The Montreal Impact didn't let this one get away. Then again, you could say the Portland Timbers had a hand in giving it away.
Ignacio Piatti's record-breaking brace on Saturday afternoon fueled a 4-1 victory for the Impact over a Timbers side that had to play most of the match shorthanded due to an early red card.
The Impact got up 1-0 in the 13th minute on Piatti's penalty kick -- his 35th MLS goal, tying Marco Di Vaio's team record -- and then went up a man in the 18th when Portland midfielder Diego Chara was sent off for a hand to Piatti's face.
Montreal then made it 2-0 in the 43rd when Kyle Fisher -- his head bandaged after an earlier collision with Portland's Fanendo Adi -- leaped to head in Blerim Dzemaili's corner kick. The Timbers refused to go away, though, and pulled one back on Diego Valeri's header in the first minute of stoppage time.
Piatti responded just over four minutes into the second half, working free near the top of the penalty area and putting his shot just inside the right post to break Di Vaio's mark and restore the Impact's two-goal margin. Ambroise Oyongo added an extra layer of insurance with a one-time strike in the 77th minute.
Goals
- 13' - MTL - Ignacio Piatti (PK) (WATCH)
- 43' - MTL - Kyle Fisher (WATCH)
- 45+1 - POR - Diego Valeri (WATCH)
- 50' - MTL - Ignacio Piatti (WATCH)
- 77 - MTL - Ambroise Oyongo (WATCH)
Three things
- IS THE BLOOM OFF THE ROSE CITY?: Portland opened the 2017 campaign on a tear, winning their first three matches and losing only one of the first six -- but in the six matches since then, the Timbers have gone 1-3-2 and are on a four-match winless skid. Goal production -- or lack of it -- has a lot to do with their recent run of subpar form; after ringing up 16 goals in those first six matches, Portland are averaging a goal a match over their last six.
- MONTREAL'S 10,000-MINUTE MAN: One minute after defender Hassoun Camara came on as an 84th-minute sub for the Impact, he became Montreal's first player to surpass the 10,000-minutes mark in MLS action. Camara has been a fixture for all of the Impact's six seasons in the league -- and before that was the team MVP for their final North American Soccer League season in 2011.
- PLEASURE AND PAIN: Kyle Fisher will have a good story to tell about his first career MLS goal. The second-year defender gave Montreal fans a scare when he spent several minutes on the pitch following his collision with Portland's Fanendo Adi in the 34th minute, but as it turned out, much of that time was spent getting his head bandaged for a nasty-looking cut. The injury didn't appear to bother him at all when he headed in a corner kick from 12 yards in the 43rd minute, but TV audiences got another look at the cut shortly after that when Fisher had to come off again and have the bandage adjusted.
Next up
- MTL - Tuesday, May 23 at Vancouver Whitecaps (Canadian Championship), time TBD (TSN1)
- POR - Saturday, May 27 at Seattle Sounders, 2:30 p.m. ET (FOX)
