Montreal Impact Atop Eastern Conference After Win in Portland

March 9, 2013; Portland, OR, USA; Montreal Impact midfielder Andrea Pisanu (31) jumps over Portland Timbers player Andrew Jean-Baptiste in the second half at Jeld-Wen Field. Mandatory Credit: Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports

The Montreal Impact continued to showcase their diverse new attack, bolstered in the offseason, as they surged to the top of the Eastern Conference standings for the first time in team history with their second straight victory in Cascadia on Saturday night. After surprising the Seattle Sounders last weekend at CenturyLink Field, the Impact came to JELD-WEN Field and outclassed the Portland Timbers for a 2-1 victory.

Portland had the advantage in the first half-hour of play, but a spectacular bicycle kick deflated the home crowd of more than 20,000 fans. A hard foul on Andrea Pisanu had earned Darlington Nagbe a yellow card and gave Montreal a free kick just outside the right edge of the box. The Timbers failed to clear the kick into the area, and French fullback Hassoun Camara was there to contort his body for the acrobatic goal.

Portland thought they should have had a spot kick before the intermission, but the referee waved on play after Sanna Nyassi pulled down Ryan Miller in the penalty area. The incensed crowd was displeased by the verdict, and the score remained 1-0 at halftime.

The second goal for Montreal came a quarter-hour into the second half, again against the run of play. With the Timbers pressing forward hunting for the equalizer, Patrice Bernier pressed into the vacant midfield space and found Andres Romero — who had only come on the minute before as a substitute for Andrea Pisanu — with a pinpoint pass. Romero surged toward goal before flicking the ball back to a waiting Felipe Martins. Teeing up the shot, Martins easily beat Donovan Ricketts at the near post.

The Timbers would continue to press forward, gaining almost twenty quality chances by the time the final whistle blew. Impact goalkeeper Troy Perkins, traded last season from Portland, was a constant thorn in the side of the Rose City hosts, thwarting all but one of those chances. Ryan Johnson took Ben Zemanski’s through ball and cleanly beat Perkins to halve the score. In stoppage time Nagbe came close to completing Portland’s second comeback draw in a row, but his blast was absorbed cleanly by Perkins without a rebound.

The result showed that Montreal is indeed on their way toward Eastern Conference contention, further along than even the most optimistic prognosticators could have foreseen. Portland, on the other hand, now has just one point after two matches in the Caleb Porter era.

MONTREAL IMPACT @ PORTLAND TIMBERS

JELD-WEN Field
March 9, 2013
Attendance: 20,674

SCORING

• 30′ — MTL/Hassoun Camara (unassisted)
• 60′ — MTL/Felipe Martins (Andres Romero, Patrice Bernier)
• 80′ — POR/Ryan Johnson (Ben Zemanski, Diego Chara)

STARTING LINEUPS

• POR (4-2-3-1): Donovan Ricketts; Michael Harrington (Rodney Wallace/86′), Mikael Silvestre, Andrew Baptiste, Ryan Miller (Jose Valencia/68′); Will Johnson, Diego Chara; Darlington Nagbe, Diego Valeri, Kalif Alhassan (Ben Zemanski/45′); Ryan Johnson
• MTL (4-1-4-1): Troy Perkins; Jeb Brovsky, Matteo Ferrari, Alessandro Nesta, Hassoun Camara; Patrice Bernier; Andrea Pisanu (Andres Romero/59′), Felipe Martins (Collen Warner/87′), Davy Arnaud, Sanna Nyassi; Marco Di Vaio (Andrew Wenger/75′)