Montreal Impact Win CONCACAF Champions League Opener
By Jared Book
The Montreal Impact will be disappointed they only scored one goal but are still happy they opened up their CONCACAF Champions League group play with a 1-0 win at Stade Saputo over C.D. FAS, an El Salvador team.
The three points will hopefully give them momentum as they try and garner any kind of positive news after a season most of them would rather forget. Marco Di Vaio scored in the game’s 21st minute on a soft header towards the post. The Impact played the game’s last 25 minutes with 10 men after Hassoun Camara was sent off.
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The Impact could have gotten more if not for C.D. FAS goalkeeper Luis Contreras. He made several key saves on Montreal chances and kept the game as close as it was.
"“Getting the three points in front of our fans was really important for us tonight,” said defender Hassoun Camara in a press release. “When we have cohesion and everyone plays together, we can really make a lot happen, even when games are hard. We were hearing the fans from the beginning and that helped us to stay motivated throughout the game.”“We’ve been waiting for this win for a long time, so it definitely helped our confidence,” said Maxim Tissot. “It took off a bit of the pressure we had, so hopefully we can bring this win to our regular season games and help us in our next CONCACAF game. We grinded the game out, with one man down at the end of the game and that’s what’s important.”"
Montreal midfielder Dilly Duka made his first start for the Impact in the game as they started what was almost a full strength roster in a 4-5-1 formation. Evan Bush got the start in goal and got the shutout.
"“I felt very good about the performance of the group,” said head coach Frank Klopas. “We had some chances in the first and even the second half to put the game away. Then even shorthanded, I found we stayed focused. If we look at some previous games during the season, we had some mental lapses, so I’m very happy that didn’t happen tonight.”"
The Impact improved to 6-0-2 in CONCACAF Champions League at home. Their next game in the League will be August 20 in El Salvador. Their next game will be Saturday in Philadelphia to take on the Union at 7 p.m.