EDMONTON, Alberta – The Montreal Impact opened the Amway Canadian Championship with a 2-1 road loss to FC Edmonton, at Clarke Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, in the first leg of the semi-final home and away aggregate goal series.
The return leg of the series is set for next Wednesday, May 14, at 7:30pm at Stade Saputo.
Get your tickets to the return leg on May 14 »
The Impact broke the goose egg in the 56th minute. Playing a free-kick from 35 yards out from left of goal, Patrice Bernier’ in-swinger found forward Jack McInerney near the far post, whose header beat the Eddies keeper John Smits from just outside the six-yard-box.
FC Edmonton tied it up when 17-year-old Canadian midfielder Hanson Boakai played a through ball behind the Impact defence right down the middle of the box that found Tomi Ameobi. The Eddies attacker first-timed a low shot inside the short post that beat Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush in the 60th minute.
The Eddies went up 2-1 in stoppage time thanks to forward Michael Nonni. Following a deep kick from FCE goalkeeper Smits, a misplaced back header was pounced on by Nonni who used one touch to round the keeper and slot home his second touch past Bush.
The best chance off the first half came off the foot of the Impact’s Calum Mallace in the 44th minute. A give-and-go between Bernier and McInerney near the top of the box resulted in a lateral pass by the Impact captain to Mallace along the 18-yard-box, but the Scottish-born midfielder’s shot went just right far side.
In the 53rd minute, Smith was played through to goal by Mallace, but his shot was knocked away as Eddies keeper John Smits charged the shooter. McInerney found the rebound as he beat two defenders to the ball in the air, but his header went off the crossbar.
Midfielder Blake Smith and goalkeeper Evan Bush made their first starts of the 2014 season, while midfielder Sanna Nyassi returned to the starting XI for the first time since an injury knocked him out of the season opener two months ago.
Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé, who plays with the Impact U23 team, took part in the match when he came in for Calum Mallace in the 86th minute.
In the other semi-final matchup played earlier Wednesday night, Toronto FC topped the Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2-1 at BMO Field.
Post-game comments
"It was a difficult match, with the surface and other factors, but both teams had to deal with it," said Impact head coach Frank Klopas. "We let in two unacceptable goals. We could have gone back home with a result, but now we have to regroup and take things one step at a time. There is still a game at home for us next Wednesday."
"It's obviously disappointing, especially to lose it on a simple mistake," said McInerney. "But the positive thing is that we have the second leg at home. We can score a couple of goals and put them away. We wanted to control the game a little more, but I don't think we transitioned from defence to offence well enough tonight.”
"We have to forget about this game, put it past us and focus on our next game," said Bernier. "They were good closing down the middle of the park. Now it's up to us to make sure we put it away in the next game. We have a tough game on Saturday against Kansas City, but we are playing at home, both Saturday and Wednesday, so we can build on that to get results."
Upcoming game
The Impact will look to avenge an earlier loss to Sporting Kansas City this Saturday, at Stade Saputo, at 4pm EDT in MLS action.
Lineups
MTL – GK-Evan Bush; D-Hassoun Camara, Karl W. Ouimette, Heath Pearce, Maxim Tissot; M-Calum Mallace (Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé* 86’), Patrice Bernier, Sanna Nyassi (Hernan Bernardello 69’), Collen Warner, Blake Smith (Santiago Gonzalez 74’); F-Jack McInerney
Subs not used: GK-Troy Perkins; D-Amine Meftouh; M-Victor Ndiaye; F-Anthony Jackson-Hamel
Impact U23
EDM – GK-John Smits; D-Albert Watson, Kareem Moses, Mallan Roberts, Lance Laing; M-Neil Hlavaty, Ritchie Jones, Hanson Boakai (Mike Banner 73’); F-Frank Jonke (Edem Mortosi 91’), Tomi Ameobi (Michael Nonni 80’), Daryl Fordyce
Subs not used: Horace James, Massimo Mirabelli, Connor James
Goals
MTL – McInerney (Bernier) 56’
EDM – Ameobi (Boakai) 60’
EDM – Nonni 90+1’
Cautions
MTL – Camara 41’
EDM – Jones 45’
EDM – Moses 56’
MTL – Pearce 82’
