MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact picked up their second win of the MLS season this Saturday, defeating FC Dallas by a 2-1 score at Stade Saputo.
Ignacio Piatti, on a penalty kick, and Jack McInerney both scored their second goals of the season in the win, Montreal’s first-ever over FC Dallas in four attempts. Matt Hedges replied with his first of the campaign for the visitors as they applied heavy pressure late on, but saw their comeback bid fall short.
The Impact (2-3-2, 8pts) will spend the night in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, a point above last-place New York City FC. West-leading FC Dallas (6-3-3, 21pts), who lost for the first time in six games, maintain their top spot in the West after Seattle and Vancouver failed to take advantage of their misstep.
Montreal opened the scoring in the 25th minute through Piatti, who’d missed a penalty kick last week in a 4-1 win over Real Salt Lake. Andres Romero sprinted to a lost ball near the Dallas penalty area and nutmegged Hedges, running past him. Moises Hernandez ran back to challenge Romero, but knocked him to the floor from behind. Referee Chris Penso’s assistant snapped his flag to signal the foul, and Piatti duly converted to the right of FC Dallas goalkeeper Dan Kennedy.
The Impact showed defensive hustle, pressing FC Dallas intensely in the early going. But FCD found opportunities when breaking the first or second line of pressure, often through playmaker Mauro Diaz. FCD also threatened on set plays, winning three successive corner kicks near the quarter-hour mark and leaving Montreal scrambling to clear.
But FC Dallas struggled to get going after falling behind and they conceded a second just after the break. On a quick counter, McInerney cut in from the left and played a give-and-go with Piatti. Facing away from the goal, Piatti quickly laid off the ball back to McInerney, who curled a low shot inside the right post past a diving Kennedy and a sliding defender.
Set plays eventually did hurt the Impact. In the 77th minute, Montreal failed to clear a free kick and FC Dallas forward Tesho Akindele put a foot to it, forcing goalkeeper Evan Bush into a save, but Hedges roofed the rebound.
Dallas came close to equalizing on several occasions, mostly when Bush pulled off a Save-of-the-Week quality stop on a Blas Pérez header minutes before full time. But Montreal hung on, albeit nervously.
FC Dallas play the second of five straight road games next Friday, May 29, at Sporting Kansas City (9 pm ET, UniMas). Montreal will hit the road as well on Saturday, May 30, when they visit the Fire in Chicago (8:30 pm ET, MLS LIVE).
