It was the indifference that might be the most worrying thing for the Reds as they finish their sixth straight year out of the playoffs — out of the announced 16,151 in attendance at BMO Field, the majority of the noise seemed to be coming from the 150-odd Impact fans in the visitors' section.

The Impact pressed the host Fire early, and took a 1-0 lead thanks to some guile from striker Marco Di Vaio, but the Impact’s experience in the defence was outweighed by its lack of movement, as it surrendered three unanswered goals.

Renteria was left wide open in the penalty area to direct Higuain's cross over Impact keeper Troy Perkins in the 92nd minute. And Higuain was given acres of space down the left side in which to engineer a cross, as veteran Alessandro Nesta inexplicably decided to lay off rather than take away the Argentine's space on the wing. It

“I think that we were able to control the game. We were organized, we made it hard on them, and we didn’t give much up. From the back all the way up I think a bunch of guys had good games and collectively they were organized, they kept things tight,” said head coach Jesse Marsch.

If tonight’s physically demanding game and the reaction of the fans in attendance at Saputo Stadium is any indication, there’s a mighty rivalry developing between the Houston Dynamo and the Montreal Impact.

Dropping a 2-1 decision to Chivas USA, Montreal fell victim to errant marksmanship, placing only four of its 14 shots on target, as well as to home-team gaffer Robin Fraser’s timely substitutions.

Saturday’s match also ended with a Red Bulls victory, this time a 2-1 triumph that had some of the 20,373 vocally registering their displeasure at the Impact’s inability to get the desired result, even after seeing the New York side play with 10 men for the final half hour of the game.

“I think we actually did a pretty good job in the second half. Actually the whole game wasn’t too bad, the second half was great,” Landon Donovan offered. “I’m guessing that if it was any of a number of other goalkeepers playing for them today it would have been a different score and we would have won but Donovan did a good job and they held on. I think a few players thought they had him on a few plays but he made some good saves and got them a point.”

A match against SKC? Sure loss, right? Wrong. The Impact won its first ever road game, 2-0 over the hosts and, frankly, put together the most impressive 90 minutes in the club’s short MLS history.

“They’re just here for a week and they’re heading back to Italy tomorrow. I saw my mother but my father was probably walking around the stadium somewhere. He has a difficult time watching me play.”