Last Saturday, the three Impact teams playing in the Development Academy started their season in the best way, with three wins against the FC Westchester teams at Centre Nutrilait.
Impact U17 – A win at the death
The Impact U17 was the first team to play and they won a hard-fought match in the last moments of the game by a 3-1 score line.
Despite many Impact chances in the first half and a good control of the game, the visitors were the first to score on a counterattack. The hosts quickly replied on a penalty converted by Calin Calaidjoglu.
We had to wait until the end of the game to see head coach Nicolas Gagnon’s team take the lead. After cutting in front of the defender, Woobens Pacius lobbed the ball from outside the box over the goalkeeper, who came off his line, and scored. Three minutes later, in stoppage time, Mouhamadou Kane scored the insurance goal by taking advantage of a miscommunication between the defender and the goalkeeper to take the ball and score in an empty net.
“We started the first half well, we had control of the game, but couldn’t finish,” said midfielder Yannick Laurent. “In the second half, they were better, but we scored two goals at the end of the game to win. We can still improve on certain things, but we start in the right way.”
Impact U15 – Successful start
For the first time ever, the Montreal Impact has a third team, the Impact U15, in the Development Academy.
Serge Dinkota’s team did not waste any time to find its pace in this new league and won 2-1.
Midfielder Rida Zouhir opened the score in the beginning of the game with a strong and low free kick in the left of the net.
Westchester tied the game, but midfielder Tomas Giraldo scored on a good cutback by defender Enzo Eullaffroy to give his team the lead once again.
At the end of the game, Westchester had two good chances, but goalkeeper Samuel Banfi made two important saves to help his team keep all three points.
“It was our first game and I think we were excellent in the first half,” said Samuel Banfi. “We were in their zone and played really well. We could have done better in the second half, but in general it was a good game.”
Impact U19 – A clear win
The older kids won 4-0 with a good control of the game, giving its opponent no chance to come back.
Midfielder Mathieu Choinière was the first to score in the first half, on a low strike from outside the box. Back from the locker room, midfielder Tristano Fasulo also scored with a shot from outside the box to make it 2-0.
Later in the game, defender Daniel Kinumbe got the ball behind the defence and beat the opposing goalkeeper down low. In the last minutes of the game, winger Protais Mutambala also contributed by scoring the game’s fourth goal.
“We worked really hard during preseason and the game went well for us today,” said Protais Mutambala. “We got more space in the second half and found our pace. We found the depth and the width and attacked more often.”
Next games
The Impact will play its next games of the season on the road, this Sunday, as the three teams will visit Empire United, in West Henrietta, New York, starting at 10am. They will be back at Centre Nutrilait on Saturday, September 16, to host the teams from New England Revolution.
