Montreal Eleven misses chance to clinch playoff berth
Montréal - August 17, 2005 - Who says there are no scoring chances in soccer? Despite a quiet second half, the Montreal Impact (13-2-6) could not muster the winning goal despite a late rallying cry, settling for a 1-1 draw with the visiting Puerto Rico Islanders (7-9-5) before 11,483 spectators at Claude-Robillard Stadium.
With the tie, the Impact cost itself an automatic playoff berth, while the Islanders, had they come up with a victory, missed a chance to move up to the sixth and the final playoff spot in the United Soccer Leagues First Division. Instead, the Impact remains in first place, two points up on the Rochester Raging Rhinos with two games in hand, while the Bayamon-based Islanders move up to two points behind the sixth-place Portland Timbers, also with two matches in the pocket.
The Montreal Eleven's late attack may have produced four legitimate scoring chances, including three in a three-minute second half injury time, but no goals. First, Charles Gbeke's header was stopped on the line by Islander defender Luis Zuleta. Although the Impact were basically silent in the second half, Lars Lyssand, Carlos García, and Mauro Biello each made Isles keeper Dan Kennedy look like an acrobat, making saves on each of the scoring chances. Biello had the best of the lot, forcing Kennedy to dive to his left to catch Biello's header.
"We threw in a lot of offensive players and went at them", explained Impact head coach Nick DeSantis on the substitutions that resulted in the late chances. "The frustrating thing is that we give up a goal on a free kick. That's disappointing - now were giving points away!"
The Impact did open the scoring at the fifteen-minute mark as Darko Kolic, making only his fourth start of the season, converted a free kick past Kennedy, who slipped on the play, but was nonetheless out of position to have still been able to come up with the stop. The 33-year-old forward, who may be playing his final season of professional soccer, headed Masahiro Kukasawa's perfect free kick to the lower left corner of the net for his second marker of the season.
"Great, great, great", explained Kolic on how he felt scoring the game's opening marker. "Great header, great goal, great cross!"
Kolic nearly made the score 2-0 in the 25th minute when his hustle to the net provided him with a rebound opportunity off a long 35-yard blast from midfielder Antonio Ribeiro. However, Kennedy recovered quickly enough to close all angles, forcing Kolic, who needed to do a 180 just to get the right angle on the ball, slipping slightly before blasting it right into the keeper's chest.
That missed opportunity proved costly as the Islanders, who had earlier swarmed the net in the first half but were not a threat to score, tied the game at 1-1 as Mauricio Salles de Alencar scored in an open net beyond Greg Sutton, in what proved to be a Puerto Riqueño second chance on the play. The Impact keeper was caught out of position after making the first save, but the rebound bounced off the post to a wide open Salles.
"Thirty seconds before they scored, we had a chance to put the game away", added Kolic. "Unfortunately, we didn't score the second goal. A tie's a tie."
Although fans witnessed an offensive explosion at both ends of the pitch which provided a wide-open style of play - a far cry from the Impact's last game at Claude-Robillard, a 1-0 snoozer loss to the Portland Timbers on August 10 - those in attendance were also forced to endure one missed opportunity after another from the Montreal Eleven. Within two minutes of the tying goal, Ribeiro out-raced all Islander defenders, finding himself alone on Kennedy with the go-ahead goal at his feet. However, the Islander keeper slid out all the way at the edge of the penalty area to challenge Ribeiro, who was unable to lift it over Kennedy. Instead, Ribeiro blasted the ball right into the sliding Islander. Kennedy had also had the upper hand on Mauro Biello in the 19th minute with another point-blank save, while Ribeiro's 30-yard-blast in the 56th minute was about 20 yards west of the keeper. García, who replaced Ribeiro in the 74th minute, also had an opportunity in the 86th minute, but his 25-yarder failed to hit the net.
The game also saw simultaneous red cards given to the Impact's Adam Braz and the Isles' Salles, the club's leading scorer (who scored his tenth on the year), courtesy of referee José Branco. Both players found themselves ejected for their role in a shoving match during a scrum before an Islander free kick, just outside the Impact 8-yard box, was even taken.
However, instead of opening up the action even more, the ejections seemed to bottle up both teams, especially in the first thirty-five to forty minutes of the second half, as both clubs played more defensively to compensate for the extra room on the field.
The Islanders' best chances in the second half also went as wide as Ribeiro's. Petter Villegas had a couple of breaks, blasting a Sebastian Rozental free kick way wide, from about 35 yards out, in the 65th. Caleb Norkus also failed to convert, two minutes later, as his header went nowhere near the goal, on Rozental's corner. Villegas also had a clear shot on a 76th minute break, but his shot not only missed its target, the Impact was forced to throw it in.
Biello almost made the home fans happy in the 88th minute, but, although beating Kennedy on the play, his ball went about a foot wide. This was the start of an Impact attack that failed to untie the score
Corner Kicks: On the injury front, defender Gabriel Gervais is still out due to a knee injury suffered in the Impact's only home loss of the season, a 1-0 defeat at the hands of the Portland Timbers on August 10… Furthermore, forward Zé Roberto, who injured his knee in a 2-1 home win over the Atlanta Silverbacks on July 29, may only be available for the playoffs, if at all this season… Also, forward Eduardo Sebrango, listed as day-to-day, should be back in the lineup at before the end of the month. The transplanted Cuban has missed the last ten contests due to a fractured bone in his right foot, suffered in a 1-0 road victory over the Timbers at PGE Stadium on June 30…
Mauro Biello has now become the first Impact player to surpass the 20,000-minute mark. The captain, who was a starter at forward against the Islanders, entered the game with 19,992 minutes in 256 games played. Biello also suited up for 2,340 minutes in 28 games with the 1999 Rochester Raging Rhinos, while the Impact was on hiatus for a season.… Greg Sutton became the Impact's all-time leader in victories by a keeper last Sunday, in a 2-1 home-away victory over the Isles at PEPS Stadium in Quebec City on August 14. The Hamilton native moved passed Paolo Ceccarelli in earning his 61st career win with the club. Sutton now has 62 USL D1 victories, as the Canadian national team member had a 1-10-2 mark with the now-defunct 2000 Cincinnati Riverhawks… By the way, Sutton now has as many shutouts (a USL D1-leading 10) as victories (on a 10-2-5 record). Sutton started his 18th game this season, while Andrew Olivieri has a 3-0-0 record in three games. Gerry Argento has yet to see any action this season.
The Impact started the first half playing at the north end of the pitch, instead of the usual south.… The Yugoslavian-born Kolic, who made his pro debut with FC Hadjuk Belgrade in 1992-93, was given a rare start tonight, only his fourth, while playing his eleventh contest of the 2005 campaign. His 71 minutes on the field (he was replaced by Charles Gbeke) gave him 389 on the season. Kolic, who will be allowed to apply for Canadian citizenship later this year, and a member of the Impact family since 2000, also played for the Montreal Eleven in 1997, as well as the 1998 Richmond Kickers and 1999 Long Island Rough Riders, during his USL D1 career…
The Impact made all five of their allowed substitutions, while the Islanders elected to do just two (Corey Woolfolk for Noah Delgado in the 84th and Dante Poli for Luis Fernando Zulet in the 89th), both in an attempt to slow down the Impact in order to go back to the Caribbean with the point. The Impact outshot the Islanders 23-12, with Dan Kennedy making 15 saves to Sutton's 7… The Impact out-fouled the visitors 18-16, and had more offsides (8-6) and one more corner (4-3) than the Islanders… Other players with cautions: Marco Velez of the Islanders (15th minute), Antonio Ribeiro (23rd), and Kolic (45th).
