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Montreal Impact 5 – 0 Houston Dynamo
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The Prelude to Battle
It was the exact response the Montreal Impact needed following their 1-0 loss to CD Heredia on Wednesday night. The Impact returned home to take on Eastern Conference rivals the Houston Dynamo in-front of a sold out Stade Saputo.
Montreal welcomed back plenty of their usual starters who did not make the trip over to Guatemala. Marco Di Vaio, Alessandro Nesta, Matteo Ferrari and Patrice Bernier were all back in the starting XI.
In fact, the entire Impact lineup seemed to have returned to normal. Troy Perkins was in goal, Jeb Brovsky and Hassoun Camara joined Nesta and Ferrari at the back, Justin Mapp and Andrés Romero were on the flanks, and Felipe, Bernier and Hernán Bernardello supported Marco Di Vaio.
Head coach Marco Schällibaum lined his side up in a 4-4-1-1, a formation that has brought out the most of his squad. Schällibaum, however, was forced to watch this match from upstairs. He was serving his first of a two match ban.
Houston arrived in Montreal following their Champions League road fixture. The Dynamo went to Trinidad and Tobago to take on W Connection in a match that ended in a scoreless draw.
This was the second meeting between both clubs this season. The Impact kept a clean sheet in a two-nil victory over the Dynamo on June 19. The third and final meeting will be held in Houston on October 4.
The Opening 45
Both sides didn't waste much time following the opening kickoff. The Impact tried to threaten Tally Hall early and Will Bruin came fairly close to giving Houston a surprise early lead.
The first major chance came from Mapp in the 14th minute. After receiving a ball on the right side, Mapp did his textbook move by cutting in a curling a left-footed effort on goal. This time his shot smashed the underside of the crossbar and stayed out.
Houston tried to reply two minutes later when Gilles Barnes came close to scoring a bouncing ball inside the box.
Mapp was at it again in the 22nd and 27th minute when he missed two similar chances. On both occasions Mapp had possession inside the Houston penalty, but failed to have a go on target with his weaker right foot. Despite the missed opportunities, Mapp would avenge himself 10 minutes later.
In the 35th minute, it was only a matter of time before Montreal took advantage of a disorganized Dynamo back line. The Impact was able to get deep inside the Houston zone, as Mapp took control of the ball about 25-yards out. Mapp squared a ball to Di Vaio, who was calmly able to beat Corey Ashe and curl a sublime ball into the top corner.
Two minutes later, the Impact doubled their lead. Di Vaio made his way deep into the Houston zone, attempted to feint past his opponent, but the ball rolled to Mapp right beside him. Mapp floated a ball across the box to Felipe, who had all the time in the world to pick out the bottom corner.
The first half ended with the Impact in full momentum.
The Second Half
It was the visitors who had the first chance right after the break.
Three minutes after walking back onto the pitch, the Dynamo cycled a ball to the right flank and lobbed a cross deep inside the Impact box. Bruin managed to beat out all Montreal defenders and score a sure header, but Perkins was up for the task and made a diving stop to deny the effort.
In the 53rd minute, Hall answered with his own massive double save to keep the match close. Felipe was the first to be robbed after running onto a lobbed through ball and then Di Vaio a few seconds later courtesy of a poor clearance.
The Impact killed the match in the 58th minute. A corner kick played in was flicked on by a head at the near post and landed fortunately on Brovsky's feet at the back. He couldn't miss from inches away.
It was chance after chance for Montreal. Di Vaio came close to scoring a second on a quick turn and fire that went narrowly over the crossbar.
In the 70th minute, the Italian got his brace thanks to some unselfish play from Bernier. From the middle, Felipe flicked on a Nesta pass onto Bernier's path behind the Houston back line. With a two-on-zero against the keeper, Bernier waited until Hall rushed out enough to roll Di Vaio a pass for an easy tap in.
The Impact just let the minutes tick, but would get a final fifth goal deep into stoppage time. At the center of midfield, Felipe was given loads of space and was able to send a pinpoint accurate through ball for substitute Andrea Pisanu. Pisanu just had to poke the ball under Hall for his first of the season.
The Impact cruised to what is now their largest win in Major League Soccer this season. Their biggest victory is still their 6-0 thrashing of Toronto FC in the Canadian Championship in May.
Post-Match Reaction
"It was important for us," said assistant coach Mauro Biello. "First of all, we haven't been playing that well recently. We beat D.C. United, but it was not the best of matches. Tonight we showed we can be a team of quality. This was important for our confidence and for our push towards the end of the season."
"It was a great performance," said defender Jeb Brovsky. "For 90 minutes everyone just stayed focus and stayed sharp. Giving up a goal in this one would have spoiled it a little bit. I think our back four was sharp and physical. When you have guys up top who do their business, it makes it easier on us."
"I think we worked hard to earn the time and space that we had," said midfielder Felipe. "We were able to manoeuvre the ball well and this was all collective work from our team. We're doing well at the moment and we need to continue on the same path to be able to do the same for end of the season and to make the playoffs."
"Obviously, anytime you win 5-0 something had to have gone right," said midfielder Justin Mapp. "I just felt like everyone was on the same page, not trying to do too much and it was probably one of our best games together."
The Final Word: Montreal kept pushing forward until Houston finally broke down.
From the opening minutes of this match, something didn't seem right at the back for the Dynamo. The Impact were having no trouble at all getting into the final third and there was never any pressure really on any opponent.
Montreal went into the the Houston zone often untouched and were able to find and exploit spaces given. Red flags like not closing down the middle or harmlessly letting Di Vaio receive a throw-in inside their own penalty area without any pressure surely should have been enough for head coach Dominic Kinnear to order his side to shape up and get organized.
They didn't and it was only time until the Impact started to score. Houston did have some good early chances, but even if they did score them, the match would not have been that much different as the back line was inexistent for the entire 90 minutes.
The Impact did everything well offensively to get their goals. They stretched the pitch by playing wide and often switched the ball from flank to flank in order to unbalance the Houston back line. Disorganization all match long left massive gaps and open passing channels for Montreal to take advantage of.
Di Vaio was the first to find the back of the goal after an awe-inspiring stop-and-go inside the box that gave him space to curl a ball into the upper 90. Di Vaio is so patient inside the area that he has it down to an art. The class shown by the Italian is second to none and this smart play is the reason he's leading the league in goals.
Felipe's goal two minutes later was a combination of a fantastic finish and awful defending, but mostly the latter. Felipe should never have the amount of time he had to not only control an aerial ball, but also wait, contemplate shooting and then finally doing it.
Kofi Sarkodie defended Felipe as if they were at half field and not in the box like they were. Sarkodie was trying to close him down instead of applying immediate pressure like he should have done.
The Impact were smart not to dwell on their two goal lead and went hunting for more. The match seemed to be tightening up in the second half, but Brovsky's goal from the corner (off another defensive mistake) was the final blow.
Following this goal, the Dynamo naturally opened up more and were caught way too often with too many men up the pitch. Once again, the team gave Felipe acres of space with the ball and he took advantage by sending in two great through balls that resulted in the final two goals.
Houston never looked in it defensively and forgot the basics of defending. The Impact were not only strong up front, but also pretty close to perfect at the back. Nesta, Ferrari, Camara and Brovsky had phenomenal performances and Perkins was great when he had to be.
Without the ball the Impact were compact and didn't give much in terms of time and space. Every time a Houston player had the ball, there was an Impact player running at him to pressure. Montreal recovered the ball well and played forward quickly.
The Impact needed a match like this. The result needs to give them confidence for a strong final season push. The team still has some tough fixtures, including two big Champions League matches to worry about. An inform squad could be what it takes to perhaps make a push for some more silverware.
Montreal Impact Line-up
1 Perkins
5 Brovsky
13 Ferrari
14 Nesta
6 Camara
15 Romero
23 Bernardello
8 Bernier
21 Mapp
7 Felipe
9 Di Vaio
Substitutions: (73) Arnaud in for Bernardello; (80) Pisanu in for Mapp; (88) Paponi in for Di Vaio
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