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It was a night of re-opening, a night of goals and a night for 17,112 fans to reap the benefits of their team`s hard work throughout the season. As much as there was disappointing in not seeing a full house at Stade Saputo, a 4-1 win against the Green Monster from the Land of Cascadia couldn't be better setup by the marketing and sales team of the Montreal Impact. Let's give it a few games to see the regular average attendance at Stade Saputo and probably make a comparison between attendances when Marco Di Vaio put on his cleats for an official MLS game.
Sticking to his 4-3-2-1, Jesse Marsch fills up the midfield with numbers and quality backing up a strong defensive line and dynamic wide midfielders to feed a young upcoming MLS -caliber player, Andrew Wenger. It was a very complete by the Impact against a Sounders team that showed good qualities but were too slow early in the game and were caught off-guard in the second half. Add to that the Mark Geiger show with calls and non-calls and you get an interesting game.
The Montreal Impact played the game the way Jesse Marsch always wanted: strong, quick,physical and hungry.
Patrice Bernier, Man Of The Match: And that happened thanks to the player's quality and the midfield setup that liberated him. The 4-2-3-1 has Bernier playing next to Collen Warner and both have totally showed an excellent chemistry. With Warner staying mostly behind, Patrice Bernier showed his offensive skills that we all knew he had. He showed 1-vs-1 skills on Felipe Martins goal, smart speed to run up the midfield and always present for receiving passes and distributing the ball quickly and efficiently.
Felipe Martins, O Fabricante De Jogos: Another player that was liberated from the 4-2-3-1 as he played more upfront in a play-maker role. He used Justin Mapp and Davy Arnaud a lot as decoys for dummy runs and as targets for the last pass before a dangerous attack. He still has a defensive role being as he plays higher than usual and puts pressure higher up the field cutting away a few options for the Seattle Sounders a few times.
Where do the Montreal Impact stand in MLS standings?
** MLS Standings provided by MLSSoccer.com
Eastern Conference
| # | Club | PTS | GP | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | Home | Away | Last 5 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | D.C. United | 30 | 16 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 29 | 19 | 10 | 6-1-2 | 3-3-1 | L-W-W-W-W |
| 2 | Sporting Kansas City | 28 | 13 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 19 | 10 | 9 | 6-1-0 | 3-2-1 | L-L-T-W-W |
| 3 | New York Red Bulls | 26 | 14 | 8 | 4 | 2 | 27 | 21 | 6 | 4-0-2 | 4-4-0 | W-W-W-T-L |
| 4 | Chicago Fire | 21 | 14 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 18 | 18 | 0 | 4-1-2 | 2-4-1 | L-W-L-L-W |
| 5 | Columbus Crew | 19 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 13 | 13 | 0 | 3-2-1 | 2-2-3 | W-T-W-W-T |
| 6 | Houston Dynamo | 19 | 13 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 15 | 16 | -1 | 3-0-1 | 2-4-3 | T-T-W-L-W |
| 7 | New England Revolution | 17 | 14 | 5 | 7 | 2 | 18 | 18 | 0 | 4-1-2 | 1-6-0 | W-T-L-W-T |
| 8 | Montreal Impact | 15 | 14 | 4 | 7 | 3 | 19 | 22 | -3 | 3-1-2 | 1-6-1 | W-T-L-L-W |
| 9 | Philadelphia Union | 8 | 12 | 2 | 8 | 2 | 8 | 15 | -7 | 1-4-1 | 1-4-1 | L-L-T-L-L |
| 10 | Toronto FC | 3 | 11 | 1 | 10 | 0 | 8 | 23 | -15 | 1-5-0 | 0-5-0 | L-L-L-W-L |
4 points separate the Montreal Impact from a potential playoff spot. Getting all 3 points against Chivas USA would be great for the morale of the team as it would also give more credibility and weight to a system, a team and an organisation that is building a project, not just a team.
Extended Highlights of the game