MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact get an A+ for effort, but it was the same failing grade in the final exam for Major League Soccer.
Mexican powerhouse Club America overturned a first-leg disadvantage in the CONCACAF Champions League final to win the return match 4-2 over the Impact on Wednesday night and claim the continental championship for the first time in its history.
Dario Benedetto scored a second-half hat trick for Club America in a man-of-the-match performance that eclipsed the efforts of Ignacio Piatti, Montreal’s wonderfully gifted Argentine creator who dominated the opening 45 minutes with his probing runs and deft ball control.
Fighting for Canadian and MLS pride, the Impact came achingly close to pulling off an incredible upset and sending shockwaves throughout the CONCACAF region.
These sides battled to a 1-1 draw in last week’s opener at Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium, giving the Impact a great deal of hope as all they needed was a 0-0 draw on Wednesday to win the title. And when Andres Romero opened the scoring for Montreal in the eighth minute, the dream was truly alive. But the dream came to cruel end when Club America bagged three goals within a 16-minute span early in the second half.
We shouldn’t be too surprised, really. A Mexican team has won every CONCACAF Champions League since the inaugural tournament in 2008-09, and all but two of the finals have been contested between two sides from Mexico (Real Salt Lake reached the final in 2011).
For Montreal, it was the end of a memorable and improbable run. They finished in last place in MLS in 2014, and overachieved just to get to this point. But they were simply no match for Club America on this night, the mighty Mexicans handing them the whipping that many expected last week at Azteca.
Montreal squandered its golden opportunity, but it can take pride in the way it played in this competition. The Impact have nothing to be ashamed about.
“Regardless of the outcome, I’m extremely proud of what our team has accomplished,” Impact coach Frank Klopas said. “We gave everything on the field. The support was incredible from our fans. The atmosphere was second to none. We fell a little bit short, but we should be proud of what we did as a team.
He later added: “The players feel down right now because this opportunity was there and we didn’t grab it. We were there. We gave ourselves a chance to win it.”
Although the Impact didn’t make history on the field, it was still a historical night as 61,004 fans jammed into the Olympic Stadium, the largest crowd ever to watch a pro soccer game in Canada.
The Montreal spectators created an intimidating atmosphere inside the “Big O” that rivalled any big European stadium during a UEFA Champions League match. The cauldron of noise clearly rattled the Club America players in the first half, especially after Montreal took the early lead. Every touch of the ball by the Mexicans was booed, every tumble to the turf in search of a foul jeered even louder. It was so loud that on two separate occasions in the first half it sounded as though an airplane was flying directly over the stadium and that the roof was about to cave in.
With Victor Cabrera and Hassoun Camara both out injured, and rookie Eric Miller lacking experience, Klopas started veteran midfielder Nigel Reo-Coker at right fullback.
Reo-Coker struggled to keep up with the pace of the game and looked lost at times, although he received little support from midfielders Callum Mallace and Marco Donadel, and Club America badly exposed the right side of the defence, and in particular Reo-Coker, all night.
German goalkeeper Kristian Nicht, who only joined the Impact on Monday via transfer, made his first start in the biggest game in Impact history.
A wild, thrill-a-minute first half featuring end-to-end soccer and five yellow cards saw defender Laurent Ciman come to Montreal’s rescue in the sixth minute when he made a crucial tackle on Benedetto after he latched onto a ball played over the top.
Two minutes later, like they did at Azteca, the Impact shockingly took the lead. Piatti slalomed his way through three Club America players inside the box before feeding Romero, who then glided by two more defenders before slotting it home.
Benedetto should have levelled the score in the 13th minute, but he managed to miss with the Montreal net gaping wide open off a scramble inside the penalty area. The Impact spurned a glorious chance when Dilly Duka played Piatti in on goal. The Argentine, who turned his defensive marker inside out, was denied by goalkeeper Moises Munoz.
Club America came out on fire to start the second half and quickly tied things up. Benedetto hit a lovely and powerful scissor-kick volley through Nicht after the Mexicans took advantage of some sloppy defending and careless ball watching by the Impact.
Benedetto’s equalizer was the turning point, explained Klopas.
“Giving up that first goal that fast (after halftime), I think it gave them life. Physically, we seemed to tire and we were stretched. When you give them a lot of room, with the quality they have, they make you pay. Give them credit—their quality showed in (the second half),” Klopas stated.
Shortly after, Oribe Peralta and Benedetto scored two minutes apart, as the Mexicans ripped the right side of Montreal’s defence to ribbons, rendering Nicht helpless in his goal.
Benedetto completed his hat trick in the 81st minute to put the game completely beyond Montreal’s reach. Substitute Jack McInerney netted a consolation goal for Montreal in the 89th minute.
“It’s tough. You could just see the quality on the field Club America has with 11 really good players. They’re an unselfish team and that’s why the beat us. … We didn’t finish our chances and they did,” McInerney said.
By virtue of its win, Club America will go on to represent CONCACAF at the 2015 FIFA World Club Cup this December in Japan, a tournament featuring all the top continental club champions in world soccer, including the winner of this year’s UEFA Champions League.
