Recap: #IMFC vs #DCU

The Impact hosted DC United on Saturday night and while this match up should have been at the advantage of the Impact, newcomer to DC United Wayne Rooney was all the talk. The former Manchester United man drew a lot of interest from Montreal soccer fans in the week prior to the game and was likely in the preparation of the club as well.

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Within the first fifteen minutes of the game things looked very promising. In the fifth minute, Taider made a nice run down the left before passing the ball to Piatti at the top of the box. Piatti tried his luck but his shot was blocked. Luckily for the Impact, Mancosu the blocked shot landed directly at his feet and he found himself alone in front of the goal. He took a powerful strike giving the Bleu-Blanc-Noir an early lead. Great moment for Mancosu, as he now finds himself with two goals in his last three games.

Not two minutes later, Silva looked like he would double the lead of the home team. He broke a few ankles at the top right of the box before trying to curl the ball to the far post. He unfortunately couldn’t get the ball to curl enough and it hit the post before going out of bounds.

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After their early dominance, the Impact suffered a little pressure. At three occasions, DC threatened to tie up the game. Their first chance coming in the 18th minute when Bush made one of his many big saves of the game. Only a few minutes later, off a free kick from close to center field, the crossbar came to the rescue after the ball was shot on net from DC. Shortly after that, Piette was victim to somewhat of a poor decision when his header landed at the feet of Asad who managed a powerful volley but again Bush came up with a big save.

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The Impact managed to gain a little momentum before the end of the half. Taider, in the 31st minute launched a rocket from outside the box that rang off the crossbar.

In the 70th minute, DC managed to get the tie off a cross from close in. Bush had little to no chance to get to it. It wouldn’t be an MLS game without a little scandal. A lot of talk is coming off this sequence as it seems the whole play originated from a hand ball from Fisher from DC United.

In the 77th minute, Krolicki almost got his first goal of the season. After a Taider free kick hit the post. Krolicki made an attempt for the ball given that he was already on the floor even at full extension he was unable to get enough power on his shot.

The reoccurring element from this game was crossbars and posts. Both the Impact and DC United were victims of being able to beat the keeper but not the post.

3 Observations

Showing Up to Every Minute of Every Game: What is unfortunate overall of this game, and was most likely on Garde’s mind given the way he looked after the game, was the Impact let this one slip away. The Impact came out of the gate full force and showed they could easily be too much too handle for DC. After their fifteen minute dominance they let go and got too comfortable with the ball, allowing their opponent to gain momentum and ultimately take over the game.

Getting Noticed: In the past few games one thing is becoming evident, teams are noticing Piette. He is most likely finding himself on the plan of other teams and they see the importance in limiting his space; one thing that was very obvious with DC United. While it is exciting to see Piette finally getting the attention he deserves, he will need to find ways to liberate himself or other players will need to help him out; a little how Silva is helping free up some space for Piatti and vice versa.

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Keeper of the Year: Bush is definitely making a case for himself this season. In the game against DC he crossed the 100 save margin for the 2018 season. After a harder season last year, it was obvious that Bush had to step up his game. Another possible factor to his resurgence is that the Impact have four keepers on their roster giving them the option to change it up if things aren’t going well. Obviously the addition of Joël Bats is one Bush has benefited a lot from but it cannot be said enough that Bush not only kept his team in this game but in many this season. Leading the MLS in saves and shutouts this season, he is making a case to be goalkeeper of the year in the MLS this season.

Side note: not every day you see a goalkeeper change uniform mid game.

Lineup

MTL – GK-Evan Bush; D-Michael Petrasso, Rudy Camacho, Rod Fanni, Jukka Raitala; M-Samuel Piette, Ken Krolicki (Jeisson Vargas 82’), Saphir Taïder; F- Ignacio Piatti, Matteo Mancosu (Anthony Jackson-Hamel 78’), Alejandro Silva

Subs not used – Clément Diop, Victor Cabrera, Mathieu Choinière, Shamit Shome

VAN – GK-David Ousted; D-Oniel Fisher, Kofi Opare, Steve Birnbaum, Joseph Mora; M-Russell Canouse (Christopher Durkin 90 + 3’). Zoltan Stieber (Paul Arriola 67’), Junior Moreno, Luciano Acosta, Yamil Asad; F-Wayne Rooney

Subs not used – Ulises Segura, Frederic Brillant, Chris Odoi-Astem, Travis Worra, Darren Mattocks

GOAL

MTL – Mancosu 5’

DC - Asad (Acosta) 70’

CAUTIONS

MTL -Piatti 2’

DC - Canouse 75’

DC - Birnbaum 78’