From Canada Kicks website
Sudden
Impact
Lynx lose twice to
Montreal and fall further behind.
by David Bailey, Special to
CanadaKicks
Francisco Dos Santos is invisible while his striking partner Kristian Grzetic, after two early goals, has not produced of late either. With Colombian striker Juan Arango out with a chronic hamstring problem and Aaron Benjamin yet to hit the scoresheet in his substitute roll, head coach Peter Pinizzotto is fast running out of options.
That said, the season is still young and the Lynx went into Saturday nights return leg of a home and home match-up with the Montreal Impact only two games under .500 knowing that victory in front of a hometown crowd would do wonders for the club's fast plummeting fortunes.
Such was not to be the case as the Impact efficiently capitalized on their opportunities to dismantle the Lynx by a score of 3-1 on goals by Martin Dugas, Niall Thompson and George Papandreou while Joe Mattacchione registered the lone marker for the home side before 2,265 disappointed spectators.
It took Montreal only 15 minutes to make an impact on the match when Sunny Nwachvkwu sent a cross into the Toronto box. Martin Dugas rose to the floating ball and powered a header past a diving and helpless Theo Zagar in the Toronto nets.
The Lynx appeared to tie the match in the 50th minute when a Robbie Arristodemo long ball was flicked on by Adrian Serioux with Grzetic heading the ball home only to have the play called back on a highly debatable off-side call. Toronto coach Peter Pinizzotto was very upset by the decision stating "It looked pretty good from where I was. I want to the see the tape but I thought it was a very poor call. None of the Montreal players were complaining. I though it looked like a good goal but when things go bad, they go bad."
Thirteen minutes later Montreal scored their insurance goal with Niall Thompson flicking a Nick DeSantis free-kick over a Zagar that was caught off his line. Thompson said, "(DeSantis) swung it in and I just got my head on it. Thank god it went in."
Toronto finally broke through in the 74th minute on a Joe Mattacchione free kick that appeared to bounce twice before ending up behind a stunned Chris Sutton in the Montreal goal.
However, any Lynx joy was short lived as less than a
minute later, a free-kick from Mauro Biello was converted into a goal via
a bicycle kick from the Impact's Greek import, George Papandreou. He
commented, "Biello sent me a high pass. I stopped the ball with my chest
and hit the ball in
the air not with power but over the
keeper."
Niall Thompson was free with his compliments on the club's new striker, "We work well together. He takes a bit of pressure off me (by) holding the ball and winning headers. It's enjoyable to play with him."
Impact head coach Valerio Gazzola added "(George) comes in with a lot of emotion. When you have a guy like that up front, the players are really up for the games. You can't let down."
Gazzola was relieved to come up with the result, "It's our first road win (of the season) - better late than never but we want the team to get on a roll. Now we've won four of our last five games. It's good to see everybody on all cylinders and really playing well."
Regarding the slow start to the season Gazzola commented, "A lot of the players came from indoors (and) were not game fit for outdoor soccer. We would die near the end (of matches) and not do the most obvious things on an outdoor field. Now, everyone is picking up their game and on an even keel for playing 90 minutes of soccer."
While the Lynx did at times control play and achieve scoring opportunities, head coach Peter Pinizzotto was appropriately unhappy with the result commenting, "The bottom line is we lost. Every time (Montreal) had a chance, they scored. We played yesterday in Montreal and had a good game. We came back here today and were a little bit tired (but) that's no excuse. Everybody hates losing. We're all disappointed."
Regarding the strength of Montreal and their resurgence Pinizzotto said, "Montreal has a little more depth on their roster. We have a young team. Our boys coming off the bench are not as experienced as the Montreal players but I thought they played well."
By scoring only one goal today, the Lynx now have a total of four goals in seven matches, totals equalled individually by both Niall Thompson and George Papandreou. On the lack of scoring productivity from the side, Pinizzotto stated bluntly, "We're the worst team in the league."
Notes: After Friday nights loss to the Impact at the CCR, the Lynx were scheduled to take the train back to Toronto. Unfortunately for them, and due to the typically treacherous Friday night Montreal traffic jams, the Lynx missed their 11:30pm departure forcing the club to overnight and depart on the 6:30am not arriving in Toronto until 11:00am. While Pinizzotto was quick not to blame the travel for the teams' struggle on the field, it certainly can't have been a help ..... the Impact started the season with a horrific 0 and 5 record but have since bounced back with a vengeance having won four of their last five matches leaping into third place in the Northern Conference with 18 points while the Lynx stay mired in the basement with only eight points in seven games ..... the Lynx now hit the road for a three game road trip starting in Pittsburgh on Friday night. Their next home game is against the Vancouver Whitecaps on Friday, July 6th in a match that will be telecast nationally on Sportsnet ..... the Impact's next match is on June 22nd versus the Raging Rhinos in Rochester and can be seen live on RDS.
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