The Montrealers (5-4-2), who had won their two games at home this season and who had not lost at home since July 28, against Atlanta, this time gave in to Maxi Moralez and Ismael Tajouri-Shradi .
On the other hand, the NYCFC (3-1-6) continues to have success at Saputo stadium. Of the five meetings between the two teams on the Montreal lawn, the New Yorkers won four, and the other was a draw.
Characters from the Star Wars series greeted Harry Novillo (center) and his Impact teammates at Saputo Stadium.
Photo : Eric Bolte-USA TODAY Sports
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The Bleu-blanc-noir had invited the characters of Star Wars to his match on May 4 (in English, “May the Fourth” recalls the famous line “may the Force be with you”). But the Force was certainly not with the eleven from Montreal, who gave the advantage to the visitors from the sixth minute.
“We lacked aggressiveness in the duels and they were stronger than us mentally,” admitted defender Jukka Raitala. It’s hard to give a goal so early in the game and early in the second period. “
A bright pass from Anton Tinnerholm behind right-back Zachary Brault-Guillard’s back found Ben Sweat. The latter’s shot was stopped by goalkeeper Evan Bush, but Moralez, who had missed a first chance two minutes earlier, pushed the return into an empty cage.
It was the Impact’s first goal at home in 438 minutes of play, from a net by defender Rudy Camacho against his camp on September 22, 2018, against the same NYCFC.
“I think we took goals, like in Philadelphia, at very bad times,” explained coach Rémi Garde. This is a bad result. I would say that in the second half, there were some very difficult moments when we were on the verge of breaking up. But what I liked is that the team responded well. “
Garde tried to shake up his rather amorphous troop in the first half, with a change from the break. But the presence of Omar Browne as Harry Novillo did not prevent Moralez from being at the heart of New York’s second goal action.
The Argentinian pushed a lost ball into the box towards Tajouri-Shradi, who took a touch to control the object before rolling a left strike into the skylight.
Bush, who couldn’t help Tajouri-Shradi’s shot, faced 13 shots, 5 of which were on target. Across the stadium, Sean Johnson saw his teammates block three of Montreal’s eight attempts. The others missed the mark.
Rémi Garde had chosen to start striker Anthony Jackson-Hamel for the first time this season at home. In fact, the Limoilou bomber had made its first departure from Saputo stadium since June 2, 2018.
He failed to get a good scoring chance.
“Yeah, I’m disappointed, because you always want to have scoring chances,” said Jackson-Hamel. You have to give the opponent credit, they played a good game. At least we didn’t give up. “
Rémi Garde had preferred Jackson-Hamel to Maxi Urruti who had started 9 of the first 10 games of the season, without scoring.
“Jackson doesn’t have the same characteristics as Urruti,” Garde said. Maxi exhausts and wears down defenders physically and psychologically because he always harasses them. Jackson did a good job on that too, I think, with his own means. I would have liked it to be found a little more behind the backs of defenders, but we couldn’t do it. “
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Rémi Garde looks back on the Impact’s loss to the NYCFC
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Slow departure for Brault-Guillard
Franco-Quebec defender Zachary Brault-Guillard had his baptism by fire at Saputo stadium.
On his first start in front of the Montreal crowd, the right-back offered a good performance after a somewhat sluggish start to the match. The New Yorkers quickly attacked from his side.
“I wasn’t nervous, but I felt slack early in the game,” said the 20-year-old. I mismanaged my opponent on the first goal. We had trouble understanding each other on the pitch, but the coach and the players spoke to me on the pitch and things changed. I hope to do better next time. “
Montreal fans and players are now hoping that the next week will mark the return to the game of Ignacio Piatti, absent from the game for the last eight games.
“We hope he will come back soon because he brings such an offensive aspect and such a scale on the field, adds Brault-Guillard. We can win without him, but we can’t wait to see him again. “
The Impact will be back in action on Wednesday in New Jersey against the Red Bulls. The Montrealers will then travel to Ohio, to face FC Cincinnati for the very first time in an official match, next Saturday.
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