With road win, Impact is the hottest club in MLS
Prior to the Impact’s game in Columbus last Saturday night, Sept. 8, 2013 was infamously known as the day Montreal won its last Major League Soccer road game, in Washington.
That date has now been replaced by June 6, 2015. And in a strange coincidence, that’s also a day all three Canadian MLS teams (including Vancouver and Toronto) won on the road. That also hadn’t happened since 2013. The Canadian women’s team also beat China 1-0 on the same day with an injury-time penalty scored by captain Christine Sinclair in World Cup group play in Edmonton. It’s a fair assumption the soccer god was wearing a Canadian jersey last Saturday.
Here are my pros and cons from the Impact’s stress-relieving 2-1 victory over Columbus.
Pro: The win snapped a muchdiscussed 26-game winless streak on the road (0-19-7) and, all of a sudden, the Impact has become the hottest team in MLS. No other team in the league has picked up more points in its last five games than the Impact, which has earned 12 points from a possible 15 with a 4-1-0 record. The Impact has played the fewest games in the league (10), and trails only D.C. United (1.75) and Toronto FC (1.58) in points earned per game in the Eastern Conference with 1.4.
Con: Fresh off a red-card suspension, midfielder Marco Donadel will immediately head back to the sideline to serve another one-match ban for an accumulation of five yellow cards. Donadel was booked in the 75th minute for a blatant two-hand shove on Crew captain Michael Parkhurst as they jockeyed for position in the wall. It was the Italian’s sixth card — five yellows and one red — in six MLS starts and he is the runaway league leader in cards per minutes played (420). Remarkably, Donadel has picked up the six cards from only 13 total fouls committed in those six games.
Pro: Entering the contest, the Crew was winless in its last four matches and tied for the secondmost goals conceded in MLS with 20. The Impact took full advantage of the out-of-form host team. Coach Frank Klopas instructed Ignacio Piatti to play higher up the pitch as a second striker alongside Jack McInerney in a move that proved effective. Additionally, Klopas made a bold decision and promoted Piatti to captain for the day ahead of regular vice-captain Nigel Reo-Coker. Both McInerney and Piatti threatened the Crew’s goal fairly regularly, but it was the duo’s noticeable increase in overall defensive contribution that caught my eye. In fact, it’s become a frequent occurrence for McInerney to make at least one crucial defensive play to save a goal, just as he did in the 76th minute on Federico Higuain’s goal-bound free-kick.
Con: Two of the three Impact substitutions made little sense. When Calum Mallace came on for Eric Alexander in the 68th minute, it should have been Donadel coming off instead. Not only would Donadel have avoided being booked and suspended, he would never have been in a position to frustratingly request a change only 10 minutes later in the 78th minute, as he plainly did. When Patrice Bernier came on the pitch in the 80th minute, either McInerney or Piatti should have been withdrawn with the score at 2-0 and the job done offensively. Why continue with two strikers?
Pro: The Impact played a risky, yet well calculated defensive game. Klopas instructed the troops to apply high pressure, which enabled the club to win the ball in advanced areas of the pitch. The approach was aggressive, but it disrupted the Crew’s usual buildup play and limited its main playmaker, Higuain, at least until the 91st minute. Both Donadel and Alexander recovered a fair share of balls in midfield, which led to quick counter attacks and meaningful possession.
Con: Even though it was a late 91st-minute marker, I doubt anyone was surprised that Columbus got on the scoresheet. Higuain was the benefactor of some sloppy Impact defending, though the likely candidate to beat Evan Bush was league goal-scoring leader Kei Kamara, who had more shots (10) than the entire Impact squad (9). Luckily for Montreal, Kamara only registered two shots on target. Surprisingly, Kamara exposed Montreal’s back line and its potential troubles dealing with aerial balls in the box.
Pro: When both your outside midfielders score, it’s a good day in terms of a balanced attack. Maxim Tissot was in the right place at the right time when he poked home McInerney’s rebound in the 55th minute. As for Andrés Romero, his well-taken 79th-minute goal was a reward for the tireless work he put into the match. On the back end, Impact goalkeeper Bush was called on to make a number of key saves, including a point-blank stop that denied a Waylon Francis header in the 44th minute. It should also be noted that Bush’s goal kicks, which had been problematic on occasion this season, were absolutely perfect against Columbus. In fact, it was Bush who started the sequence on Tissot’s goal with a perfectly played long diagonal ball to Romero out wide.
The hottest team in the league will hit the road again on Saturday to face New York City FC (7 p.m., TVA Sports 2, TSN Radio 690), except this time the Impact will travel with a renewed level of confidence.