Unusual day for Impact against the Red Bulls
Started soccer match a man down
Foreshadowing: An advance sign or warning of what is to come.
This occurred seconds before kickoff last Saturday when the referee ordered Justin Mapp off the field to change his socks. In the most unusual manner, Montreal started the match against the New York Red Bulls a man down, and that, my friends, was foreshadowing. It was not going to be the Impact’s day, and after an unusual beginning, it came to an unusual 4-0 defeat. Montreal was never in this contest, the scoreboard told an accurate story of the Red Bulls’ domination.
Here are my Pros and Cons from the match as the Montreal Impact prepares to face FC Dallas at Saputo Stadium on Saturday. Pros: When these two teams meet, there is great anticipation because of the quality of players on both teams. There were two World Cup winners on display in the match with Alessandro Nesta (Italy) and Thierry Henry (France). Red Bulls also boast Australian International Tim Cahill, who is headed to next year’s World Cup in Brazil.
Added to that are former top internationals: Matteo Ferrari and Marco Di Vaio (Italy), Peguy Luyindula (France) and Markus Holgersson (Sweden). Unfortunately for Montreal, their stars were out-shined by New York’s stars, but nonetheless the quality of the contest was high. Cons: This was, by far, Montreal’s worst defensive effort of the season. Red Bulls’ first goal in the 10th minute was an excellent one on their part. The sequence began with Henry pulling Nesta out of the back line and Henry’s ball wide to Eric Alexander found him 10 yards into Montreal’s half. Alexander effectively dribbled 50 yards untouched.
He eventually skipped past a cautious Matteo Ferrari, eluded a mistimed sliding tackle by Jeb Brovsky and a late recovering challenge by Nesta before tucking it far post past Troy Perkins.
At this stage, I can confident-ly say Thierry Henry owns the Impact. It’s now seven goals in four games for Henry against the Impact and he would have had another had he chosen to take his team’s late-awarded penalty. Did I mention his two assists? Montreal allowed Henry far too much time and space on the ball and he did virtually whatever he wanted on the day. Henry’s goal in the 16th minute highlighted Montreal’s defensive woes on the night, as they looked hesitant and off the pace the entire match.
Far too often Ferrari opted to usher in the man in possession as opposed to confronting him further away from goal. When it comes to Nesta, it’s a simple case of the legs can’t do what the brain tells them to do. Fullbacks Hassoun Camara and Brovsky weren’t much better. On New York’s third goal, Camara was timidly picked/ obstructed by Brandon Barklage, allowing Cahill a chance to head home unchallenged from six yards out.
Brovsky was the culprit on the fourth goal. After initially being dismissed by the slick and quick feet of substitute Lloyd Sam, Brovsky recovered only enough to clip the trailing leg of Sam and cause a penalty. If you’ve kept track, each member of the back four was directly responsible for at least one of the four goals scored against. Now that’s sharing the load. Pro: Welcome back Justin Mapp. One of Montreal’s most consistent players over the season, he had been out for nearly a month. Here’s hoping he can return to that previous form without delay. It turns out Montreal did in fact score a goal, but it was called back for offside. Marco Di Vaio scored a pretty header, but the referee’s assistant accurately flagged it offside as MDV was marginally ahead of the play. MDV and Patrice Bernier were able to pop off a couple of shots from distance that troubled Red Bulls’ goalkeeper Luis Robles, but they couldn’t beat him. Con: Captain Davy Arnaud, like Mapp, is playing his way back after injury and has yet to hit top form. Good to see both players back but, at the same time, Felipe missed the game to injury just as he was hitting top form. Not good! Arnaud and the other three midfielders gifted the home side space and time on the ball which made life so much more difficult in general as they chased and chased almost without purpose.
At times, it seemed like Montreal was playing a man or two down, as the opposition seemed able to get on the ball whenever and wherever they wanted. That put a lot of pressure on the back line. Coach Marco Schallibaum took notice and subbed off Andres Romero for Blake Smith only 35 minutes into the match. He was hoping to improve the defensive presence on the left side, but it made no difference. Pro: I suspect the old saying will apply here after this recent defeat: “When you lose, don’t lose the lesson.” With Schallibaum being a veteran manager, I expect the energy of the team will be better against FC Dallas, the team balance will return and so will the results. This is what good teams do and Montreal is a good team. Winless in four is misleading because there are two draws included. The Red Bulls game was a mid-season test that the Impact failed but get a chance to re-do on Saturday at home.