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MLS Features: Impact still perfect; rivalry week becomes parity week

 

The Sports Network

With the third week of the Major League Soccer regular season in the books, it's safe to say it wasn't exactly one for the ages.

The Montreal Impact continue to impress, while the league's so-called "rivalry week" failed to deliver the goods as we look back on the weekend that was in MLS.

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MONTREAL IMPACT STILL STREAKING

Count this observer as one who definitely didn't see this coming from the second-year Montreal Impact. Marco Schallibaum's club pulled out a 2-1 win in its home opener at Olympic Stadium against Canadian rivals Toronto FC.

Montreal struck first in the 34th minute after midfielder Andres Romero was dragged down in the penalty area, setting up a spot kick for the automatic Patrice Bernier, who easily buried it for the 1-0 lead.

Veteran forward Marco Di Vaio doubled the lead for the hosts on the stroke of halftime. TFC got one back, but the Impact held on for the victory again.

Schallibaum's team has shown mental and physical toughness over its three wins this season. The club didn't panic on Saturday when Toronto pulled to within one goal with almost 20 minutes to play and the team was able to see out the result in front of almost 40,000 home fans.

Montreal has learned to win on the road and if it can continue to make its home ground a difficult place to play, the club could be on its way to an outstanding season.

PHILADELPHIA STILL HAS REVOLUTION'S NUMBER

The Philadelphia Union won its second straight match on Saturday after grinding out a 1-0 win over the New England Revolution in sloppy conditions at PPL Park.

The game remained scoreless as the teams struggled to maintain possession, but Jack McInerney netted the only goal of the match in the 76th minute on a rebound to give the Union six points from a possible nine to start the season.

In eight all-time meetings with New England, Philadelphia has never lost, holding a 5-0-3 record against Jay Heaps' club.

Philadelphia appears to be turning a corner in John Hackworth's first full season as head coach. The Union showed resolve in coming up with an impressive 2-1 away win against the Colorado Rapids before notching their first home win of the season.

Last year, a game that played out like Saturday's would have ended in a loss for Philadelphia, but the team is playing with confidence under Hackworth and the new central defense pairing of Jeff Parke and Amobi Okugo has done extraordinarily well.

A huge test is on tap for Philadelphia on March 30 when the club travels to Harrison, NJ to take on a motivated Red Bull New York side.

RIVALRY WEEK FALLS A BIT SHORT

Speaking of Red Bull New York, the club kicked off "rivalry week" with a scoreless draw on Saturday against Atlantic Cup rivals D.C. United.

New York dominated possession for most of the match and had several chances, with Fabian Espindola smacking the crossbar on two occasions, but D.C. goalkeeper Bill Hamid put in an outstanding performance to save a point for his side.

Mike Petke's club has taken just two points from three matches this season and has squandered leads in its first two matches and will be motivated to put together a good performance against fellow I-95 rivals Philadelphia on March 30.

New York needs to take all three points against the Union to avoid falling into a deep early hole in the Eastern Conference standings.

Rookie Deshorn Brown got Colorado off to a good start against Rocky Mountain Cup rivals Real Salt Lake, but Alvaro Saborio bagged his third goal of the campaign with 10 minutes to play to give Salt Lake a 1-1 draw.

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