ORLANDO, Florida – In its second game of the Disney Pro Classic, the Impact lost 3-0 against the New York Red Bulls, Saturday night, at the ESPN Wide World of Sports.
New York opened the scoring in the last minute of the first half, when defender Roy Miller chipped goalkeeper Evan Bush inside the box, following a pass from Thierry Henry. Bush started his first preseason game this year.
The Red Bulls doubled their lead in the 68th minute, on a powerful shot from 35 meters by midfielder Ruben Rover in the top corner.
A minute later, forward Andre Akpan came rushing towards Bush on a 2-v-1 and passed the ball to his teammate Bradley Wright-Philips who had the easy task of scoring into an open net.
Marco Di Vaio had a few scoring chances in the first half for the Impact, the best one coming in the 14th minute. Following a long ball from Hernan Bernardello, the Italian striker dribbled alone towards goalkeeper Luis Robles on the left flank, but his shot missed the target by a few inches.
In the 55th minute, Felipe came close to tying the game when his free kick from just outside the box went over the wall and bounced off the crossbar.
Defender Hassoun Camara had to leave the game in the 4th minute for preventive measure, and was replaced by Calum Mallace.
In its tournament opener, the Impact had shut out Fluminense FC U23 1-0 on Wednesday.
The Impact’s final game of the group stage will be against Kansas City on Wednesday at 8pm. The championship game is set for Saturday, March 1.
Post-game comments
“I think that we started the game very well. In the first 30 minutes we created chances and played well defensively, “said head coach Frank Klopas. Maybe some decisions we took at some moments were not the best but hopefully we can learn from it in pre-season. I saw a lot of good thinks and I see the improvements. “
“Of course we wanted to get the win tonight because we play in a tournament but the main objective is to keep improving and be ready in a couple weeks,” said midfielder Justin Mapp. “We played good soccer with a few chances in the first half so it was not negative despite the score. We had good movement but unfortunately we did not find the back of the net.”
“Our fitness is still coming but we saw a few tired legs tonight,” said midfielder Collen Warner, who played the full 90 minutes. “There are a lot of positives tonight. We were dangerous on the counterattacks and created chances with our speed. Going forward we need to finish our opportunities. Giving two fast goals is a good experience to have at this time of the year.”
Lineups
MTL – GL-Evan Bush, D-Hassoun Camara (Calum Mallace 4’), Wandrille Lefèvre, Matteo Ferrari, Eric Miller (Maxim Tissot 73’); M-Collen Warner, Hernan Bernardello (Patrice Bernier 70’), Justin Mapp (Victor Ndiaye* 63’), Felipe (Santiago Gonzalez 72’), Andrés Romero (Sanna Nyassi 46’); F-Marco Di Vaio (Andrew Wenger 63’)
Impact U23
NY – GK-Luis Robles (Ryan Meara 46’), Richard Eckersley (Kosuke Kimura 46’), Jamison Olave (Armando 63’), Ibrahim Sekagya (Matt Miazga 63’), Roy Miller (Ambroise Oyongo 65’); M-Eric Alexander (Lloyd Sam 65’), Dax McCarty (Ruben Bover 63’), Peguy Luyindula (Michael Bustamante 63’), Jonny Steele (Eric Stevenson* 65’), Tim Cahill (Andre Akpan 68’); F-Thierry Henry (Bradley Wright-Phillips 68’)
*Guest players
Goals
NY – Miller 45’
NY – Bover (Henry) 68’
NY – Wright-Phillips (Akpan) 69’
Cautions
MTL – Warner 35’
MTL – Romero 42’
NY – McCarty 49’
MTL – Bernardello 50’
