MONTREAL — It was far from pretty but it was effective, a familiar refrain that has emerged as the overriding theme of the Montreal Impact’s Major League Soccer season so far.
Patrice Bernier and Marco Di Vaio scored first-half goals to guide Montreal to a scrappy 2-1 win over Toronto FC on Saturday afternoon in the latest version of the “401 Derby” before 37,896 fans at Olympic Stadium.
Robert Earnshaw netted his team-leading third goal of the season in a losing effort for Toronto.
With the win in their home opener, the Impact are now 3-0-0 to start the season, while TFC dropped to 1-2-0. Montreal was winless in four games against Toronto (two losses and two draws) ahead of this one, and entered the contest mired a 369-minute scoring drought against the Reds.
Toronto bossed the game for the final 30 minutes, and Montreal looked as though they would concede a late equalizer. Like they did in their away games in Seattle and Portland to open the MLS campaign, the Impact rode their luck and used equal parts guile and grit to grind out a win.
“Those are how MLS games go sometimes, and you have to do whatever it takes to get a victory. We’re not happy with how we closed out the game,” Impact defender Jeb Brovsky stated.
Montreal coach Marco Schallibaum conceded his team did not play well, especially in the second half. But the Swiss became agitated when asked by sportsnet.ca in the post-match press conference what his team had to improve on ahead of its game against the New York Red Bulls next Saturday.
“I’m not ready for this. Ask me in two or three days. Come on, man. We won the game, we have a lot of emotion. No, talk to me on Tuesday and then I will talk to you about the Red Bulls … We have nine points (from three games). OK. Nice, or not? It’s not bad, no?” a fiery Schallibaum shot back.
Impact captain Davy Arnaud backed up his coach’s sentiments.
“I really think good teams find a way to pick up points even when they’re not playing well. I’ll play like that every game if we can win every single game. It doesn’t matter to me,” Arnaud offered.
All quiet at the Big O. #tfc #imfc twitter.com/JohnMolinaro/s…
— John Molinaro (@JohnMolinaro) March 16, 2013
TFC coach Ryan Nelsen used the same starting 11 as in last week’s 2-1 win over Sporting Kansas City. Schallibaum made one change, replacing midfielder Sanna Nyassi with Andres Romero.
Montreal started brightly, with Di Vaio unleashing a powerful half volley that forced a strong save from TFC goalkeeper Joe Bendik in the opening minutes.
Montreal defender Alessandro Nesta came out of the game in the 11th minute with abductor strain. The introduction of Dennis Iapichino at left back saw Schallibaum shuffle his back line, moving Brovsky from left the left side of defence to right and shifting Hassoun Camara from the right into the middle.
Toronto took control of the game with the Italian not anchoring the Impact defence, winning the battle in midfield and pressing high up the field.
But the contest turned in Montreal’s favour in the 32nd minute when Toronto defender Ashtone Morgan was judged to have fouled Andres Romero inside the box. Although there was contact, it was a soft call as the Argentine was looking for the penalty and went to ground far too easily.
Nevertheless, Bernier fired his effort past Bendik, converting his seventh consecutive penalty shot for the Impact. Just before the restart, Toronto players circled around referee Baldomero Toledo to protest the call, but to no avail.
That goal ignited Montreal, who began to find its way through the Toronto resistance and doubled its lead in first half injury time. Montreal captain Davy Arnaud played a defence-splitting pass for Di Vaio, who made a great diagonal run into the box, latched onto the ball and rounded Bendik before blasting it into the net for his first goal of the year.
“Marco makes runs that show you where he wants the ball and it makes things easier for you,” Arnaud said of his killer pass.
Romero nearly made it 3-0 early in the second half on a breakaway, only to see TFC defender Darren O’Dea track back and prevent him from getting a shot off.
A spectator for most of the first half, Impact goalkeeper Troy Perkins made two botched clearances that led to scoring chances for Toronto. Perkins made amends, though, making solid saves on Hogan Ephraim and Earnshaw to keep TFC off the score sheet.
Toronto put Montreal’s defence under constant pressure and was rewarded a soft penalty call of its own when Iapichino fouled Terry Dunfield. Earnshaw scored on the ensuing penalty kick in the 68th minute to pull the Reds within a goal.
Toronto continued to press high up the field and totally outworked Montreal in midfield, putting great strain on the Impact defence. But the Reds couldn’t break through the Impact’s beleaguered back line, and Montreal just barely held on for the win.
“(The players are) not happy. That’s a good sign, though, because they know they weren’t good in the second half but still won. Whenever we get three points, it’s good,” Schallibaum said.
NOTES: Nesta told reporters after the game his injury wasn’t serious and that he expects to play against New York next week… These teams will face each other twice more this season on July 3 and Oct. 26, with both matches in Toronto… TFC still leads all-time competitive series against the Impact with seven wins, two losses and three draws… Toronto has a bye next week, and returns to action on March 30 when the LA Galaxy visit BMO Field…