Sporting Kansas City vs Montreal Impact: Quotes , Stats and Highlights

It's a historical first road win in MLS against arguably the league's best team. I will not talk on the details of this game in this article but a lot of positives (yet again) are to be taken from this game without forgetting that Sporting Kansas City didn't play bad at all but the Montreal Impact did the job on the road: defend, be efficient and stay united.

Montreal head coach Jesse Marsch

General thoughts on the match...

I believe we put a good team on the field and there was good understanding from the group from what we wanted to do, from our captain to all the down the end of the line. We weathered the storm early on, especially with certain pieces of the team.

On Nelson Rivas' return performance...

I thought he played very well. He read the game well and he was sharp and a mean tackler and a very physical guy. He showed all of the qualities that we know he has.

On Felipe's goal...

Felipe has meant a lot to our team since the beginning of the year and he wants so badly to help the team succeed. He is a clever player and is good around the box.

On the penalty...

Patrice made the decision to do the penalty kick. The kick was big goal, and I am very proud of him for stepping up and taking it. We have five or six new faces and they all stepped up on the field tonight and played.

On the team's progress...

When you are an expansion team, you have to start from scratch. I have given the team tons of credit for moving up to a different country committing themselves to a new project, we all feel confident in ourselves and what we are becoming

Montreal Impact Midfielder Davy Arnaud

On returning to Kansas City to play against his former club...

It was a weird feeling running out there with a different jersey on, but this is always a fun place to play. I really enjoyed getting back here and playing in front of those fans again.

On the magnitude of Montreal's 2-0 win over Sporting Kansas City...

It's a huge result for us. We're a new group, and we came into a very difficult place to play against a team that has established themselves as one of the best, if not the best, in the league right now. They've been around each other for a long time. But we're confident in our team, and this result is really big for us.

On Montreal's confidence level...

We feel like we've played pretty well so far this season. We've played a lot of road games-seven of our first ten. We've stayed confident even though we maybe haven't got the results we wanted. A result like this will help us grow even more, but we have to keep growing. We know we aren't quite there yet.

Montreal Impact Midfielder Hassoun Camara

On the magnitude of Montreal's 2-0 win over Sporting Kansas City...

We knew that it was important for us to be focused, because Kansas City is one of the best teams in the league. They have a lot of good players, and they are very good defensively. So we had to be ready to fight. And we did-we are very happy with the result.

On how Montreal approached the game...

We had to have the will and belief to come here and get a good result. We shouldn't be afraid to win here. We are a new group, but we have been working hard and getting better. Tonight was a big moment for us.

Sporting Kansas City manager Peter Vermes

General thoughts on the match...

We were late to a lot balls, they were good on second balls. Circulation of the ball was fast. We didn't' run enough, we had a couple of mental errors in the game that lead to the opportunity that they got.

On the bye week...

Coming off the games before the break, the guys had a very good week of training, the guys were good. I just think they probably forgot how to enter the field and come with the same passion you need to win is this game. Every team in this league has to compete to win.

On faults in the team...

The offense did not look crisp. We were not there. We were not sharp enough. The corners were maybe 15-1 we were on them, but I think we were too slow, we did not circulate the ball.

On playing away in Chicago next weekend.

I take these 45 minutes at a time. We have to look forward to Chicago, that is where our heads have to be at now.

Sporting Kansas City Midfielder Roger Espinoza

On Sporting Kansas City's struggles in a 2-0 loss to Montreal...

I don't think we did a good job moving the ball. We were a little slow, and our movement wasn't like it has been the last couple games.

On how Sporting Kansas City's week off impacted the team's performance...

If anything, it should have helped. We were fully rested. Montreal just played well and we didn't. I don't really know why.

On Montreal's performance...

They scored the goals, so they deserve the win. We didn't' do anything to deserve a point. We didn't finish, we didn't move. They defended well and didn't let us get in a rhythm.

On how Sporting Kansas City will respond to the loss...

You can't take any game lightly in this league. Anybody can come out and beat you and play just as good as you. We'll take experience from this game and do better next time.

Sporting Kansas City Forward Kei Kamara

On Sporting Kansas City's struggles in a 2-0 loss to Montreal...

Montreal played well. They kind of play our game, but they played it better. They pressure, and every time we got the ball they closed us down really fast. We weren't thinking quick enough like we usually do, and that affected us tonight. We outshot them, but that's not what counts.

On how Sporting Kansas City's week off impacted the team's performance...

I don't want to blame it on that. I just didn't play up to what I'm used to. My level was really down today, and I could feel that affecting all of us. Right now we all look like we want to go back on the field and play.

On how his team will respond to the loss...

It's a long season. We expect to be a lot better than this if we really want to be one of the best teams in the league. But it's just one game. We'll go back to training on Monday and focus on the next game, which is Chicago.

On Sporting Kansas City's offensive struggles...

The final pass wasn't there tonight. But there were a lot of things that weren't there tonight. They played our game tonight, but they played it better. We pressure from minute one to 90, and they came into our house and did that better.

Sporting Kansas City Goalkeeper Jimmy Nielsen

On being blinded by teammate Aurelien Collin during Montreal's first goal...

That's probably why I reacted a little late. That's normally a shot I expect myself to save. Of course it's a big disappointment. My view was blocked for a split second and I couldn't reach it.

On Sporting Kansas City's struggles in a 2-0 loss to Montreal...

From the beginning of the game, we made some simple mistakes that we haven't done before: losing the ball in dangerous areas, sloppy passes. We have to give Montreal some credit, too. They defended well and figured out how to limit our chances. And we weren't good enough to create the chances. We had a lot of the ball, a lot of shots from distance, but overall our worst performance of the season.

On how his team will respond to the loss...

We have got to step up now. We all know this is not our best performance. We've got a whole week to prepare for a big game in Chicago. (Expletive) happens - you cannot expect to play well every game. But we didn't play they way we wanted to play today. When we have a game plan, we have to follow it. It's a big disappointment, but now we've got to step up and show we can move on.

Match Stats

Sporting Kansas City		Montreal Impact
22	Attempts on Goal	6
4	Shots on Target	2
13	Shots off Target	3
5	Blocked Shots	1
11	Corner Kicks	1
9	Fouls	15
18	Open Play Crosses	2
4	Offsides	5
1	Yellow Cards	4
0	Red Cards	0
66	Duels Won	57
53%	Duels Won %	46%
566	Total Pass	288
81%	Passing Accuracy %	66%
66.1%	Possession	33.9%

Game Highlights