Victor Wanyama and Montreal Impact earned a surprising 2-1 victory over Columbus Crew on Wednesday to record a first win in almost two months.
Lassi Lappalainen and Bojan Krkic were Montreal Impact’s scorers while Gyasi Zardes scored the only goal for Columbus Crew who were unbeaten this year at home. The loss also saw the hosts drop from the top of the Major League Soccer standings.
Lappalainen opened the scoring for Wanyama’s side in the 24th minute. The Finnish first sent a cross in for Bojan. Lappalainen was in a good position to head the rebound and the ball struck an opponent’s hand but the 22-year-old finished it off with a second attempt.
Columbus Crew who have nine wins, three losses and four draws, earned an equaliser a minute to the half-time break. Pedro Santos made his way from the midfield before eventually crossing the ball for Milton Valenzuela whose effort deflected off the face of Zardes for his 10th goal of the season.
Montreal Impact suffered an injury blow at the hour mark when Lappalainen – who has been a key figure for Thierry Henry’s side – was stretchered off and was replaced by Maxi Urruti.
Wanyama’s side was awarded a penalty in the 74th minute after a review by the Video Referee. Bojan had been taken down in the box and the former Barcelona star walked to the spot and scored against Andrew Tarbell with a low shot.
Henry was happy with the result but he believes it could have been even better.
“I believe in what I see, we had a good game and we need to carry on doing that. It’s always a good one when you win at the end,” Henry said in his post-match reaction.
“Could it have been better? Yes, obviously. But we had a solid game against Toronto and then we couldn’t capitalize on that, so let’s keep our feet on the ground.”
On his part, Columbus boss Caleb Porter stated they lost points to opponents they should not have fallen to.
“Unfortunately, it happens in MLS,” Porter said.
“You see these results, but if you want to be a team that’s fighting for trophies at the end, it can’t happen. I firmly believe that those things happen when you’re not in the right mindset.
“This is your classic MLS result where the team at the top of the table plays the team at the bottom of the table, little trap game you see it all the time, and we’re better than that.
“The best teams don’t lose this game.”
Montreal Impact will face Philadelphia Union on October 11.