Chicago Fire Scorch the Impact

The Montreal Impact went to a wet and rainy Toyota Park Saturday night looking for their third win in a row. The Fire made sure that did not happen crushing a lifeless Impact side 3-0. Chicago who were sitting directly above Montreal in the standings had not won a game since April 24, when they defeated New York City FC 1-0.

Where there is smoke, there's fire :

"The team performance tonight was poor. We weren't sharp..." - Frank Klopas

Just before the game it was announced that 2014 team MVP Andres Romero was left in Montreal due to a minor injury he suffered, and that newcomer Ambroise Oyongo would take his place on the left wing. In another lineup note, Bakery Soumaré was facing his former team for the first time Saturday night since being acquired by Montreal in the offseason, a game he will want to forget.

The Fire opened the scoring in the 13th-minute after Soumaré was easily knocked off the ball by Kennedy Igboananike. Igboananike fed the ball to Harry Shipp who rocketed one past a hopeless Evan Bush.

Things went from bad to worse for Montreal and in the 37th-minute Marco Donadel received his second yellow card and was sent off for a poorly timed tackle on Matt Polster. Donadel has picked up a reputation for consistently picking up yellow cards in the first half of games, however this time he decided to take one for the road.

The first half nightmare came reached its crescendo for Soumaré who committed a foul in the Montreal box allowing Jeff Larentowicz to make it 2-0 from the spot.

Milieu poreux. Côté droit de la défense impuissant. Rien en contre. Rouge mérité. Penalty injuste. Longue soirée #IMFC (2-0 CHI à la MT)

— Patrick Leduc (@patleduc15) May 31, 2015

Wash, rinse, repeat:

"You get down 2-0 playing with 10 guys, you're hoping to keep it close and pull one back, but we couldn't do that tonight." - Evan Bush

The second half was not any better for the Impact. In an uncharacteristic move Frank Klopas made a substitution at halftime taking the lone striker Jack McInerney off for midfielder Eric Alexander. The shape of the Impact completely broke down as the game went along and it was only a matter of time until Chicago scored again. The final goal came in the 73rd-minute as Igboananike found himself one-one-one with Bush, slotting home his first MLS goal.

Back to the drawing board:

The loss in Chicago looks like a case of 'one step forward, two steps back'. Montreal has had many poor performances under Frank Klopas but the loss at Toyota Park was right up there with one of the worst since March 2014. The team did not look prepared from the opening whistle and were dominated in every aspect of the game. The good news is that the Impact have an opportunity to put this one behind them quickly as Vancouver comes to Montreal on Wednesday night.      

Game Statistics and Quotes Courtesy of the Montreal Impact:

LINEUPS
MTL - GK-Evan Bush; D-Nigel Reo-Coker, Laurent Ciman, Bakary Soumare, Donny Toia; M-Marco Donadel,  Calum Mallace (Patrice Bernier 76'), Dilly Duka, Ignacio Piatti (Anthony Jackson-Hamel 60'), Ambroise Oyongo; F-Jack McInerney (Eric Alexander 46')

Subs not used: GK-Eric Kronberg; D-Wandrille Lefèvre, M-Maxim Tissot; F-Romario Williams

CHI - GK-Jon Busch; D-Eric Gehrig, Jeff Larentowicz, Adailton, Joevin Jones; M-Matt Polster (do Prado 80'), Razvan Cocis, Harrison Shipp, Shaun Maloney, David Accam (Quincy Amarikwa 66'); F-Kennedy Igboananike (Jason Johnson 75')

Subs not used: GK-Sean Johnson; D-Lovel Palmer; M-Michael Stephens, Matt Watson

GOALS
CHI - Shipp (Igboananike) 13'
CHI - Larentowicz (PK) 45'
CHI - Igboananike (Cocis) 72'

CAUTIONS
MTL - Reo-Coker 3'
MTL - Donadel 23'
MTL - Mallace 70'

EJECTION
MTL - Donadel (second caution) 37'