Montreal - August 6, 2004 - Not even the 1994 championship match attracted so many.
The Montreal Impact set a record by going over the 10,000 mark in attendance for the first time in franchise history, as 11,019 squeezed into the Claude Robillard Sports Complex to witness both keepers come up big as the home side tied the Vancouver Whitecaps 0-0.
But the story was the attendance, with hundreds sitting on the sidelines at each end of the field. Despite the record crowd, a joyful Joey Saputo still had his eye towards the future, "We (could fit more people in here) if there were more grass space," joked the team president. "This is obviously something we need to sit down and talk to the city about, because we can't have our fans sitting on the grass. Although it's great, it's a great atmosphere, they deserve better than that. Hopefully we'll have something done within the near future."
The game was initially billed as a battle of first-place clubs, but the fact that the Portland Timbers took sole possession of first place in the Western Conference with a victory late Thursday night, the point became moot - except for the fact that the intensity metre was at a level that would give anyone with vertigo a nosebleed.
"The clubs played a very close match," explained Impact head coach Nick DeSantis, "No one wanted to lose."
The first half began at a torrid pace at both ends of the field, as both clubs attempted long North American Soccer League-type volleys to break through each other's defensive walls. Although the fast-paced action would slow down faster than you could say free kick, the run-at-all-costs action remained just as high throughout the half, despite the lack of precise shots on goal.
Midfielder Sandro Grande had the best opportunities of the first half for either club as both of his free kicks from outside the 22-yard box, in the 29th minute and in injury time - which would have felled a brick wall under normal circumstances - were stopped by the well-placed Alex Marques, the 'Caps starting keeper. Greg Sutton, who was credited with but one save in the first 45 minutes, had to come up big when it counted, stopping a 21st-minute, 25-yard left-footer from Johnny Sulentic.
Nevertheless, despite the fact that no goals were scored in the second half, the goaltenders needed to come up big as defenders began to tire, allowing the opposition a greater number of scoring opportunities. Case in point, Marques needed to be alert on a Sebrango chance in the 80th, dropping to the short side, to his right, to keep the game deadlocked. At the other end of the pitch, Sutton had made the save of the match with a similar stop just nine minutes earlier - with both sides open - on Steve Kindel.
Sebrango almost gave the home side a much-deserved three points with less than three minutes to go in the second and last ten-minute overtime frame, just missing the mark. "It was very close… maybe two feet. I just saw it at the last minute, so I just reacted and it was hard to reach for the ball."
However, Grande summed up the intensity level of the Impact in seven words, "We wanted to win at all costs."
Note: Sutton, who recorded his league-leading 15th shutout in his twenty-second game, still has an outside shot at 20 goose eggs for the season. The Impact, with five games remaining in the regular season, also set a franchise record with its sixteenth shutout of the campaign, breaking the previous mark set in 1997 when Paolo Ceccarelli (10), Peter Zaratin (3), and Ricky Tangredi (2) totalled 15. Andrew Olivieri is credited with the other shutout this season… The club's fifth consecutive shutout also set a franchise record. Twice before the club had recorded four straight - in 1996 as well as the first four games of the current season…
The Impact was deprived of the services of midfielder Zé Roberto, serving a two-game suspension due to an accumulation of yellow cards. The Brazilian was also forced to miss one game earlier in the campaign for the same reason… Defender Nick Dasovic and midfielder Martin Nash, both British Columbia natives, were the only former Impact players in the Vancouver lineup. Sebrango was the only former Whitecap in a Montreal uniform. All three players were part of the starting lineup…
The game marked the seventh time this season that the Impact has gone over the 9,000 mark - in only nine home games… The previous home attendance franchise record was set on July 14, when 9,894 saw the Syracuse Salty Dogs defeat the home squad with a come-from-behind 2-1 decision. Could a move to McGill University's downtown 20,000-seat Percival Molson Memorial Stadium, home of the Canadian Football League's Montreal Alouettes, be in the works? "No, absolutely not," emphasized Saputo. "This is a great place for us; it's our home."…
Freddie Commodore, who entered the game in the 61st minute, seemed to invigorate the Impact with some new blood on the pitch. However, his night ended prematurely in the 75th as he twisted his left foot in a collision. He was replaced by veteran Darko Kolic. Commodore's status is day-to-day, so it is not known whether he will miss the next game, a "home" tilt against the Puerto Rico Islanders at Laval University's PEPS Stadium in Quebec City on Saturday, August 14…
Key Stats: With the Impact outshooting the visitors 15-7, Marques came up big with 7 saves. Sutton, who only made three, had to be just as vigilant… The Impact outfouled the 'Caps 17-12 and kicked 6 corners to the visitors' 2… Both clubs were offside a minuscule two times… Finally, Sandro Grande could have gotten himself ejected from the match had he lost his temper for the three-thousand, two-hundred, and seventeenth time this season, especially after tripping a Whitecap player in the 29th minute, earning a yellow in the process. Grande, as seems to be his nature on the pitch, let the referee know what he was thinking… The only other player with a caution was the 'Caps' Sultenic with a trip in the final minute of play.
