timbers substitute José Valencia found himself with a glorious opportunity to salvage a point. But his weak shot was low and right at Perkins.
The Impact won the match and now top the Eastern Conference with two straight victories.
The Final Word: Impact stay firm at the back, make most of chances up front
After beating Seattle on match day one, Montreal were faced with a similar away fixture. Head coach Schällibaum kept the same tactics and it paid dividends.
Portland, much like Seattle did, came out holding onto possession right from the opening kickoff. The Impact were not fazed by not having the ball. Instead they remained calm and defended appropriately.
The Impact's zonal block shifted well from left to right and back again. As soon as Portland would find a way inside the block, the Impact compressed with the midfield applying high pressure right away. This didn't give the Timbers any results, so they would either lose possession or play the ball out wide again. The flanks were the only place the home side had success.
Also like the Seattle match, Montreal were efficient up front. The Impact only had nine attempts on goal, but six were on target. Two early misses from Felipe and Di Vaio were made up when Camara scored a bicycle kick out of nothing in the 30th minute.
Working with the lead is always easier. Montreal just started to defend again and waited until they could either counter or transition up the field.
Romero's goal was an example of being efficient. Whereas many players would have given up on a long through ball, Romero stayed in full stride and caught up to the ball on the goal line. Felipe also continued his run and recognized all the empty space inside the box. He was left with an easy tap in.
Montreal did catch some breaks at the back. The non-penalty call at the end of the first half could have easily been called. Nyassi didn't make too much contact, but it still could have merited a PK. Miller seemed to go down easier and this perhaps led referee Edvin Jurisevic to keeping the whistle in his pocket.
Overall, Perkins had a tremendous match for Montreal. He made key saves on in-close shots. The entire Impact back line was brilliant except for the hiccup on the Portland goal.
The Impact now return to Montreal for two straight home fixtures at Olympic Stadium. They host rivals Toronto FC in the first 401 Derby of the year next Saturday afternoon.
Montreal Impact Line-up
1 Perkins
5 Brovsky
13 Ferrari
14 Nesta
6 Camara
8 Bernier
11 Nyassi
22 Arnaud
7 Felipe
31 Pisanu
9 Di Vaio
Substitutions: (59) Romero in for Pisanu; (75) Wenger in for Di Vaio; (87) Warner in for Felipe
|