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MLS Club de Foot Montreal

Impact Falls to FC Edmonton 2-1 on the Road in ACC Opener

May 8, 2014 - Major League Soccer (MLS)
Club de Foot Montreal News Release


EDMONTON, Alberta - The Montreal Impact opened the Amway Canadian Championship with a 2-1 road loss to FC Edmonton, at Clarke Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, in the first leg of the semi-final home and away aggregate goal series.

The return leg of the series is set for next Wednesday, May 14, at 7:30pm at Stade Saputo.

The Impact broke the goose egg in the 56th minute. Playing a free-kick from 35 yards out from left of goal, Patrice Bernier' in-swinger found forward Jack McInerney near the far post, whose header beat the Eddies keeper John Smits from just outside the six-yard-box.

FC Edmonton tied it up when 17-year-old Canadian midfielder Hanson Boakai played a through ball behind the Impact defence right down the middle of the box that found Tomi Ameobi. The Eddies attacker first-timed a low shot inside the short post that beat Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush in the 60 th minute.

The Eddies went up 2-1 in stoppage time thanks to forward Michael Nonni. Following a deep kick from FCE goalkeeper Smits, a misplaced back header was pounced on by Nonni who used one touch to round the keeper and slot home his second touch past Bush.

The best chance off the first half came off the foot of the Impact's Calum Mallace in the 44 th minute. A give-and-go between Bernier and McInerney near the top of the box resulted in a lateral pass by the Impact captain to Mallace along the 18-yard-box, but the Scottish-born midfielder's shot went just right far side.

In the 53 rd minute, Smith was played through to goal by Mallace, but his shot was knocked away as Eddies keeper John Smits charged the shooter. McInerney found the rebound as he beat two defenders to the ball in the air, but his header went off the crossbar.

Midfielder Blake Smith and goalkeeper Evan Bush made their first starts of the 2014 season, while midfielder Sanna Nyassi returned to the starting XI for the first time since an injury knocked him out of the season opener two months ago.

Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé, who plays with the Impact U23 team, took part in the match when he came in for Calum Mallace in the 86th minute.

In the other semi-final matchup played earlier Wednesday night, Toronto FC topped the Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2-1 at BMO Field.

Post-game comments

"It was a difficult match, with the surface and other factors, but both teams had to deal with it," said Impact head coach Frank Klopas. "We let in two unacceptable goals. We could have gone back home with a result, but now we have to regroup and take things one step at a time. There is still a game at home for us next Wednesday."

"It's obviously disappointing, especially to lose it on a simple mistake," said McInerney. "But the positive thing is that we have the second leg at home. We can score a couple of goals and put them away. We wanted to control the game a little more, but I don't think we transitioned from defence to offence well enough tonight."

"We have to forget about this game, put it past us and focus on our next game," said Bernier. "They were good closing down the middle of the park. Now it's up to us to make sure we put it away in the next game. We have a tough game on Saturday against Kansas City, but we are playing at home, both Saturday and Wednesday, so we can build on that to get results."

Upcoming game

The Impact will look to avenge an earlier loss to Sporting Kansas City this Saturday, at Stade Saputo, at 4pm EDT in MLS action.

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