MONTREAL – The Impact fell 3-0 to the Vancouver Whitecaps FC, Saturday afternoon at Stade Saputo, in front of a sixth consecutive crowd of over 20,000 spectators.
The Whitecaps FC opened the scoring in the 7th minute on a penalty from Kenny Miller. The former Scottish international beat goalkeeper Troy Perkins to his right.
While the Impact was pressing in the offensive third for nearly 10 minutes, a clearance from the Whitecaps FC found the foot of striker Camilo Sanvezzo in the 89th minute of play, who went on a breakaway towards Perkins. The Brazilian scored his 15th goal of the season with a shot that beat the Montreal goalkeeper to his left in the 89th minute.
Three minutes later, Camilo scored his second goal of the game, dribbling at centre of the field before taking a long shot that also went to Perkins’ left.
It looked like the Impact was being awarded a penalty in the 37th minute, following a hand ball from the Whitecaps FC in their box, on a volley from Patrice Bernier. The referee initially pointed to the spot before changing his decision.
Midfielder Patrice Bernier started the 50th game of his career with the Impact in MLS while defender Matteo Ferrari set a new team record as a field player with 21 consecutive regular season starts.
Midfielder Felipe will serve an automatic one-game suspension, next Saturday in Chicago, after receiving his fifth caution of the season.
Post-game comments
“We started off the game well and then had to adjust our game after that unlucky penalty shot,” said Impact head coach Marco Schällibaum. In the first half we had troubles getting into those last 20 metres. In the second half, we had lots of opportunities; we pushed a lot and tried hard. I think we were closer to a tie at the beginning of the second half, but with these goals, it came down to a hard loss for the team.”
“We didn’t play well today. This is the third game that we haven’t performed to our standards and we need to react better on the field,” said Marco Di Vaio. “We cannot continue this way so we have to start thinking about our play. The first half we didn’t play well and we didn’t have a lot of opportunities.”
“It was an ugly game all around,” said Troy Perkins. “Towards the end of the season every team needs points and we certainly need to play better than we did today.”
Other highlights
The Impact had its first scoring chance in the 23rd minute. Off of a long cross towards midfielder Andrés Romero, at the left of the box, the Argentine beat his defender and passed in front of goal. Justin Mapp took the ball and found Felipe in the six-yard box, who tried a bicycle, but it was cleared by a Vancouver defender.
In the 47th minute, midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker cut towards midfield, near the 18-yard box, and hit the crossbar. A few minutes later, Miller found himself alone in front of Troy Perkins but his shot went over the net.
Midfielders Felipe and Patrice Bernier successively hit the crossbar, in the 54th and 65th minutes of play. Felipe hit a volley after receiving a cross from Justin Mapp, while Bernier took a shot that was finger tipped away by goalkeeper David Ousted.
In the 70th minute, Designated Player Marco Di Vaio took a point blank shot from the top of the 18-yard box, but the ‘Caps keeper dove to his left to make the save.
The Caps goalkeeper stole another goal from the Impact in the 85th minute, this time off of Daniele Paponi.
Upcoming games
The team will play its final game of the CONCACAF Champions League group stage this Tuesday, at Stade Saputo, hosting Guatemalan club CD Heredia at 8pm ET, before traveling to Chicago for a regular season matchup versus the Chicago Fire on Saturday, September 28, at 8:30pm ET.
Lineups
MTL – GK-Troy Perkins; D-Jeb Brovsky, Alessandro Nesta, Matteo Ferrari, Hassoun Camara; M-Patrice Bernier, Davy Arnaud, (Daniele Paponi 71’) Andrés Romero (Andrew Wenger 63’), Felipe (Blake Smith 81’), Justin Mapp, F-Marco Di Vaio
Subs not used: GK-Evan Bush; D-Wandrille Lefèvre; M-Andrea Pisanu, Collen Warner
VAN – GK-David Ousted; D-Jordan Harvey, Jay DeMerit, Carlyle Mitchell, Lee Young-Pyo; M-Gershon Koffie, Jun Marques Davidson, Nigel Reo-Coker (Daigo Kobayashi 90+’), Matt Watson; F-Kenny Miller (Camilo Sanvezzo 60’), Tommy Heinemann (Russell Teibert 66’)
Subs not used: GK-Brad Knighton; D-Johnny Leveron, Andy O’Brien; F-Darren Mattocks
Goals
VAN – Miller (PEN) 7’
VAN – Camilo Sanvezzo (Young-Pyo) 89’
VAN – Camilo Sanvezzo (Mitchell) 90+’
Cautions
MTL – Felipe 45+’
MTL – Camara 54’
VAN – Reo-Coker 77’
MTL – Camara 54’
VAN – Camilo Sanvezzo 90’
