WASHINGTON, D.C. – Under hot weather, the Montreal Impact was shutout 3-0 by D.C. United (1-0 at halftime), Saturday, in front of 18,302 spectators at RFK Stadium, in Washington.
D.C. opened the scoring in the 46th minute when forward Chris Pontius, dribbling near the left corner of the box, faked a move to the inside and cut back to the outside of his defender. Alone with Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush, Pontius curled a left-footed shot towards the far post. Canadian international Dwayne De Rosario set up Pontius for his 9th of the season.
Off of a free-kick in the 50th minute, defender Robbie Russell doubled United’s lead with a diving header near the six yard box. Midfielder Branko Boskovic took the free-kick from wide down the right flank, around 30 yards out.
D.C.’s Designated Player Hamdi Salihi scored the insurance goal in the 91st minute. Second half-substitute Nick DeLeon hammered a shot from inside the box that was stopped by Bush, but Salihi fired home the rebound.
"Our guys have a lot of miles on their legs. We played lot of games recently," said Impact head coach Jesse Marsch. "With the heat tonight, we just had nothing left in the tank. It would have been more interesting had we gone into the half without having given up that goal. We've got to figure out how to refuel as we have another big game coming up Wednesday."
“We are very disappointed with our performance,” said defender Hassoun Camara. “We have no choice but to refocus for the game on Wednesday against Kansas City and separate ourselves from this loss. The conditions weren’t easy, but we have no choice but to show up, no matter what.”
“D.C. United is a good team and we knew with the conditions it wouldn’t be an easy game,” added goalkeeper Evan Bush. “We did well in the first 40 minutes of the game but the goal at the end of the first half really hurt us. We were not able to recover from that afterwards.”
Bush and defender Calum Mallace, made their MLS debuts. Midfielder Sinisa Ubiparipovic joined them in the starting XI, replacing Patrice Bernier, who was suspended by the league for a foul committed in Wednesday’s match versus Toronto FC.
Bush, making his first appearance in MLS as the Impact’s starting goalkeeper, made a spectacular diving stop with his right hand in the 20th minute when Brazilian forward Maicon Santos fired a left-footed blast, going top corner far post, from 35 yards out down the right flank.
Five minutes later, the ball deflected off of the post to Bush’s left after deflecting off of a Montreal defender, after De Rosario tried to find a teammate with a through ball.
In the 11th minute, forward Sanna Nyassi had the Impact’s best chance of the first half when he was played a ball down the centre of field. Dribbling for 10 yards, the Gambian international slowed up right near the 18-yard box, and fired a low, left-footed shot that D.C. keeper Bill Hamid deflected out of bounds, diving to his left.
This was the second meeting between these two clubs at RFK Stadium this season, with the first encounter ending in a 1-1 draw on April 14.
Next games
After a charged month of June, the Impact embark on a stretch of seven games in the month July, five of which are set for Stade Saputo, beginning with the club’s next game versus Sporting Kansas City, on July 4, at 7pm (ET). New season ticket packages for all matches at Stade Saputo, as well as mini-season packages, are available via impactmontreal.com, or by calling 514-328-3668. Individual tickets are also available via admission.com or by calling 514-790-1245.
In addition, the Impact U21 team takes on Kingston FC this Sunday, at 2pm (ET) at CS St-Jean-Vianney, in RDP. The game is open to the public and admission is free of charge. The Impact is second in the Canadian Soccer League standings with a record of 4-1-3.
Highlights: DC 3, MTL 0
Lineups
MTL: GK – Evan Bush; D – Shavar Thomas, Zarek Valentin, Tyson Wahl, Calum Mallace (Jeb Brovsky 45’); M – Davy Arnaud, Felipe (Marco Di Vaio 45’), Collen Warner (Hassoun Camara 68’), Sinisa Ubiparipovic 76, Justin Mapp; F – Sanna Nyassi
Subs not used: GK – Donovan Ricketts; M – Lamar Neagle; F – Justin Braun, Eduardo Sebrango
DCU: GK – Bill Hamid; D - Daniel Woolard; Robbie Russell, Brandon McDonald, Dejan Jakovic; M - Andy Najar, Dwayne De Rosario (Nick DeLeon 75’), Perry Kitchen, Branko Boskovic (Lewis Neal 60’), F - Maicon Santos (Hamdi Salihi 79’), Chris Pontius
Subs not used: GK – Joe Willis, D - Emiliano Dudar, M – Marcelo Saragosa, Danny Cruz;
GOALS:
DCU – Pontius (De Rosario) 46’
DCU – Russell (Boskovic) 50’
DCU – Hamdi Salihi (unassisted) 91’
CAUTIONS:
MTL – Warner 48’
MTL – Arnaud 84’
MTL – Valentin 89’
