STRUGGLING WITHOUT PIATTI
Impact shotless in loss to NYFC
You can’t win a game if you don’t score a goal and you can’t score if you don’t get any shots on target.
That describes what happened to the Impact on Saturday as they lost 2-0 to New York City FC in front of 16,961 fans at Saputo Stadium.
NYFC got two goals on the five shots they had on goalkeeper Evan Bush — Maximiliano Moralez scored in the sixth minute and Ismael Tajouri-Shradi in the 49th — while the Impact failed to get a single shot on NYFC goalkeeper Sean Johnson.
The Impact had won their first two games this season at Saputo Stadium and were unbeaten in their last eight home games (6-02) dating back to last season. The Impact hadn’t allowed a single goal against in their last four games at Saputo Stadium before Moralez opened the scoring Saturday.
The Impact saw their record fall to 5-4-2 and they are now in third place in the MLS Eastern Conference standings, three points behind D.C. United and the Philadelphia Union, who are both 6-3-2. D.C. United beat Columbus 3-1 Saturday, while Philadelphia beat New England 6-1.
This marked the eighth straight game the Impact had to play without star player Ignacio Piatti, who remains sidelined with a knee injury. The Impact are 3-3-2 without Piatti, scoring only five goals during that span. To highlight just how much Piatti means to the Impact, he remains tied for the team lead in goals with three, along with Saphir Taïder.
“We’ve missed our best player for a long time now,” coach Rémi Garde said. “We don’t have to forget that. It’s difficult.
“I have the feeling that we could have deserved one or two goals in that game,” Garde added. “I think Saphir had a very good opportunity in the first half. Orji also on the set pieces. It’s not like we didn’t create nothing. It’s a good team (NYFC). They played good football, but once again, I’m not so disappointed about the way my players fight on the field. They tried to do anything to score at least a goal to come back and for me once again when you have this attitude you can say: ‘OK, we tried to recover and we are ready to go to the next one.’ ”
The Impact’s next two games will be on the road when they play the New York Red Bulls on Wednesday (8 p.m., TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio) and FC Cincinnati on Saturday (1 p.m., TSN, TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio). The Impact’s next home game will be the following Saturday, May 18, against the New England Revolution (1 p.m., TVA Sports, TSN 690 Radio).
With 17 points, the Impact are eight points ahead of where they were last season after 11 games when they had a 3-8-0 record and ended up missing the playoffs by four points. But it’s becoming more obvious just how much Piatti means to the Impact after being named the club’s outstanding player in each of the last four seasons.
“Nacho is probably the best player on the team,” Impact defender Jukka Raitala said. “We really hope he can come back as soon as possible, but we still have a good enough team that we have showed that we have played some fantastic games. So it’s not all about that one player . ... I think it was a lack of aggressivity and sharpness today.”
At this point last season, it was starting to look like Garde might be lucky to survive his first season with the Impact, a team that has had five coaches since entering Major League Soccer in 2012. But he has been able to put his stamp on the team since then.
“We were pretty bad last year at this time,” Bush told TSN 690 Radio on Thursday. “But if we were to go through an extended period of the season last year without Nacho (Piatti), I think it would have been very difficult for us. But I think as we went through the season, it got toward the end of last season and then went to preseason this year, we really established more of a system and we had guys feeling more comfortable in their roles.
“Clearly, we’d like to have (Piatti) back,” the goalkeeper added. “He’s one of the top players in MLS and we’re a much more dangerous team with him on the field.”
That was never more apparent than in Saturday’s game.
“It’s on us mostly,” midfielder Micheal Azira said about the Impact’s failure to get a shot on goal. “They defended well in the midfield. Everything from us comes from the midfield ... they did well in the midfield. And even on the balls we crossed, they didn’t let us get anything on goal. I think it’s on us. We should be able to do better.
“It wasn’t good enough from everybody,” Azira added. “We had a few moments here and there, but it still wasn’t good enough. We need to pick it up from there and move on to the next game.”
And hope Piatti can return soon. scowan@postmedia.com
We had a few moments here and there, but it still wasn’t good enough. We need to pick it up.