SANTA CLARA, California - The Montreal Impact fell to the San Jose Earthquakes 3-0 on Tuesday night, in its third of four matches in the group stage of the CONCACAF Champions League play, at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
With the loss, the Impact is tied with the Quakes at three points from three games played in CCL action, behind Guatemalan club CD Heredia who has two wins from two games played so far.
The Impact will play the fourth and last game of the group phase next Tuesday at 8pm at Stade Saputo against CD Heredia.
In a do-or-die matchup for the Earthquakes, San Jose found the game's opening goal in the 21st minute when a long throw by defender Dan Gargan found forward Steven Lenhart in the box. He flicked the ball towards goal with a header, finding fellow striker Chris Wondolowski making a run to the short post for the tap in.
The Quakes doubled its lead in the 57th minute following another long throw-in from Gargan into the box. The clearance attempt soared right towards San Jose midfielder Marvin Chavez. The Honduran fired a left-footed one-timer that slammed right underneath the cross bar from just outside the box.
With a man injured on the play, a poor clearance found midfielder Shea Salinas, who pushed the ball forward into the box, managed to slide the ball past Bush to the far to score the insurance goal in the 84th minute.
Post-game comments
"We had a pretty good performance, but we just couldn't find a way to score," said Impact head coach Marco Schallibaum. "Our attitude was good and we deserve better tonight. However, we knew that they were good on set pieces and we made a couple of mistakes that cost us. It's a difficult loss to swallow because we fought hard."
"We created enough chances in the first half where we could have tied the game or gone ahead, but we were not efficient enough around goal," said Patrice Bernier. "Then in the second half, we weren't as dangerous and they took advantage to double their lead. After that, the game opened up and they found a third goal."
Other highlights
Following a big stop by Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush in 7th minute off of a point blank header by Steven Lenhart, the Impact then created four good scoring chances.
Impact midfielder Justin Mapp found Andrew Wenger all alone in the box with a short lateral cross in the 9th minute, but the Impact forward's attempt was blocked after Quakes defender Jason Hernandez made a desperation slide.
In the 33rd minute, midfielder Patrice Bernier fired a free-kick around the wall from about 25 yards out, but Quakes keeper David Bingham made the save, diving to his right.
Midfielder Andres Romero stole the ball from San Jose midfielder Marvin Chavez in the 38th minute and charged towards goal from near the centre circle. After playing through Wenger down the left flank, the second-year striker found Daniele Paponi with a through ball near the penalty spot, but the Italian striker couldn't settle the ball.
In added time, Romero squeezed one through the defence, finding Davy Arnaud deep inside the box down the left flank. The Impact captain played a low ball that rolled along the goal line, but just out of reach for Wenger.
The Impact brought in Marco Di Vaio, Felipe and Sanna Nyassi as second half substitutes to try and find that elusive goal, but despite dominating possession for most of the second half, the road side couldn't penetrate goal.
Salinas found himself all alone in the box in the second half's stoppage time, but Bush came charging out to block the midfielder from scoring his second on the night.
Upcoming games
The Impact returns to Stade Saputo to host the Vancouver Whitecaps FC on Saturday, September 21, at 2pm ET, in a regular season matchup, before taking the field once again at home to host CD Heredia on Tuesday, at 8pm, in CCL play.
