Photo by ISIPhotos.com
By RYAN TOLMICH
Just weeks after the two teams swapped young forwards, the Montreal Impact picked up their first win of the season with a 1-0 victory over the Philadelphia Union at Stade Saputo.
The game’s lone goal came from the foot of Brazilian midfielder Felipe in the 15th minute. A Union turnover in the midfield saw the ball fall to Patrice Bernier, who took a few touches before firing at Zac MacMath’s net. The Union keeper attempted to hold on to the shot, but the ball squirted away to an oncoming Felipe, who easily tapped home to give the Impact a 1-0 early lead.
From there, the two teams played a tough, physical game that saw five yellow cards issued on the afternoon. The Union had their fair share of chances, earning nine corners throughout the game. However, only five of the Union’s 17 shots were on target and they were unable to find the equalizing goal.
The Union’s best chance of the afternoon came just minutes before the final whistle when a Vincent Noguiera cross found the head of substitute Antoine Hoppenot a few yards from goal. However, the Frenchman headed over the bar, allowing the Impact to effectively kill off the game’s remaining time.
Both Andrew Wenger and Jack McInerney started against their former clubs just weeks after being swapped. In the end, it was McInerney’s Impact who held on to the three points, despite Wenger having four shots on the afternoon.
With the victory, the Impact pick up their first win of the season, giving them nine points on the year. The Union, on the other hand, stay on eight points with the loss.
The Impact will enjoy a week off before attempting to pick up back-to-back victories on May 10 when the host Sporting KC. Meanwhile, Philadelphia heads to Seattle next week to take on the streaking Sounders.
Here are the match highlights:
Hackworth needs to be fired simply for the starting 11 he put on the field. 5-6 better players were on the bench. I’m a season ticket holde and I’ve had enough. This team should be better.
The Union FO can not continually ignore the incompetence of John Hackworth. They are hopefully in the process of putting together a list of “Professional” managers to replace this feckless wanna be by the end of this season. I wish it could be sooner. I hope they bring in someone who has played the game as has a real soccer IQ and pedigree. I will agree that some of the players (except for Noguiera) are real slackers, but some are not skilled enough to even be in MLS. Hackworth has lost all credibility with the fan base and his players are not responding to him. He is not a professional coach. He is an assistant coach and nothing more. His weekly press conferences are nothing but tired cliches and talking points. The media who cover him need to turn up the heat when asking questions. It’s bad enough that he was booed off of the PPL pitch last week, but this most recent lineup was a joke. Hackworth needs to go!
This team has all the necessary parts to be in the top 3. What they are missing is 90+ min of mental sharpness from all 11 starters and a coach who knows how to make that happen, let alone make tactical choices that make sense. What I saw yesterday, and what I have seen pretty much all season since their home opener, is a group of talented guys who have been told to play in a 4-3-3 and are pretty much then left to their own devices. Granted I haven’t seen a minute of training, but there is no chemistry and in the past three matches there has been no belief and no killer instinct on this team. Time may take care of the first problem, but leadership needs to address the second.
This side needs a new coach.
Oh my goodness if you think Fabhino is the source of this team’s woes and you are a representative sample of the Union fan IQ it’s little wonder that Hackworth still has a job.
i knew we were in trouble when fabinho was starting. he should be a bench player or not on our team