He would not be the only Impact player sent off. Montreal would have only eight men left when the final whistle blew.

“We took it seriously this evening,” said Impact gaffer Marco Schallibaum. “They played aggressively with a lot of will. With a little luck we could have scored five or six. We fought through to the end.”

“He whistled for a penalty and then he was influenced by the fourth official who said he didn't think it was,” Schallibaum said following the game. “For me it's a scandal because a decision was made and then all of a sudden it's not a penalty. It was something that changed the game even though we did not play a strong first half and we were unlucky on the penalty to Hassoun.”

The fat lady hasn't sung yet but the Montreal Impact might be hearing someone practising scales backstage after dropping a 3-0 decision to the San Jose Earthquakes in CONCACAF Group 5 play in front of a sparse crowd at Buck Shaw Stadium.

New England starting 'keeper Matt Reis was given a straight red for his tackle on Marco Di Vaio, in alone after being declared offside on two occasions earlier. After Bobby Shuttleworth replaced Reis and midfielder Chad Barrett had his night terminated, Patrice Bernier stepped up to the spot and, using the hesitant approach to the ball that has yet to fail him in MLS, slowly rolled the ball inside the left post after Shuttleworth had committed the other way.

“Piscu” spent less time in the game than Schallibaum had expected he would. Turfed in the 45th minute for a late, studs-up, tackle from behind on Cordoba, his absence forced Montreal to send in Hassoun Camara and pull Felipe from the midfield as it became a 10-man side for the balance of the match.

Challenging to the very end, Montreal’s last attempt came on a set play in the third of four minutes of added time. Romero’s cross sailed into the six-metre box and was met by Matteo Ferrari. The Italian central defender headed it towards the inside of the near post, picking a spot that was defended by five-foot-eight, 146-pound Rolfe rather than Johnson, a six-foot-three, 217-pounder.

“We had to do what was best for our club. We’ve played three games in eight days,” Watson said before mentioning that the lineup Schallibaum sent out came as a bit of a surprise. "We didn’t expect them to field their A-team.”

The Swiss defender, although not the only man to contribute to the loss, turned in a performance that will have fans and critics asking why local products Maxim Tissot and Karl Ouimette are not seeing more minutes.

“When you dominate the whole match the way we did and you don’t win it hurts a bit,” he admitted. “But our level of performance was very high tonight Justin and Sanna were on fire all game and I think both wingers are pretty tired tonight because they were going for the goal all game long."