Late goal from Justin Meram hands hosts three points
ATLANTA, Georgia – The Montreal Impact lost 2-1 to Atlanta United, Saturday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Montreal tied the game in the second half after falling behind in the 35th minute, but Justin Meram’s second goal of the game, scored in the 83rd minute, was enough to hand Atlanta the win.
“I’m very proud to coach this team,” said Impact head coach Rémi Garde. “We deserved at least a point from this one. I really like the way my team played tonight. We were conscious of the fact that we could do interesting things with the ball on the pitch. We respected the game plan, and every player was rigorous in his efforts. We need to take this game as a learning experience, and we need to be aware of the fact that when we’re organized and we have the right mindset, we can make life difficult for a lot of teams.”
Defensive game to start
Despite an energetic start form the Impact, it was Atlanta United that got the game’s first chance in the third minute, when Justin Meram found Julian Gressel alone in the box, but his shot missed just wide of the right post.
The hosts had another opportunity in the 30th minute, when midfielder Darlington Nagbe avoided his marker and unleashed a shot from way outside the box, but his effort sailed just over the bar.
The Impact came close to opening the scoring in the 34th minute through a quick counterattack. After the ball was passed to midfielder Saphir Taïder on the left flank, the Algerian crossed for Mathieu Choinière, but the Homegrown midfielder’s ensuing shot was inches away from the left post.
The Impact would regret that miss, as the hosts opened the scoring a minute later, in the 35th minute, with their first shot on target. After Justin Meram dribbled past his marker from the right flank, his shot from outside the box dipped into the top right corner, giving goalkeeper Evan Bush no chance.
Montreal almost returned to the locker room with the score level, when a cross from Harry Novillo from set piece found centre-back Rudy Camacho in the box in the final seconds of the first, but he was unable to get a proper shot off.
“It was very close,” said centre-back Zakaria Diallo. “We defended very well. In the first half, they did not create a lot of chances. After, we equalize in the second half, we found our automatisms, we had good phases of play. That goal comes in the end and hurts us. We expected a very tough game. We were up to the task, we did the job, but they score in the end.”
Impact strikes after the break
Rémi Garde’s men returned from the locker rooms with bite in their game, and it paid off on the scoresheet a few minutes later, in the 50th minute. After the Impact swung in its first corner of the game, the hosts cleared it up to Novillo, waiting on top of the box. His ensuing volley towards goal deflected off centre-back Zakaria Diallo and into the back of the net, bringing the score level.
In the 63rd minute, Taïder again found Choinière in between two defenders. The young midfielder evaded a defender and tried a curled shot, but it missed just wide of Brad Guzan’s net.
Goalkeeper Evan Bush was called into action in the 78th minute, diving to his left to produce a nice save on a very strong shot from Dion Pereira from the top of the box. The American netminder finished the night with two saves.
Finally, in the 83rd minute, Atlanta scored the go-ahead goal. A corner swung into the Impact box was touched by Brek Shea to Justin Meram, who poked it past Bush for his second of the game.
“It’s disappointing. We were doing really well, and in the last 20 minutes our game dropped a little,” said midfielder Shamit Shome. “We didn’t move the ball as much, and then we conceded the goal late. But we worked well together tonight, we worked as a unit. It was hard for them to break us down. We need to come back hard against Minnesota and get three points.”
Upcoming games
The Impact will have a busy week: Montreal hosts Minnesota United FC on Saturday, July 6, at 7:30pm at Stade Saputo (TICKETS – TVA Sports, 98.5, TSN 690), before making its way to the Queen City for the first leg of the Canadian Championship quarterfinal against York 9 FC at York Lions Stadium on Wednesday, July 10, at 7:30pm. The Impact will then be back at Stade Saputo for a rivalry game against Toronto FC on Saturday, July 13 at 7:30pm (TICKETS – TVA Sports, TSN, 98.5, TSN 690).
LINE-UPS
MTL – GK-Evan Bush; D-Bacary Sagna, Víctor Cabrera, Zakaria Diallo, Rudy Camacho, Jukka Raitala; M-Shamit Shome, Ken Krolicki; F-Saphir Taïder, Harry Novillo (Orji Okwonkwo 66’), Mathieu Choinière (Anthony Jackson-Hamel 84’)
Subs not used – Clément Diop, Karifa Yao, Daniel Kinumbe, Amar Sejdic
ATL – GK-Brad Guzan; D-Florentin Pogba (Brek Shea 83’), Franco Esbobar, Leandro González Pirez, Miles Robinson; M-Darlington Nagbe, Eric Remedi, Gonzalo Martínez (Dion Pereira 68’), Julian Gressel, Justin Meram (Jeff Larentowicz 87’); F-Brandon Vázquez
Subs not used – Alec Kann, Michael Parkhurst, Mikey Ambrose, Gordon Wild
GOALS
ATL – Meram (Martínez) 35’
MTL – Diallo (Novillo) 50’
ATL – Meram (Shea, González Pirez) 83’
CAUTIONS
ATL – Vázquez 40’
MTL – Krolicki 41’
ATL – Nagbe 57’
ATL – Escobar 67’
MTL – Raitala 90’
