The Montreal Impact took a huge step towards making North American soccer history in earning a 1-1 draw the Azteca Stadium in the first leg of the Concacaf Champions League final on Wednesday.
An 89th-minute header from Mexican international Oribe Peralta took the shine off what would have been a perfect night for Frank Klopas’ team but even with the disappointment of that late equaliser, Montreal will still be delighted to head home on level terms and with a potentially crucial away goal.
If they can finish off the task at the Olympic Stadium next week, Montreal will become the first Canadian team to become Concacaf champions and the first MLS team to win the competition since it adopted its league format in 2008.
The Concacaf Champions League has rarely captured the imagination of the North American soccer fan but this Montreal team deserves enormous credit for the way they have handled the hostile environments that road trips in this region provide.
Few are more hostile than the Azteca Stadium, the cavernous venue high up in Mexico City, where the passion of the home fans allied with the thin-air at altitude so often prove too much for visiting teams.
But the Impact, yet to win in their four games in MLS so far this season, started with a confidence that bordered on swagger.
They took the lead in the 16th minute when Ghanaian winger Dominic Oduro broke down the right flank, slipped a pass across the penalty area which Dilly Duka wisely left for Ignacio Piatti, who squeezed the ball into the bottom corner.
The Argentine designated player Piatti, instrumental throughout the first half, knows how to handle the big occasion, having won the Copa Libertadores with San Lorenzo last year.
Piatti’s intelligent movement, close touch and precise passing turn Montreal from a workmanlike team into one with a touch of sophistication to their counter-attacks.
MLS teams had managed only two wins in their previous 41 competitive games in Mexico but Montreal looked far from over-awed.
Not surprisingly America created the better chances though as they pushed forward in search of an equaliser.
The lively Darwin Quintero put Michael Arroyo through on goal in the 26th minute and the forward finished in style but the linesman, rather harshly, ruled him offside.
At the other end, Piatti ended a brilliant solo run on the break with an ambitious chip that fell wide.
If America felt hard done by with the offside decision they were certainly fortunate to survive with 11 men on the field after Oduro, clear on goal, was pulled down by Osvaldo Martinez, who somehow escaped with only a caution.
America’s Argentine striker Dario Benedetto should have done better with a header when he was left unattended which he put straight in the arms of Evan Bush and Peralta couldn’t get enough contact on a diving attempt from close range.
It seemed as though Montreal’s luck was in when Rubens Sambueza struck the underside of the bar in the 69th minute but after 20 minutes of possession and pressure, a tiring Montreal finally cracked.
Sambueza floated over a free kick from the left and Peralta rose above the rather stationary Calum Mallace to head in the equaliser.
Sparked into life by the goal, the Mexicans sensed the chance of another and efforts from Martin Zuniga and Arroya forced Bush into late action.
It would have been cruel though on the Impact if they left without their hard-earned draw and the chance to complete a major upset on their home turf next Wednesday.
With a sell-out crowd of 59,020 in store, for once it will be time for the Mexicans to feel wary about a road trip.
