Kenya's captain Victor Wanyama debuted with an assist for Montreal Impact against C. D. Olimpia on Tuesday in a Concacaf Champions League quarter-final tie at the Stade Olympique.
C.D. Olimpia upset Wanyama and his new teammates to a loss with the first goal from Jerry Bengston before getting the second in the Jorge Benguche in the first half.
Wanyama made the assist in the 48th minute for Algerian player Saphir Taider who fired home from about 30 yards out to beat the Olimpia goalkeeper with a cracker.
Wanyama's head coach Thierry Henry blasted his boys for how they conceded the goals in the first leg encounter.
“A game is played in 90 minutes, not on 45. We can’t concede the goals we took,” the former Arsenal and Barcelona striker told ProSoccer USA after the match.
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“It’s tough to win a football game when we take these kinds of goals. I call them schoolboy errors.”
The Major League Soccer (MLS) side suffered a controversial call in the last stages of the second half when Olimpia defender Maylor Nunez looked to have committed a handball in the six-yard box.
But referee Adonai Escobedo changed his earlier decision from a penalty to a goal kick. After a conversation with the assistant referee, Escobedo decided to award the Canadian side a corner kick.
Henry did not want to talk about the referee's call.
“I’m not talking about the referee,” replied the Frenchman.
The Harambee Stars captain's Impact teammates Taider and Samuel Piette also spoke about the home loss.
“Of course, it’s frustrating but it goes by so fast. We don’t really have time to think about it during the game,” Taider said.
“We gotta try to refocus one moment later to try and score the second goal. They are refereeing decisions that we need to respect. It’s part of football.”
“Nothing is over, we still have a return leg with 90 minutes to play,” stated Piette.
“Yes, it’s our first loss in 2020 but we ended the game like we wanted to. I think that we sent Olimpia a message that we’ll be giving them a hard time over there."
Impact will be hosted at a neutral ground, San Pedro Sula, for the return leg on March 18.
