After falling behind on an Aaron Long first-half set-piece goal, the Montreal Impact clawed back with second-half goals from Zakaria Diallo and Maximiliano Urruti to best the New York Red Bulls, 2-1, at Red Bull Arena on Wednesday night.
In a hard-fought first half with only three shots on target between the teams, the Red Bulls grabbed the opener to take a 1-0 lead at the break. Long made the most of their 36th-minute opportunity, getting his head on the end of a perfectly-weighted Marc Rzatkowski free kick. Two minutes later, Tom Barlow nearly scored his first MLS goal, but Evan Bush was able to reflexively punch his point-blank shot over the crossbar. Barlow, leading USL Championship with eight goals in eight matches for Red Bulls II, was signed to the RBNY first team earlier in the day, and started the match.
The Impact got their equalizer (in similar fashion to Long's goal) in the 64th minute. Omar Browne worked a pass on a short set-piece play to Urruti, who sent a near-mirror-image of the Rzatkowski assist to Diallo for the headed finish. Then, in the 78th minute, Long pushed Anthony Jackson-Hamel in the box, and on the awarded penalty, Urruti converted to put the Impact up.
Adding injury to insult, Long suffered an apparent hamstring injury defending Urruti's attempt at a brace shortly after the PK, and had to be helped off the field. He didn't return to action, leaving the Red Bulls to face the last 14 minutes of action with just 10 men.
With the win, the Impact have captured their first regular-season result at Red Bull Arena in ten attempts — though they have scored a playoff win and CCL draw in Harrison.
Goals
- 36' – RBNY – Aaron Long | WATCH
- 64' – MTL – Zakaria Diallo | WATCH
- 79' — MTL — Maximiliano Urruti (PK) | WATCH
Three Things
- THE BIG PICTURE: After what looked like a reversal of early, rough fortunes with two straight wins, the Red Bulls swung the pendulum back, dropping a home match that looked to be in their control for the first hour. The Impact, who have now played nine of their first 12 matches on the road, got another away win to go 4-3-2 outside Stade Saputo. They're sitting third place in the East — and they're doing it without Ignacio Piatti.
- MOMENT OF THE MATCH: Urruti finally got his first goal of 2019. It took a PK to get there, but it put the Impact up with what would turn out to be the winning goal.
- MAN OF THE MATCH: Credit Urruti for getting into a groove late and Browne for lively play in his nearly 75 minutes on the pitch, but credit Diallo even more for a crucial goal and some powerful defense.
Next Up
- RBNY: Saturday, May 11 at FC Dallas (2 pm ET | Univision, Twitter, DAZN in Canada)
- MTL: Saturday, May 11 at FC Cincinnati (1 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+, TSN, TVAS in Canada, FloFC in Cincinnati)
