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Club de Foot Montreal

Impact Records Shutout Win against Houston at Stade Saputo

August 6, 2016 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Club de Foot Montreal News Release


MONTREAL - The Montreal Impact maintained its perfect home record against the Houston Dynamo, this Saturday night, in front of yet another sellout crowd of 20,801 supporters at Stade Saputo. With this 1-0 success, the Bleu-blanc-noir recorded its fifth win in as many home games against Houston.

b8696072f47d30e98714edb6c GAME HIGHLIGHTS

Matteo Mancosu scored the only goal of the game in the 76th minute for the Impact, who climbs to third in the Eastern Conference with 33 points, four behind leader New York City FC, with two games in hand. With this clean sheet, goalkeeper Evan Bush clinched his 25th MLS win.

"This was a big win for us," said Impact head coach Mauro Biello. "It was important for us to keep the clean sheet. It wasn't easy to play against this Houston team, which was well-organized and didn't give us much space. We were patient, and we managed to score that goal that gave us the win."

Impact plays with purpose from get-go The Impact wasted no time and started playing its own game early on. After seeing Dynamo forward Will Bruin squander the first chance, three minutes in, Montreal multiplied attempts on Joe Willis' goal.

Nacho Piatti knocked on the door first, in the seventh minute. After a good ball into space on the right by Harry Shipp, Patrice Bernier played it across to Piatti, who settled the ball and took a shot that missed at the near post.

Mancosu then showed on a couple of occasions that he is already getting in sync with his teammates. After he got stoned on a one-on-one with Willis in the 11th minute, Mancosu could have given Montreal the lead in the 34th as Patrice Bernier released him in behind the defense, but Jalil Anibaba caught up to Mancosu and prevented him from getting a clear look on goal.

"At this point of the season, we have to string wins together," said team captain Patrice Bernier. "This is the moment where you want to distance yourself from the other teams and fight for the top two spots. We haven't lost in our last three games. We have to keep working hard against our direct rivals."

Mancosu sent the Stade Saputo faithful into raptures in the 76th minute. Marco Donadel lifted the ball behind the backline for Mancosu, who took a touch with the shoulder and another with the knee before blasting a perfect low shot in between Willis' glove and the far post. This was already a second goal in four MLS games for Mancosu, and a first as a starter.

Evan Bush then came up big 10 minutes later when Abdoulie Mansally picked up the ball on the left. Bush raised a hand to beat Mansally's shot away for a corner. Bush, who made two other great saves in the second half - on a 1-v-1 against Will Bruin in the 50th minute and on a David Horst header off a free kick in the 67th -, Bush recorded five stops on the night to make it 25 shutouts since joining the Impact, in 2011.

"We're really pleased with the clean sheet," said Hassoun Camara. "Houston did what they had to do to make it difficult for us, but we still created many opportunities. We're really happy with this win."

Next games The next game at Stade Saputo will take place on Saturday, August 20, at 7:30pm EDT against the Chicago Fire (TVA Sports, 98,5fm & TSN Radio 690). Excellent individual tickets are also still available for this game and the next - on Wednesday, August 24 at 7:30pm against D.C. United (TVA Sports & TSN Radio 690) - on 518962895d71c3b4ed074ff2e impactmontreal.com.

In the meantime, the Impact will travel to New Jersey to take on New York Red Bulls on Saturday, August 13, at 7pm EDT (TVA Sports, 98,5fm & TSN Radio 690).

82a152fc8133aa1b1033c7fd2 GAME STATISTICS

LINEUPS

MTL - GK-Evan Bush; D-Hassoun Camara, Victor Cabrera, Laurent Ciman, Ambroise Oyongo; M-Marco Donadel (Calum Mallace 81'), Patrice Bernier (Dominic Oduro 69'), Hernan Bernardello, Harry Shipp (Michael Salazar 61'), Ignacio Piatti; F-Matteo Mancosu

Unused subs - GK-Eric Kronberg; D-Donny Toia; Wandrille Lefevre; M-Kyle Bekker

HOU - GK-Joe Willis; D-Sheanon Williams, David Horst, Jalil Anibaba, Abdoulie Mansally; M-Andrew Wenger (Mauro Manotas 74'), Ricardo Clark (Eric Alexander 54'), Collen Warner, Cristian Maidana, Boniek Garcia (Rob Lovejoy 85'); F-Will Bruin

Unused subs - GK-Calle Brown; M-Christian Lucatero, Zach Steinberger

GOAL

MTL - Mancosu (Donadel) 76'

CAUTIONS

HOU - Horst 41'

HOU - Williams 61'

MTL - Bernardello 86'

Check out the Club de Foot Montreal Statistics

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