MONTREAL – A deflection spoiled what was a great performance by Marco Di Vaio and his teammates Saturday afternoon as the Montreal Impact played the New England Revolution to a 2-2 draw, with both goals coming off of the foot of the Impact’s first ever Designated Player.
“I told him we wanted to sign him for three more years,” said head coach Frank Klopas about the Italian striker’s performance. “It was great to see him tonight. We talked about the last two games and finishing strong and getting a win for Marco. It was great seeing him play tonight. It reminded me of Marco Di Vaio 20 years ago.”
Grande Di Vaio did what he does best in the first half, finding the back of the net in the 12th minute and then again in the 40th.
Midfielder Calum Mallace sent a long ball over the Revs backline that found Di Vaio on stride and he made no mistake, one-timing it off the bounce short side for his first of the game.
“As soon as I played that and I saw the offside flag stay down, I knew he was going to put it away,” explained Mallace. “It was another classic Di Vaio finish, which was just world class.”
His second came off of another nice feed, this time by Andrés Romero in the 39th minute. The Argentine played a cross from the left flank that was a little behind the Italian striker. Faking a move to back up towards the ball, Di Vaio let it roll past his feet to get a step on the Revs defender and lunged to put the ball opposite post.
“I am happy with my performance, not only for myself but for the team,” said Di Vaio. “We had some good opportunities in the first half and we shut down a lot of their game. I gave it my all every time I went out on the field today, so I’m happy.”
The Revs tied it up at one when a give and go at the top of 18 yard box between Kelyn Rowe and Charlie Davis put Rowe in alone on goal, placing it low to the left of goal in the 16th minute.
It looked as though IMFC would play this one out to a win, neutralizing the Revs most dynamic offensive weapon in Lee Nguyen, but the MVP candidate got a lucky one when his 69th minute shot deflected off of a foot and soared over Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush.
The bleu-blanc-noir almost found a third goal in the 52nd minute when Romero played a streaking Justin Mapp with a long ball over the Revs defence. Alone on goal, the American was stopped when Revs keeper Bobby Shuttleworth came charging out and stopped the low attempt with his feet.
The Impact travels to Toronto this week to take on Toronto FC this Saturday, October 18, at BMO Field, at 2pm EDT.
Lineups
MTL – GK-Evan Bush; D-Hassoun Camara, Heath Pearce, Matteo Ferrari, Krzysztof Krol; M-Calum Mallace, Felipe (Patrice Bernier 77’), Andrés Romero, Dilly Duka (Jack McInerney 72’), Justin Mapp (Maxim Tissot 65’); F-Marco Di Vaio
Subs not used: GK-Maxime Crépeau; D-Futty Danso, Wandrille Lefèvre; M-Gorka Larrea
NE – GK-Bobby Shuttleworth; D-Jose Goncalves, Kevin Alston, A.J. Soares, Chris Tierney; M-Daigo Kobayashi (Scott Caldwell 56’), Jermaine Jones, Teal Bunbury (Diego Fagundez 61’), Lee Nguyen, Kelyn Rowe; F-Charlie Davies (Patrick Mullins 79’)
Subs not used: GK-Brad Knighton; D-Darrius Barnes; M-Steve Neumann; F-Tony Taylor
Goals
MTL – Di Vaio (Mallace) 12’
NE – Rowe (Davies) 16’
MTL – Di Vaio (Romero) 39’
NE – Nguyen (Caldwell) 69’
Caution
NE – Jones 47’
