The Montreal Impact conceded two goals in the last quarter-hour in their 3-1 loss Saturday night at New York City FC. But they know that the first half killed them.
Montreal were overwhelmed by NYCFC’s possession game and spent the first 45 minutes mostly chasing the ball as NYCFC dictated the play.
And while the the Impact conceded possession last weekend at Columbus Crew SC, they stayed composed, resulting in their first road win since 2013.
It was a much different display this Saturday at Yankee Stadium from head coach Frank Klopas’ men.
“The first half we came out, and I felt that, first of all we turned over a lot of balls,” Klopas told reporters postgame. “We didn’t have a rhythm at all where we could connect passes. We were off with our passes. Whether it was a little too far back, or too in front, or this, or that, we never got into some kind of rhythm. When you do that, our confidence dropped a little bit. But we were still in the game at 1-0.”
David Villa’s 31st-minute goal had been coming. NYCFC had already released four shots, and they added three before halftime.
But Montreal did come back into the game. Klopas replaced right back Victor Cabrera, who made his first start since April 11, with forward Anthony Jackson-Hamel. Nigel Reo-Coker dropped to Cabrera’s position, and Impact switched to a pure 4-4-2 and built some momentum.
“And then we make a mistake to give up a second goal,” Klopas said. “There’s nothing we can do. We scored the one goal that was a little bit too late, and then we lose a challenge in the middle, we get an opportunity to clear the ball and it bounces. Nothing went our way.”
Klopas saluted “the fight and the spirit” displayed by center back Wandrille Lefèvre, who committed a rare blunder that led Mix Diskerud’s goal in the 76th minute and rebounded with his first MLS goal to briefly make it a game at 2-1 in the 88th minute. Kwadwo Poku scored his first MLS goal two minutes later to put the game away for NYCFC.
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Laurent Ciman, who gave the assist for Lefèvre’s goal, argued that Montreal came into Yankee Stadium with the right mentality, yet still conceded “avoidable” goals.
“We were focused,” Ciman said. “We struggled because they played a certain way in midfield, but we knew about that. We struggled to get our bearings. Otherwise, it was all right. But we struggled to impose our way of playing. We overdid those long balls in the air.
“We should have imposed more of the play on the ground, and we didn’t,” he continued. “But it happens even to the very best. We made mistakes. We paid for them. We must not make them again in the next game.”
