D.C. United 1-Montreal Impact 1
It wasn’t easy and at times it wasn’t pretty but in the end it was exactly what D.C. United needed. Despite going down early to the Montreal Impact on Saturday night United put their heads down and kept working, earning a 1-1 draw at Stade Saputo.
There was a certain sense of urgency in the air in Montreal. With both sidesfighting to stay in the MLS Cup Playoff race in the Eastern Conference play was kept at a high tempo from the first whistle. With a heavily partisan home crowd behind them Montreal pressed D.C.’s beleagured defense.
Ignacio Piatti and Saphir Taider, the Impact’s top two attacking pieces in 2018, in particular focused on United right-back Oniel Fisher. Using their advantage in speed, both Piatti and Taider would get behind the Jamaican international on multiple occasions. In the fifth minute it finally paid off with Taider getting past Fisher and hitting a cross into the box for Piatti. Piatti’s show would take a bounce off of a D.C. defender and land right at the feet of forward Matteo Mancosu. Mancosu buried his shot past United goalkeepr David Ousted to make it 1-0.
Down a goal, but not out D.C. went on the attack. As they had done in the previous week United midfielders Yamil Asad and Luciano Acosta worked seamlessly with forward Wayne Rooney to find space inside Montreal territory. The Impact were forced to make several difficult challenges to preserve their lead, setting up United with free kicks all throughout the first half.
In the 15th minute United very nearly equalized when Steven Birnbaum connected on a Rooney chance, heading his shot far post. His chance beat Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush but would go wide of the mark. DA free kick in the 20h minute from Acosta was succesful in finding midfielder Russell Canouse but Canouse was unable to keep his chance from hitting the crossbar. D.C.’s bad luck on set pieces continued in the 37th minute when a Rooney free kick from about 20 yards out just missed going inside the near post.
In the second half D.C. continued to press the Montreal defense looking for any sort of space to exploit. In the 67th minute Rooney zigged and zagged around the Impact defense at the top of their eighteen yard box. His shot took a deflection off of a Montreal defender and appeared destined for the back of the net. However, Bush lobbed the ball over the bar.
While Rooney’s chance was unsuccesful it did force Montreal’s defense to move a bit more inside. That in turn opened up some space on the outside for Acosta to create chances. In the 70th minute he connected off of a cross from Oniel Fisher and proceeded to charge down the left flank. He hit low pass into the box which found Asad waiting to poke it into the back of the net. The goal was Asad’s eighth of the season.
Having lost the lead but still building attacking chances Impact coach Remi Garde opted to go all in on the attack, bringing on Anthony Jackson-Hamel and Jeisson Varfes. With additional speed on the outside Montreal proceeded to dominate the final fifteen minutes. Their best chance came in the 75th minute when Taider knocked a free kick chance towards the far right post that hit the inside part of the post. Ken Krolicki was at the spot to grab the rebound and slot home the game-winner. However, he slipped and was unable to put his full force behind a shot. His chance was cleared away by Birnbaum ending the Impact threat.
With the draw Montreal (9-13-2, 29 points) retain the fifth spot in the Eastern Conference standings. They will travel to Utah next Saturday to take on Real Salt Lake (10pm EST, TVAS/ESPN +).
As for D.C. while the draw doesn’t get them out of the bottom of the East it does continue their positive run of form with the club having earned at least a point in three of their last four matches. They will start a three game homestand on Sunday when they welcome Orlando City SC to Audi Field (8PM EST, FS1).
D.C. United- David Ousted, Joseph Mora, Steve Birnbaum, Kofi Opare, Junior Moreno, Yamil Asad, Russell Canouse (Chris Durkin 90+2′), Luciano Acosta, Zoltan Stieber (Paul Arriola 69′), and Wayne Rooney
Goal- Asad (70′)
Yellow Cards- Canouse (76′) and Birnbaum (78′)
Montreal Impact-Evan Bush, Michael Petrasso, Rod Fanni, Rudy Camacho, Jukka Raitala, Saphir Taider, Samuel Piette, Ken Krolicki (Jeisson Vargas 82′), Ignacio Piatti, Matteo Mancosu (Anthony Jackson-Hamel 78′), and Alejandro Silva
Goal-Mancosu (2′)
Yellow Card-Piatti (2′)
ATTENDANCE: 19,152
DC United
Montreal Impact
