In a huge battle for playoff positioning in the Eastern Conference, a late equalizer gave the Montreal Impact a vital road point in their 1-1 draw with the Philadelphia Union at Talen Energy Stadium.
Matteo Mancosu's header off a scramble after a corner in the 88th minute did the job for the Impact, who remained three points behind Philadelphia in fifth place in the Eastern Conference.
The Impact had started the game with Didier Drogba on the bench, and with backup keeper Eric Kronberg playing in place of the suspended Evan Bush, who was red-carded in the Impact's 4-1 loss to Orlando City in midweek. And Philadelphia had dominated most of the match up until Mancosu rescued the visitors.
Box Score
- 45' – PHI – Tranquillo Barnetta (Fabian Herbers, Alejandro Bedoya)
- 88' – MTL – Matteo Mancosu (Donny Toia, Hernan Bernardello)
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Three Things
- KEEP IT SHORT: The tying goal came off a short corner, which seemed to confuse the Philadelphia defense. Harry Shipp had just floated a corner into the box, which Laurent Ciman headed off a Philadelphia defender and out for another corner. On that one, Shipp played it back for Hernan Bernardello, who played it into the box. With Didier Drogba not even in the penalty box, Donny Toia headed the ball toward the back post and Warren Creavalle failed to get a foot on it before Matteo Mancosu headed it in.
- THE TEST WASN'T HARD: With a backup goalkeeper in the net for Montreal, you'd think the Union would press the issue and throw shots on goal from everywhere to test Eric Kronberg, who hadn't started a game in 51 weeks. But Kronberg only had to make two saves, which doesn't seem like a lot.
- HE GAVE AS GOOD AS HE GOT: C.J. Sapong was a workhorse for the Union, and he was a physical force throughout. Playing as the Union's sole forward, Sapong was fouled three times, and he committed three fouls and got a yellow card.
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