The Montreal Impact are a confident group these days and they’ll need that heading into the second leg of their Major League Soccer semifinal in Columbus.
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Montreal came into the game with a 2-1 victory but that advantage lasted all of four minutes before Kamara snagged his first goal of the evening with a glancing header off of a Waylon Francis cross.
“Giving up the offside goal was hard and a little frustrating”, Finlay said. They have won all three games against the Crew this year by a combined 7-2.
The Finlay goal invoked the necessity of extra time if Columbus could deny Montreal through the end of regulation. We got the road goal. “We went into a few hard away games”.
“We were down in San Jose (a 1-1 draw on September 16 without Drogba)”. 19,026 were on hand to witness the contest and while sparse spots of Impact blue were visible in the stands, the Crew South Carolina faithful erupted deafeningly as Kamara converted. And certainly not when the Crew retook the lead 2-1, sending the game and the series’ outcome to extra time.
They are coming off a stretch of three games in eight days, but have had a full week to prepare for the second leg in Columbus.
Now, they’ve had a full week to prepare and to rest a few older players, like 37-year-old Drogba. We were feeding off the fans and we were pushing ourselves.
Only the New York Red Bulls, with 62, scored more goals than Columbus (58) during the MLS regular season.
The Derby della Capitale (derby of the capital) went Roma’s way on Sunday, keeping Rudi Garcia’s side (26 points) within a point of the league leaders.
Columbus controlled play for much of the first 30 minutes with five shots on goal.
“They have quality in every zone of the pitch”.
The wild second leg, bookended by a pair of goals scored by MVP finalist Kei Kamara, all went according to plan. Midfielder Federico Higuain, who scored the Crew’s goal in the opening game of the series in Montreal, also was credited with an assist. “You could see we were up for it. We know we’re a good team”. Penalties is 50-50. For us to be at home, we really fed off the crowd tonight. “The determination. The fire”.
The Impact got valuable experience in pressure matches early in the season with an unexpected run to the CONCACAF Champions League final. Another defeat would keep the Crew from moving to their first East finals since they won their lone MLS championship in 2008.
Asked about his potential opponents after the Red Bulls 1-0 win against DC United on Sunday afternoon, New York boss Jesse Marsch said he would expect “more football” in an encounter against Columbus.
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“We’ve got to have a good start, to control the momentum of the game”, said Biello. The Crew thought they would finally get rewarded for their positive play in the 68th minute when Laurent Ciman was judged to have committed a foul inside the Montreal 18-yard box to give the home side a penalty kick. “And everything in a career is about gaining experience, and for us as a team we’ve gained experience and we’ll be better in the future when these moments arise again”.
