Marco Di Vaio Strikes Twice as Impact Draw Revolution

The Montreal Impact drew the New England Revolution 2-2 this afternoon at a chilly Stade Saputo. In his second to last home game, Marco Di Vaio scored twice in the draw. The result officially clinched a MLS playoff spot for the New England Revolution.

The Italian star opened the scoring in the 12th minute after receiving a nice pass from midfielder Calum Mallace. However the lead did not last long as New England struck back four minutes later through Kelyn Rowe after a breakdown in the Montreal defence. Mallace and Ferrari were unable to close down the Rowe attack.

Montreal looked a lot more engaged this afternoon from the outset with Di Vaio and Andres Romero playing with lots of intensity. The good run of play continued throughout the first half and in the 39th minute as Di Vaio struck his second of the day.

The Veteran Italian player perfectly placed a shot in the bottom right hand corner of the net. This is the type of high quality finish that the Impact will be missing when Di Vaio retires, and will be very difficult to replace.

The second half continued to be lively as both teams traded jabs. Both Romero and Justin Mapp provided solid play down the wings and kept the Revolution on their toes all afternoon. Mapp in particular had a quality scoring opportunity in the 52th minute when he had a breakaway stopped by Revolution keeper Bobby Shuttleworth.

However the Impact could not capitalize on their possession and New England tied the game in the 69th through Lee Nguyen. Nguyen floating a chip shot over Impact keeper Evan Bush.

The shot took a deflection off the foot of Calum Mallace and looped into the back of the Montreal net. Bush was caught flat footed and was unable to tip the ball over the crossbar.

New England was content to finish out the game and get the draw ensuring their entry into the MLS playoffs. Impact manager Frank Klopas made a few uncharacteristic attacking changes in the second half bringing to McInerney and captain Patrice Bernier on to find a winner.

However neither team could find a winner and the game ended 2-2.

Di Vaio raised a good point as the Impact have struggled to play a solid 90 minutes throughout the season, leading to a lot of dropped points in the standings.

The Impact continue their MLS campaign next weekend in Toronto as try and put a major dent in the playoff aspirations of their biggest rivals.