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MLS Week 8 review: Remi Garde leads Montreal forward

By Harrison Hamm

HARRISON, NJ - APRIL 14: Head Coach Remi Garde of Montreal Impact expresses his feelings about a call by the referee during the Major League Soccer match between Montreal Impact and New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena on April 14, 2018 in Harrison, NJ. The New York Red Bulls won the match with a score of 3 to 1. (Photo by Ira L. Black/Corbis via Getty Images)
HARRISON, NJ - APRIL 14: Head Coach Remi Garde of Montreal Impact expresses his feelings about a call by the referee during the Major League Soccer match between Montreal Impact and New York Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena on April 14, 2018 in Harrison, NJ. The New York Red Bulls won the match with a score of 3 to 1. (Photo by Ira L. Black/Corbis via Getty Images) /
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MLS Week 8 saw more pain for a Montreal Impact side who are close to being a threat in the East, and a wacky game in Kansas City.

As cool as the MLS parley jersey initiative was, there’s only so many times you can watch the same two uniforms play against each other without getting bored. Week 8 review!

Montreal: On the brink

The Impact lost 5-3 at home to LAFC this week in a game that somehow beat Friday’s SKC-Vancouver absurdity in its level of craziness. Let’s go over the timeline:

  • After Daniel Lovitz scored an offside goal, Ignacio Piatti opened the scoring for Montreal with a ninth-minute volley. He would draw and score a penalty seven minutes later, giving the hosts an early 2-0 lead.
  • Former Impact captain Laurent Ciman answered for LAFC in the 24th minute by rocketing a free-kick into the top corner. He’s piked many a spot kick in his career, but he put everything behind this one for an absolute golazo. 2-1.
  • Victor Cabrera brought down an LA attacker in the box for a penalty and a red card. He was angry, and probably had a right to be — it was a soft penalty, just like Piatti’s was earlier. But ball don’t lie, and Evan Bush stoned Marco Urena’s PK.
  • Piatti secured a first-half hat-trick in the 43rd-minute, making it look easy as he split LA’s shaky central defense and gave the Impact a 3-1 lead heading into halftime. The Argentine was magnificent in this game.
  • Bob Bradley put Latif Blessing on the field in the second half, switching from a 3-4-3 formation to a hybrid 4-2-3-1 / 4-3-3. The attacking switch quickly paid off, as Benny Feilhaber scored in the 52nd-minute and Blessing helped force an own goal in 57th minute. Suddenly, the game is 3-3.
  • In the 83rd minute, Allen Chapman pointed to the spot again, this time for a Lovitz foul. Carlos Vela’s PK hit Bush straight in the hands, but it bounced back behind Bush and into the net. If there has ever been a penalty that should have been saved, it was that one.
  • Blessing sealed the deal in the 89th-minute. Piatti smashed the crossbar a minute later, but the game was lost for Montreal, who managed to blow the most dangerous lead in soccer (2-0) and a 3-1 lead in the same game.

Bush’s performance was a whirlwind that could warrant a bullet point list even longer than the one above.

Montreal will be disappointed to lose this game, obviously. They have two wins and five losses in seven matches, and you don’t get out of the Eastern Conference with results like that, even if five of those seven have been on the road. Remi Garde is still building his French Canadian empire. There are gonna be some bumps in the road.

Right now, their biggest problem is simple: They’re facing a talent deficiency. They don’t have the top-end talent in enough positions to compete with the league’s better teams, and while they partially made up for it under Mauro Biello with defensive-oriented tactics, they’re learning under Remi Garde that Piatti can only take you so far.

Ciman’s offseason departure further depleted a weak defensive corps. Their problems in that area were brutally highlighted by LAFC. Cabrera was shaky until he dove in and picked up that red. Raitala, playing out of position as a center-back, scored the own goal. LA had no problem creating space off the flanks against Lovitz and Chris Duvall.

Without a number 9 to play off, Piatti tends to get stranded up top next to Jeisson Vargas. The young Chilean has had his moments in MLS, but he doesn’t possess the gravity that can take the attention away from Piatti. They don’t have a midfielder who can distribute from high positions on the field and make threatening late runs, like they had with Blerim Dzemaili last year. Montreal need upgrades in a few places.

Fernando Torres is reportedly a target at striker, and they’ve been in the running for Lee Nguyen for months. One would also assume they’re looking for upgrades across the backline.

If they can add difference-makers in those places, they could jump back into playoff contention. Garde is a good manager who appears to have a vision, and Piatti is amazing. There’s a foundation. We’ll see if they can turn it into success.

I Fall Apart

The Vancouver Whitecaps played one of the worst halves of soccer you will ever see on Friday night in Kansas City. They failed to score on an empty net less than 10 minutes into the game and then got dominated over the next 30 minutes, falling down 3-0 to Sporting KC. That was bad enough, but a 40th-minute melee made everything worse: VAR handed red cards to not one but two Vancouver players, putting them down two men with 50 minutes to go.

SKC would go on to win 6-0, holding 80 percent possession and pelting 34 shots on Stefan Marinovic’s goal. They should have had a lot more than six goals, as Marinovic saved a penalty and stopped a number of other golden opportunities. Johnny Russell scored a hat trick and the ‘Caps finished with just one shot on target out of five.

Vancouver tried a 3-5-2 formation from the start that played more like a 5-1-2-1-2. Right wing-back Efrain Juarez, one of the players who would eventually be red carded, struggled, and Alphonso Davies looked out of place as a deep-sitting left wing-back. Without number 9 Kei Kamara, they had no one to hit long balls to and thus no coherent attacking plan.

The hosts ruthlessly took advantage. Russell was magnificent cutting in off the flanks, and while Khiry Shelton didn’t get on the scoreboard, he was again effective in the Marco Urena role: Pushing the opposing backline with hard runs and clean passing to open space for his teammates. Sporting’s attack has been a well-run machine despite the enduring disappointment of Yohan Croizet.

Next: The 10 best teams in MLS history

Awards

The best team in the league

NYCFC retain the title even after a 3-0 loss at Portland that saw them rest Yangel Herrera and Jesus Medina. Big win for Portland, who were much more solid defensively than they had been this season.

The worst team in the league

It’s going to have to be Minnesota United, who fell at Seattle on Sunday. They continue to be trash at defending, although they were better after Christian Ramirez entered.

Unheralded player of the week

The much-maligned Cristian Higuita played well for Orlando City in their 3-2 win over the Earthquakes. Defensive midfield has been a point of concern pretty much since OCSC’s inception, but Higuita was solid against San Jose, staying rooted to his position in front of the backline and walling off Chris Wondolowski and Danny Hoesen, who struggled to get meaningful touches.

Also in this game, rookie winger Chris Mueller added a goal and assist to his red-hot start to the season, furthering his grasp on what was supposed to be Justin Meram’s spot. Orlando still don’t defend well, but they’re talented and direct in the final third. It helps when you’re facing a team that can’t stay connected, at all.

Random result of the week

The Chicago Fire, as much as they’ve struggled, have two wins from three, and they beat the Red Bulls on the road this week. Goalkeeper Richard Sanchez, who had struggled up to this point, was a god in this game.

New York couldn’t find a goal at home despite accumulating most of the chances. Sound familiar?

Predictable result of the week

Believe it or not, Toronto FC’s reserve team is not competitive in MLS. A week after losing in Colorado 2-0, TFC’s second team went to Houston and got blasted 5-1. It was the Romell Quioto show for the Dynamo, as Quioto picked up a goal and two assists against a team that featured 17-year-old center-back Julian Dunn.

Toronto’s first team are already in Mexico, preparing to mount a comeback against Chivas de Guadalajara in the Concacaf Champions League final. They’re down 2-1 on aggregate, having given up two goals at home last week. It will be difficult.

Goalkeeper howler of the week

We circle back to Evan Bush now, who despite a penalty save and a number of other crazy stops, had a rough final 10 minutes. First, the penalty he probably should have done better with:

And the real howler, which sealed things up for LAFC:

Bush went through a full 34 game season in that 90 minute span.

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