MONTREAL – A gruesome injury to forward Saër Sène cast a dark cloud over a remarkable and crucial 1-0 win for the New England Revolution on Saturday afternoon, as they sent the Montreal Impact reeling to their third straight home loss.
The New England victory, which extended the Revs’ unbeaten streak to four games, keeps them very much in the playoff picture, as they reached the fifth position in the Eastern Conference with 45 points from 32 games, though the Philadelphia Union play D.C. United later on Saturday. Montreal, meanwhile, are stuck in fourth in the East with 46 points from 31 games.
José Gonçalves scored the only goal of the game in the 31st minute of an exciting first-half display, roughly 10 minutes after Sène was stretchered off with a serious left leg injury.
Sène’s studs appeared to get stuck in the newly-laid Stade Saputo grass as Impact right back Davy Arnaud challenged him in the penalty area. An eerie silence descended upon the crowd as nearly every player called to both benches for immediate help.
The injury could have interrupted the visitors' momentum, as Jay Heaps’ side took the initiative early and kept the game in Montreal’s half with Lee Nguyen dictating the play adeptly. But Gonçalves powered the ball home on a low cross by Nguyen that made its way through the goalmouth and past an unbalanced Juan Agudelo, who failed to connect with the ball.
Montreal created a good chance through Marco Di Vaio minutes before the break, but only found some real rhythm when Marco Schällibaum sent Felipe, Andrew Wenger and Blake Smith on before the hour mark.
Still, the Revs contained Montreal and created the better chances through Chris Tierney, who even hit the bar from a free kick given away by Hernan Bernardello - though Alessandro Nesta did head a Felipe corner kick just wide at the near post minutes later.
A midweek date with the Galaxy awaits the Impact in Los Angeles on Wednesday, October 16. The Revolution, for their part, will be back in action next Saturday, October 19, at Gillette Stadium, for the first game of a home-and-home against the Columbus Crew to end the regular season.
MLSsoccer.com Men of the Match
Rank |
Player |
What We Saw |
1 |
<span style="font-size:12px;"><a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/jose-goncalves" target="_blank">Jose Goncalves</a> (NE)</span> |
After the horrific injury to Sene and no goals to show for a dominant first half, the Revs could have let their heads hang. But their captain didn't let them, stepping up to score the winner and maintaining the team's composure in the 2nd half. |
2 |
<span style="font-size:12px;"><a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/andrew-farrell" target="_blank">Andrew Farrell</a> (NE)</span> |
Some rookies drop off as season goes. It's been the opposite with Farrell, who made countless defensive stops and was also excellent in his distribution. |
3 |
<span style="font-size:12px;"><a href="//www.mlssoccer.com/players/hernan-bernardello" target="_blank">Hernan Bernardello</a> (MTL)</span> |
Lively, tireless and clean on the ball. Too bad for Impact, the same can't be said about many of his teammates. |
