2008 Jul 13 2008 Jul 13
Montreal Impact 0 - 1 Seattle Sounders
Saputo Stadium, Montreal, QC
Montreal: Matt Jordan; Adam Braz (Severino Jefferson 80'), Cédric Joqueviel, Nevio Pizzolitto, Simon Gatti (Leonardo Di Lorenzo 29'); David Testo, Leduc (Pato Aguilera 88'), Tony Donatelli (Mauro Biello 78'), Joey Gjertsen; Rocco Placentino, Roberto Brown. Substitutes not used: Andrew Weber, Stefano Pesoli, Sita-Taty Matondo.
Seattle: Chris Eylander; Danny Jackson, Kevin Sakuda, Noah Merl, Zach Scott; Michael Rodríguez, Kenji Treschuk, Youssouf Kante (Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar 69'), Leighton O'Brien (Taylor Graham 85'); Josh Gardner (Jason Cascio 77'), Sébastian Le Toux. Substitutes not used: Ben Dragavon, Andre Schmid.
Goals:
73' SEA: Le Toux (O'Brien)
Additional match reports: Impact.
Match report from the Sounders:
A tired and road weary Seattle Sounders side earned a hard fought 1-0 victory at Saputo Stadium in Montreal, Sunday afternoon. A goal from Sébastien Le Toux in the 73rd minute sealed a much needed three points for Seattle who now return home and rest for five days before hosting the Rochester Rhinos on Friday, July 18. Kick-off at Starfire is set for 8:00 pm.
Coming into Montreal off a tough 1-0 loss to Rochester on Friday, Coach Schmetzer made several changes to a tired line-up playing their seventh game in 15 days. Taylor Graham received stitches over his eye from an elbow he received against the Rhinos and did not start.
Noah Merl got the start at left back, moving Zach Scott to a central position, and Michael Rodríguez played a defensive midfield position, pushing Kenji Treschuk forward. Youssouf Kante also got his third start of the season, on the right wing.
The Impact, facing a must win game sitting at the bottom of the table, controlled the opening 15 minutes, spending much of their time in the Sounders box. Chris Eylander was called into action on multiple occasions, making key saves to withstand the opening storm.
With 20 minutes on the clock, the Sounders began to assert some control over the game. Youssouf Kante was active on the right side attacking the Impact backline and covering a lot of ground to make key plays on defense as well.
But the half was controlled mostly by Montreal. The Impact outshot the Sounders by an 8-1 margin and it was only because of some excellent keeping on the part of Chris Eylander that the Impact did not find the back of the net.
The best chance for Montreal came in the 39th minute when Rocco Placentino played a cross from the left to striker Roberto Brown, who headed close range and on target, but Eylander reached high and pushed it over the goal.
The sides went into the half tied 0-0 and the Sounders extended their goalless streak in league play to 241 minutes.
Having withstood the opening half, the Sounders came out in the second with scoring chances. In the early minutes, Kevin Sakuda on the right wing just missed an open Le Toux in front of goal.
Youssouf Kante also got in on the action with a stellar effort from 25 yards in the 67th minute that was saved nicely by keeper Matt Jordan.
But Jordan could not stop Sébastien Le Toux, who had been held in check for most of the game, but got free in the 73rd and headed in a Leighton O'Brien cross. The play started with Hugo Alcaraz-Cuellar playing the ball into the box from the left side which was headed to the right by the Montreal defense, where Leighton O'Brien headed back across goal, where Le Toux was waiting all alone for the easy score. It was only the third goal scored at Saputo Stadium this season and Le Toux's seventh in USL play.
After the goal, the game began to get chippy. David Testo put a hard foul on Kenji Treschuk three minutes after the goal causing a minor scrum to break out between the two teams. Testo received a yellow card for the infraction.
The Seattle defense dug in for the final 15 minutes. In the 85th, Coach Schmetzer subbed in defensive leader Taylor Graham to put the clamp down on the Impact attack as Seattle has given up late goals when holding the lead on three other occasions this season.
Montreal had a great chance in the 87th when a deep cross to the far post found Placentino, but his volley went well wide.
The Impact created consecutive corners in the 89th but the Sounders defense held strong clearing the danger.
In 5 minutes of stoppage time, Seattle withstood great pressure and Chris Eylander covered up the final corner giving Seattle the 1-0 win.
The victory moved Seattle into a tie for third place in the USL-1 standings with the Vancouver Whitecaps. The Sounders were outshot 15 to 4, but Eylander made 10 saves to earn his sixth clean sheet of the season.
Statistics:
Montreal Seattle
Shots: 15 4
Saves: 10 1
Corners: 8 1
Fouls: 13 14
Offsides: 4 3
Misconduct:
21' SEA: Kante cautioned
34' MON: Donatelli cautioned
61' SEA: Treschuk cautioned
77' MON: Testo cautioned
77' MON: Brown cautioned
90' MON: Coach John Limniatis dismissed
Referees: Dave Gantar; Bedik Charchafian, Cameron Blair; Jonathan Lavergne
Attendance: 12, 890 (these were tickets sold, actual attendance was reported as about 8,000)
