MONTREAL - The Montreal Impact rallied from a two-goal deficit to tie the Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2-2, Wednesday at Stade Saputo, in the first leg of the Amway Canadian Championship finals aggregate goal series.
“We got into some good spots in the final third, but then we were a little bit too predictable,” said Impact head coach Frank Klopas. “I was very happy to see us keep pushing. We gave ourselves an opportunity now. 2-0 would have been a disaster, so we still have everything to play for.”
“I have confidence. If we play the way we played tonight, we can win,” said defender Wandrille Lefèvre. “It was important to find some goals and be rewarded for the good work we did in creating plays.”
Vancouver’s Darren Mattocks scored the opening goal in the 65th minute when he finished a perfectly placed low cross through the box by Kianz Froese far post.
Things looked bleak when the ‘Caps went up by two in the 72nd minute. Pedro Morales curled a tough angle free kick past Impact goalkeeper Eric Kronberg short side, who collided with the post as he tried to make the stop.
The Bleu-blanc-noir kept pushing, and in the 84th minute, found one when a Marco Donadel corner kick hit a charging Laurent Ciman, who pounded his header home just under the bar.
One minute later, second half substitutes Justin Mapp, making his first start since March 7, and Anthony Jackson-Hamel, linked up to tie the game when the veteran played a cheeky lateral ball through the box for the rookie, who redirected it first time for his first career goal.
“You obviously don’t want to give up two goals at home, but we never hung our heads,” said Justin Mapp. “Now we can go there and we have given ourselves a chance to do what we’ve already done before.”
Other highlights
IMFC found its first scoring chance just three minutes in when a beautiful passing play between Duka, Oduro and Venegas found Tissot alone down the left flank, but his low shot hit the far post. Moments later, the Canadian international got on the end of a Donadel free kick played short post, but redirected it over the bar.
Anthony Jackson-Hamel almost brokethrough earlier in the game when he found some room in the 76th minute, but his low blast from in close was blocked by goalkeeper Paolo Tornaghi.
The return and final match of this year’s championship will air live on Wednesday, August 26, at 10pm ET on Sportsnet One, Sportsnet World and TVA Sports. But before that, the Impact will host the Philadelphia Union at Stade Saputo on August 22, at 8pm (tickets).
LINEUPS
MTL – GK-Eric Kronberg; D-Ambroise Oyongo, Wandrille Lefèvre, Laurent Ciman, Donny Toia; M-Marco Donadel, Nigel Reo-Coker (Anthony Jackson-Hamel 69’), Dilly Duka (Andrés Romero 77’), Johan Venegas, Maxim Tissot (Justin Mapp 61’); F-Dominic Oduro
Subs not used: GK-Evan Bush; D-Eric Miller; M-Calum Mallace, Eric Alexander
VAN – GK-Paolo Tornaghi; D-Diego Rodriguez (Christian Dean 46’), Jordan Harvey, Kendall Waston, Tim Parker; M-Deybi Flores, Kianz Froese (Kekuta Manneh 88’) , Matias Laba (Gershon Koffie 68’), Pedro Morales, Russell Teibert; F-Darren Mattocks
Subs not used: GK-David Ousted; A-Cristian Techera, Octavio Rivero, Robert Earnshaw
GOALS
VAN – Mattocks (Froese) 65’
VAN – Morales 72’
MTL – Ciman (Donadel) 84’
MTL – Jackson-Hamel (Mapp) 85’
CAUTIONS
VAN – Waston 11’
VAN – Tornaghi 90+1’
