MONTREAL — It was a missed opportunity.
Fresh from a two-week break and up against a Columbus Crew side that had been on a poor run of form and dealing with a slew of injuries, the Montreal Impact had a great chance to consolidate its position atop the Eastern Conference standings, but ultimately failed to do so.
The Impact showed a lot of character and verve before the break when it managed to both beat the Vancouver Whitecaps on away goals to secure the Canadian Championship title and snatch a win away to Sporting Kansas City to move into first place in the East.
But Saturday’s 2-0 loss to the Crew in Ohio was a far cry from all of that. The Impact were sluggish and the Crew took advantage of it, as Matias Sanchez and Domenic Oduro pounced on sloppy individual errors in the Impact’s final third to give the hosts an early two-goal advantage.
“We had a tough first 25 minutes. We had a good week of practice, but we came out and played a little timidly,” Impact assistant coach Mauro Biello said after the game. “If you do that on the road, the other team will take advantage of it and will score.”
Head coach Marco Schällibaum’s suspension surely didn’t help the Impact as his intensity on the touchline could have helped spark some life into a side that at times looked half asleep.
Veteran defender Alessandro Nesta, who was also serving a one-match-ban, was sorely missed in defence as well – the Impact have yet to lose a match when the 38-year-old is in the lineup.
The good news for the Impact was the return of forward Daniele Paponi and midfielder Andrea Pisanu, who entered the fray in the second half.
Paponi’s return isn’t, however, good news for Andrew Wenger, who hasn’t exactly made the most of the Italian’s absence. Against the Crew, he missed two glorious opportunities in the first half to put the Impact back in the game and it’s not the first time this season he’s squandered chances one would expect him to score.
Where does Felipe fit it?
Though the 4-4-2 with Di Vaio and Paponi leading the attack appears to be Schällibaum’s first choice setup, the trouble is how to integrate Felipe into the mix.
The Brazilian seems only suited to an advanced role just behind the frontline, and this lack of versatility is starting to become an issue. He played on the left-hand side of midfield against Columbus, but it was evident that he was uncomfortable in the role. He has played several times this season in the centre of midfield, but that has always left considerable room between the lines for the opposition to work into.
For this reason, in the Impact’s recent outings, Schällibaum has opted for the more defensive minded Collen Warner to partner Patrice Bernier in midfield, so as to give the team more balance.
Warner, however, has been quite shaky when called upon; it was his poor give away which helped the Crew to their second goal.
With Davy Arnaud still out with concussion symptoms – and possibly not coming back for some time – the central midfield position may be one where the Impact will be looking to strengthen when the transfer window re-opens in July.
While it is true that Montreal has many options in this role – especially with academy product Zakaria Messoudi having recently signed with the first team – a quality central midfielder to partner Bernier might very well be that last missing piece to the puzzle.
For now, Schällibaum will need to stamp out any complacency that may have recently crept into the side. Though the Impact are still in a comfortable position in the East, it’s important that they take advantage of their games in hand and not throw points away like they did on Saturday.
That one was there for the taking.
Nick Sabetti is a Montreal-based writer who covers the Montreal Impact for Goal.com. Follow Nick on Twitter.