ClapMontreal Impact continued their climb up the table with a compact 1-0 win over Chicago Fire at the Saputo Stadium on Saturday.
It was debutant Omar Browne who found the back of the net for the impact, as this was his first Major League Soccer appearance for the club ever since he joined the side on loan from CAI earlier this year.
And the Panama man had to come off the bench to do so as it was Maximiliano Urruti who had started up front for Impact, with Saphir Taider starting in midfield. For Chicago, Nicolas Gaitan started behind Nemanja Nikolic, while Bastian Schweinsteiger started at centre-back.
The game turned out to be a drab one before the goal, as both sides failed to make opportunities to create openings pay. They lacked the final pass and couldn’t break through when the chance arose.
They did get a few chances to lead though, but couldn’t do enough to score.
A big chance to take the lead fell Chicago’s way though and it started from a deep throw in from Montreal’s half. Gaitan managed to fire a volley from inside the box, drawing out a save from Evan Bush. It did drop to Nikolic whose shot smacked against the woodwork. It still wasn’t clear and it nearly fell to C.J. Sapong for handing Chicago a lead, but his shot was blocked by Samuel Piette.
The efforts put in by Bush and Piette did pay off as Browne had come for the injured Clement Bayiha in the 40th minute of the game.
The New Montreal signing showed bravery to take on two Chicago defenders near the touchline before firing a shot at Schweinsteger. The resulting effort was tapped home by the Panama man, as he celebrated by saluting the 15,758 in attendance at Saputo Stadium after his goal.
This was Chicago’s second consecutive defeat after their unbeaten streak of four games was snapped in half by New York City FC last week. This was also the second clean sheet that the men from the Windy City have conceded so far this season, with the previous coming against NYCFC themselves.
It also increased their winless away run to five games in the league, as they have lost three and have drawn once so far in this season.
The defeat left them at eighth in the league, only three points behind seventh-placed NYCFC. Chicago’s next game will see them travel to LAFC from the Western conference.
For Montreal, the result was their fifth clean sheet this season and they were even more gleaming signs of recovery ever since they lost 7-1 to Sporting KC last month. They are also yet to lose even once at home this season and they’re also yet to concede a single goal at home.
The win kept Montreal at second in the table, level on points with table toppers DC United, who too have 17 points on board.
The Canadian side will face two New York outfits in the next game, locking horns with NYCFC in the next game followed by a clash against New York Red Bulls.
