MONTREAL – The media covering the Montreal Impact weren’t going to take it for a second straight year. Against a suite holders team, the media team came out of the game with a 5-3 win, this Thursday in a sweltering Stade Saputo in front of a near-sellout crowd of eight.
Andy Mailly-Pressoir, of V Télé, Vincent Destouches (twice), of TVA Sports, Arcadio Marcuzzi, of 98,5 Sports, and Réginald Joseph, of KAN FC, scored for the media. Frédéric Bergeron, Franck Ngandui and Lloyd Barker (who coached his team at first but ended up on the field anyway) replied for the suite holders, who have nothing to be ashamed for – except for how their sports bag is going to smell.
“We hadn’t forgotten our loss from last year,” said Vincent Destouches. “It was still somewhere in our mind, and it drove us in the locker room, and it showed in the coach’s speech. We wanted to restore our honour, and we started that game wanting to jump right at their throats.”
“We felt that thirst for revenge on every ball,” said Nicolas St-Cyr. “This was CONCACAF-level refereeing. There’s nothing left to add. But in all seriousness, the game was played in good spirits.”
“I am just glad that we redeemed ourselves after last year, when we pretty much embarrassed ourselves,” said Kelly Greig of Global Montreal. “It felt good to get that one back. I will not give away all of our secrets, but there was some talk of who would pay the bills.”
A rough, but good-humoured, confrontation
The two powerhouses (!) in opposition made their way to Stade Saputo late on Thursday afternoon, welcomed by a raucous crowd made up of Impact employees casually leaving the club offices after a good day’s work.
After the (laborious, for some) warmups brilliantly led by Maxime Oliveri and Benjamin Hamez, educators at the Montreal Impact Soccer Schools, and a national anthem that was beautifully respected by all (except for Émilie Duquette, who was struggling to stay still), referee Serge Topalian signalled the beginning of this fight to the death in awful, awful heat.
From the start, the media’s 4-Patrick Leduc-2-3 formation seemed to surprise the suite holders, who conceded the first great chance of the encounter in the eighth minute. Leduc spotted a run by Andy Mailly-Presssoir down the middle and fed him the ball behind the defence, but goalkeeper Jordan Tisseur did well to concede a corner kick rather than a goal.
Some teams are set up in a low or medium block. The media’s defensive line, however, was downright suicidal, and Bergeron made them pay in the 11th minute, when he beat goalkeeper Charles Desrochers in a 1-v-1.
Set plays then came to the media’s rescue in the 15th minute. After a short corner by Réginald Joseph, Duquette provided an excellent cross at the far post, where Mailly-Pressoir applied the finish to pull the media level.
Oops, Duquette did it again a minute later. On a transition down the right, Duquette ran into the penalty area and played a cutback for Vincent Destouches, who scored with his first touch (because of course) for the first media lead in over a year.
Suite holders nearly made it 2-2 in the, well, 22nd minute. Impact EVP Richard Legendre pulled off his finest moves by the corner flag and cut the ball back to Shaun-Simon Langlois, whose shot landed in the East Stand.
Back from the break – which the players loved –, the media made it 3-1. Destouches, again, nodded home a corner taken by Leduc to increase the lead.
Marcuzzi scored another for the media in the 41st minute, lobbing goalkeeper Tisseur from the right side of the box. Marcuzzi then picked the ball up and slid it under his jersey, celebrating his girlfriend’s – or his own? – pregnancy.
But the suite holders weren’t done. In the 43rd minute, Ngandui scored his team’s second on a shot from distance that goalkeeper Desrochers didn’t seem to be expecting (unlike Marcuzzi – see what we did here?).
The media’s fifth goal, albeit spectacular, was an absolute travesty. While Joseph did score on a fine run down the middle in the 48th minute, he bumped Christine Roger over on his way, which for us was a display of terrible team spirit. A travesty.
The suite holders finally, finally got a call in their favour in second-half stoppage-time, a well-placed free kick. A traitor, Lloyd Barker from The Gazette, took it quickly to make it 5-3 and put an exclamation mark on this odd evening.
LINEUPS
MEDIA –
Réginald Joseph (KAN FC), Simon René (91,9 Sport), Arcadio Marcuzzi (98,5 Sports), Nicolas Landry (RDS.ca), Jeremy Filosa (98,5 Sports), Eric Bolte (USA Today Sports), Pablo Ortiz (Noticias Montréal), Éric Leblanc (RDS), Meeker Guerrier (91,9 Sport), Kelly Greig (Global),
Patrick
Patrice
Patrick Leduc (RDS), Andy Mailly-Pressoir (V Télé), Vincent Destouches (TVA Sports), Sean Farrell (MLSsoccer.com), Gianni Cristiano (CFMB 1280AM), Émilie Duquette (RDS), Christine Roger (Cogeco Media), François-Étienne Corbin (RDS), Sébastien Templier (La Presse), Charles Desrochers (Impact U18) – coaches: Hassoun Camara, Marco Luciani (CFMB 1280AM)
SUITES – Shaun-Simon Langlois, Philippe Trudelle, Patrick Mercier, Fabio Siconolfi, Fabien Boitard, Frédéric Bergeron, Stéphane Morin, Martin Caron, Nicolas St-Cyr, George E. Simundic, Luc St-Cyr, Franco Falbo, Franck Ngandui, Vince Rossi, Thierry Lindor, Michel Lavigne, Éric Thibault, Alexandre Kénol, Richard Legendre, Mathieu Carrier, Jordan Tisseur (Impact U16) – coaches: Dominic Oduro, Lloyd Barker (The Gazette)
GOALS
SUITES – Bergeron 11’
MEDIA – Mailly-Pressoir (Duquette, Joseph) 15’
MEDIA – Destouches (Duquette) 16’
MEDIA – Destouches (Leduc) 34’
MEDIA – Marcuzzi 41’
SUITES – Ngandui 43’
MEDIA – Joseph 48’
SUITES – Barker 60’ + 1’ (PEN)
CAUTIONS
None, somehow
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
MEDIA – Vincent Destouches
SUITES – Nicolas St-Cyr
