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Impact continue strong home form, topples Union at Stade Saputo

Felipe Martens

By BRYAN ROBISON

One pattern had to end on Saturday night, as the Montreal Impact welcomed fellow Eastern Conference foe Philadelphia Union to Saputo Stadium for the first time. The Impact, winners of their last three home matches, faced off against the Union, winners of three of their last four. The Canadian club was able to successfully continue defending their home turf, taking out Philadelphia 2-0 in a physical match that saw both teams fall to ten men during the match.

After stunning the New York Red Bulls last Saturday, Montreal continued their dominance inside their home stadium, improving their record to 6-2 inside Saputo Stadium.

The match began with the Union taking charge, as they held possession for much of the first half. They nearly capitalized early with a Jack McInerney back heel in the 5th minute, but it was called offsides. Fifteen minutes later, Union defender Carlos Valdes made a full-field run into the Impact box, setting up Lionard Pajoy for a shot, but the Colombian forward knocked the ball off the post.

But just before the break, Impact rookie Andrew Wenger created another play to add to his strong first year campaign as he knocked in a header in the 43rd minute. The goal, Wenger's fourth on the year, was the MLS 2012 Superdraft first overall pick's first goal since June 16th, as he had been dealing with a hamstring injury for the last two months.

The second half saw more action, as Montreal looked to close the game out. The match got out of hand, though, as Nelson Rivas headbutted Union Forward Antoine Hoppenot after both fell to the ground in the 68th minute. Rivas sprung up and lunged forward, headbutting Hoppenot, and starting an immediate scuffle between the two clubs. Union forward Jack McInerney shoved Rivas to the ground in retatliation, causing the referee to show both a red card, and dropping both teams to ten men.

After the break in action, Montreal continued their solid play, finishing the match off with a goal of the week candidate by Felipe Martins in the 78th minute. The Brazilian scissor kicked a Hassoun Camara cross inside the box to put the Impact up 2-0 and put the game in hand.

With the win, the Impact now stand just five points out of the playoff chase, as Montreal will look to continue their play against teams alongside I-95, traveling to Gillette Stadium to take on the New England Revolution next Sunday. Meanwhile, Philadelphia will return home to take on the Chicago Fire.

Here are the match's highlights:

 

What did you think of the match? Think the referee made a mistake on McInerney's red card? See the Impact making the playoffs? See the Union making a serious playoff push?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. OK:
    Impact continue strong home form, topple Union at Stade Saputo
    Impact continues strong home form, topples Union at Stade Saputo

    NOT OK:
    Impact continue strong home form, topples Union at Stade Saputo

    Reply
  2. I agree with your assessment of Freddie. He seems to think he’ll get style points for the way he moves the ball around before passing. Then, most of the time, the pass is off target. It’s like the game action stops to watch his ballet. I used to like him, especially when he played for DC United. Now he seems like a beautifully carved square peg in a round hole.

    Reply
  3. It doesn’t seem like it was just Freddy not being passed the ball. When he did have it, he pretty consistently turned the ball over because of his insane habit of dribbling to nowhere or flicking an errant pass. There’s no doubt at this point that he’s a drag on this team and, at the very least, cannot start. Torres back to health cannot come too soon.

    That aside, the Union may very well have played the better game overall. And a 2-0 decision was very unlucky; chalk it up to cosmic retribution for a few things going their way the last few games.

    And Rivas — what a punk. I hope the Union appeal JackMac’s suspension; that was a yellow, at very worst.

    Reply
  4. Freddy may have something to offer but at $400,000-500,000 it ain’t worth it. Same story with this guy everywhere he goes. All the potential in the world and same results. Look at mls salaries- this guys a waste of resources.

    Reply
  5. Adu was not in the game, chiefly because he was rarely passed the ball by his team mates, especially in the first half. That boy is heading for trouble.

    While the coach and the team are doing a good job overall, the Freddy issue is going to sink the team and the coach unless Freddy is traded or gets better integrated with the rest of the team. Such a shame. Freddy has a lot to offer.

    Reply
  6. Couple thoughts:

    Union were very unlucky in this one. If not for the strong play of Donovan Ricketts, they could have put 2, maybe 3 away.

    The 2nd goal from the Impact was class…

    Unfortunately, the rest of the impacts play and attitude were far from class. This game was extremely chippy and red carding Jack Mac was a mistake in my opinion. Yellow I could live with, but a Red when a 5 foot nothing 150 lber “shoves to the ground” a beast centerback. Piss poor.

    Reply

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