A new era of Montreal Impact soccer began Saturday evening in Vancouver against the Whitecaps. In front of 21,000 at BC Place, the Impact fell 2-0. Goal scorers for the home side were Sébastien Le Toux (in the 4th minute) and Camilo (in the 54th minute).
The second goal scored had a beautiful build-up and tricky passing but in reality, it was extremely poor defense by the Impact. Both goals in my opinion could have easily been prevented and a 0-0 draw is a much more reasonable result than the box score will indicate.
Going into Montreal’s first game in MLS, everyone knew the strong suit of the team was on the defensive side of the ball and goals could be hard to come by. This is why I was quite disappointed with the effort I saw from the back four. Poor angles taken by a player or two contributed to the 2-0 score line.
Another thing I wasn’t pleased with was the possession and counter-attacks from the Impact. They had a five-minute stretch of great goal-scoring opportunities in the second half but besides that, the attacking was quite nonexistent.
I understand Montreal will get better with time and getting the chemistry right will provide a much better product on the field. We know one thing, with Jesse Marsch running the show this team will never quit. I think that can be demonstrated well with the way the team responded after giving up such an early goal. They could of caved in and given up three or four goals, but didn’t.
Up next for the Impact will be a date with the Chicago Fire on March 17 at Stade Olympique.
(image courtesy of Charles William/Impact de Montreal)
