Recap: #IMFC vs #ForeverOrange

The Montreal Impact have gone scoreless in their four last games and coming into the game against Houston history was definitely on their side; Houston has not won or even scored at Saputo Stadium in 6 years.

The Impact threatened early in this one, with their first real chance coming in the 19th minute after the ball bounced around the box. The ball finally came out to Piette who recuperated the clearance by the Dynamo and redirected it to Piatti who curled the shot towards the net from outside the 18 yard box. The nice shot by Piatti hit the crossbar, bounced on the goal line and stayed out but the Impact were gaining some momentum.

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Houston got a decent chance in the 20th after Lovitz miscalculated his tackle leaving a lot of space for the Dynamo player who tried curling his shot at the far post but lacked accuracy.

The Impact finally broke their scoreless drought at the end of the half. Jackson was dueling for the ball which eventually fell to the feet of Edwards who took a strong shot but the keeper gave a big rebound after getting behind the shot. The Dynamo cleared the ball out of danger but not out of the box. Piette got the ball passed it to Vargas who was surrounded by five Dynamo players but still managed to get a beautifully curled shot in the back of the net.

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Coming back from the half the Impact had a 1-0 lead and kept applying pressure and attempting to create chances but not many definite chances were created by either team. Overall the Impact played with a lot more confidence than what was seen as of late. Hopefully they can carry many of the elements from this game into the next one next week in Dallas.

3 Observations

• Doing What He Needs: Vargas has managed to get his place in the starting lineup a few times this season and he proved to fans the reason he is there. He can make something out of nothing and has the confidence to take the shot, something that has missing for the Bleu-Blanc-Noir lately. His goal was nothing short of impressive he was surrounded by five Dynamo players and the shot was very well taken. With 4 goals in his 11 games played (8 started) these are very good stats for a 20 year old rookie in the league.

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• Mistimed Tackles: The defender of the year for the Impact last season, Daniel Lovitz, definitely did not have his best game against Houston. At two occasions in the first half the Dynamo got chances because Lovitz either mistimed or miscalculated his sliding tackles leading the Dynamo attackers to be almost alone in front of Bush but they lacked the accuracy to get the ball in the back of the net.

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• Fans Still There: One sight to see that was extremely encouraging was the attendance which was 17,512 at yesterdays game. Considering the Impact have not scored in their last four it is easy to think that the attendance would be a lot lower more importantly the Impact are currently 11 in attendance in the MLS (Soccer Stadium Digest). It is impressive to see how much the soccer culture is growing in Montreal.

Lineups

MTL – GK-Evan Bush; D-Daniel Lovitz, Jukka Raitala, Rod Fanni, Chris Duvall; M-Saphir Taïder, Samuel Piette, Ignacio Piatti, Jeisson Vargas (Ken Krolicki 62’), Raheem Edwards; F-Anthony Jackson-Hamel (Alejandro Silva 75’)

Substitutes not used – Clément Diop, Rudy Camacho, Marco Donadel, Dominic Oduro, Matteo Mancosu

HOU – GK-Joe Willis; D-DaMarcus Beasley, Leonardo, Kevin Garcia, Adam Lundqvist; M-Luis Gil (Mauro Manotas 63’), Eric Bird, Oscar Boniek Garcia; F-Alberth Elis (Tomas Martinez 80’), Memo Rodriguez, Arturo Alvarez (Romell Quioto 58’)

Substitutes not used – Chris Seitz, Conor Donovan, Eric Alexander, Andrew Wenger

GOAL

MTL – Vargas (Piette) 44’

CAUTIONS

HOU – Elis 29’

HOU – Gil 33’

MTL – Edwards 65’

HOU – Lundqvist 69’

HOU – Martinez 84’