MONTREAL – Thirty minutes in on Saturday, it felt quite right for the Impact.
As Sporting Kansas City struggled to find any kind of rhythm on their first game in 14 days, Montreal were doing exactly what they had come to do at Sporting Park. They defended pluckily and created a couple of chances, showing shades of the early-2013 Impact.
" The season is long, and the Eastern Conference right now, with one or two wins, everything changes. "
But then Matt Besler’s long throw-in and Calum Mallace’s scalp inadvertently combined for the first of Kansas City’s four goals. And the issue, here, is not so much conceding the first in such a manner than letting things unravel with that first hurdle.
"We’re unfortunate with the goal, but that, I think, is the defining moment for us where we kind of just crumbled," goalkeeper Troy Perkins told reporters on Tuesday. "We gave up an unlucky goal, it takes a deflection off [Mallace], and you can see the shoulders drop and the heads go down and it’s one of those things where, ‘Here we go again.’ And we can’t do that. We have to say, ‘You know what, unlucky, we’re going to get one back.’"
Added head coach Frank Klopas: "Our mentality is almost like it’s the end of the world, and it can’t be like that. The game is 90 minutes. This is something we have to correct, making sure that, in a game, we can’t let one mistake bring us down."
On the flip side, maybe one brilliant play leading to a goal would buck them up. But while Montreal created chances in Kansas City, they failed to convert them.
The decision-making and ball control should have been better in Kansas City, said Klopas, who nevertheless remains convinced that this work in progress will lead to results, which have so far eluded last-placed Montreal (0-4-3, 3 pts).
"I’m not a negative person," Klopas said. "I’m very optimistic, and I can tell you that I’m just as enthusiastic now as on the first day, even though it’s like this. The season is long, and the Eastern Conference right now, with one or two wins, everything changes."
Olivier Tremblay covers the Impact on MLSsoccer.com
