SANTA ANA, El Salvador -- Marco Di Vaio scored two goals and assisted on the other to lift the Montreal Impact to a 3-2 victory over El Salvador's C.D. FAS in CONCACAF Champions League play on Wednesday night.
New Impact Designated Player Ignacio Piatti impressed in his CONCACAF Champions League debut, as his fine play led to all three Impact goals, including the penalty-kick winner, scored after Piatti was fouled in the box.
Andres Romero also scored for the Impact, who are 2-0-0 against the Salvadorian side after beating FAS in Montreal 1-0 earlier this month. Di Vaio scored the lone goal of that match.
Jorge Moran and Marcio Teruel replied for FAS.
Di Vaio's second goal of the night, on a penalty kick at the 60-minute mark, broke a 2-2 tie.
Romero opened the scoring, sending a pass from Di Vaio past El Salvador goalkeeper Adolfo Menendez seven minutes into the match. Di Vaio gave the Impact a 2-0 advantage one minute later on a pass from Ignacio Piatti.
But FAS stormed back, cutting Montreal's lead to 2-1 before halftime with a goal from Moran in the 33rd minute. Teruel scored on a penalty kick in the 51st minute to tie the game.
Goalkeeper Evan Bush was jubilant after the win.
“It feels great this time coming down here after not getting the result we wanted last year,” Bush told the Montreal Impact website. “We showed a lot of progress recently and not letting them back in the game after that third goal was great for us. We knew they wouldn’t give up no matter the score.”
Montreal hosts the New York Red Bulls on Sept. 17 in its next CONCACAF match.
The Red Bulls open their CONCACAF play against FAS next week.
Striker Jack McInerney once again sat out, as the Impact when with a lineup of: GK-Evan Bush; D-Karl W. Ouimette, Wandrille Lefèvre (Issey Nakajima-Farran 71’), Matteo Ferrari, Krzysztof Krol; M-Patrice Bernier, Felipe, Andrés Romero, Dilly Duka (Calum Mallace 45’), Ignacio Piatti and F-Marco Di Vaio (Maxim Tissot 76’).
-With a file from The Canadian Press
