MONTREAL, Quebec – The Montreal Impact was victorious over the New England Revolution by a 2-1 score (halftime 1-1) on Wednesday night, at Stade Saputo. Patrice Bernier and Sanna Nyassi scored in the second straight win at home.
The Impact opened the scoring in the 28th minute when midfielder Patrice Bernier put away a penalty shot. Bernier, who scored his team leading 6th of the season, scored on the third shot after he was forced to called back his first two conversions due to minor infringements. The Impact scored its seventh goal on penalty kick, with Bernier converting his fourth of the year.
The Revs tied it up in the 44th minute when midfielder Lee Nguyen fired a right-footed shot from about 40 yards out midfield. The shot bounced off the crossbar, ricocheted off of Ricketts as he was falling to the ground, and rolled into the net.
The home side then took back the lead in the 68th minute when Justin Mapp played a cross from deep down the left flank to the second post finding midfielder Sanna Nyassi at the six-yard box. Nyassi, who made his return to the lineup after serving a one-game suspension following an accumulation of five cautions, one-timed the ball with his right foot. Defender Dennis Iapichino, making his first start in an Impact uniform, earned his first assist in MLS.
Post-game comments
“Our response to giving up that late goal in the first half tonight was good,” said Impact head coach Jesse Marsch. “We were all about being hard to play against and defending. Our team stayed focused, didn’t feel sorry for them and responded very well in the second half. We have let a lot of points slip away lately. There was a confidence on the field tonight. There was no panic.”
“We played a pretty good first half,” said defender Dennis Iapichino, who joined the Impact last Wednesday. “Even in the second, you can’t say that we let up. We played a simple game. Their goal was a little lucky. But once we scored the second goal, we played well defensively.”
“We came into the locker room and that wasn’t a sense of feeling sorry for ourselves or here we go again at half time,” said Impact captain Davy Arnaud. “We are really pleased about tonight, but now we got a quick turnaround with Houston Saturday night.”
Other highlights
The Impact had its first real scoring chance in the fifth minute when forward Marco Di Vaio lined up a free kick from 35 yards out, left post. His kick curled around the wall and forced the Revolution’s goalkeeper, Matt Reis, into a diving save to his right.
Nyassi tried his luck from a similar distance a couple of minutes later. His attempt from the other side of goal forced Reis into an identical save towards his right, low post. The Gambian forward, who was named the Videotron Player of the Game, faced his twin brother for the third time in their MLS careers when Sainey Nyassi entered the game as a 79th minute substitute.
Impact goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts came up with a key stop in the 37th minute when Revs forward Saer Sene won a long ball battle with an Impact defender, and fired a left-footed shot from the top of the box.
Upcoming matches
Following Wednesday’s game, the club will travel to Texas to face off against Brian Ching, Andre Hainault and the Houston Dynamo on Saturday, at 8:30pm. The game will be broadcast live on TVA Sports and will be available on MLS Live, illico web and illico mobile.
The Impact then returns home to take on Olympique Lyonnais in an international matchup on Tuesday, July 24, at Stade Saputo, at 7:30pm. Tickets for that game are $25 or less and are available through the Admission Network or the Impact ticket offices. Hot dogs will be available for only $1 from 6 to 7:30pm.
Group packages, as well as 3 or 6 game partial plans are available for the 2012 season by calling 514-328-3668.
The Impact U21 team will host Brampton City United, Saturday at the College St-Jean-Vianney Sports Complex. Admission is free. On the next day, the Impact U21 embarks on a tour of France to play games against the reserve sides of first division clubs from Ligue 1; returning on August 3.
Highlights : MTL 2, NE 1
Lineups
MTL: GK– Donovan Ricketts; D – Dennis Iapichino (Zarek Valentin 70’), Shavar Thomas, Hassoun Camara, Jeb Brovsky; M – Sanna Nyassi, Felipe, Patrice Bernier, Davy Arnaud, Justin Mapp (Collen Warner 80’); F – Marco Di Vaio (Eduardo Sebrango 89’)
Subs not used: GK – Evan Bush; D - Karl W. Ouimette; M – Sinisa Ubiparipovic, Lamar Neagle;
NE: GK - Matt Reis; D - Kevin Alston, Darrius Barnes, A.J. Soares, Chris Tierney; M - Kelyn Rowe (Fernando Cardenas 79’), Clyde Simms (Blake Brettschneider 65’), Benny Feilhaber, Lee Nguyen; F - Saer Sene (Sainey Nyassi 79’), Ryan Guy
Subs not used: GK - Bobby Shuttleworth; D - Florian Lechner; F - Jose Moreno, Diego Fagundez
GOALS:
MTL – Bernier 28’
NE – Nguyen (Rowe) 44’
MTL – Nyassi (Mapp, Iapichino) 67’
CAUTION:
NE - Nguyen 39’
