The Montreal Impact started off its CONCACAF Champions’ League group stage with a 1-0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes Wednesday night, in front of 15,115 spectators at Stade Saputo, despite some heavy rainfall.
Defender Hassoun Camara scored the game’s lone goal in the 16th minute. The Frenchman scored off of a header when the Impact’s newest Designated Player Hernán Bernardello played a free-kick from 25 yards out that found Camara inside the box, beating Quakes keeper David Bingham in the top right corner.
Goalkeeper Evan Bush stopped a penalty shot in the 10th minute to preserve the shutout, diving to his left to parry the low shot by Quakes forward Alan Gordon.
Post-game comments
“We were solid tonight. Defensively, we did really well and we scored that one goal we needed that made the difference,” said Impact head coach Marco Schällibaum. “We created a few scoring chances, but the important thing is the result. The team was ready for this game and we did well, even though we had a number of players with their first taste of Champions League.”
“You want to win your first game at home starting the group stage in this tournament,” said Impact midfielder Patrice Bernier. “It was a good start for us and will bring us some good momentum moving forward.”
“The game got a little choppy, but at the same time, we were able to deal with that,” said Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush. “We didn’t get frustrated by it, played the game the way we needed to and scored a goal to win the game. We saw that our depth played an important role in this game tonight.”
