Camara returns to form in Impact's 2-0 win over Crew

Montreal Impact's Hassoun Camara, right, celebrates with teammate Laurent Ciman after scoring against the Columbus Crew SC during second half MLS soccer action in Montreal, Saturday, April 9, 2016. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Graham Hughes

After an injury-plagued 2015 season, Impact defender Hassoun Camara is off and running this year.

Camara scored his first goal of the 2016 Major League Soccer campaign on Saturday as the Montreal Impact beat the visiting Columbus Crew 2-0.

Back-to-back knee and hamstring injuries kept Camara out of the Impact lineup for much of last year. The Frenchman made five starts and played just 478 minutes in 2015.

"Every time I score, I'm happy," said Camara, who found the back of the net for the first time since July 24, 2014. "I talked a lot with the coach this week, who reminded me I can help the team offensively. And I have to do it. This is my job too.

"It's not just about Nacho (Piatti) or Dominic (Oduro). It's about us (defenders) too."

Camara, playing in his third consecutive match since the injury to fullback Ambroise Oyongo, headed home for Montreal in the 48th minute off a Lucas Ontivero corner kick.

The 32-year-old climbed above defender Harrison Afful and headed the ball cleanly into the corner of the net from about eight yards out -- the home side's first goal off a set piece this year.

"Him scoring that goal was a by-product of the training we did this week," said goalkeeper Evan Bush of Camara's goal. "We worked a lot on set pieces, not just defensively but offensively.

"He's great in the air. For him to score a goal, it meant the world."

Montreal (3-2-0) got revenge against the Columbus side that eliminated them from last year's MLS playoffs. The Crew won the two-game, Eastern Conference semifinal by a 4-3 aggregate score last November.

"We just looked at it as a game to get back on track," said Bush, who made one save for his second clean sheet of the year. "Obviously there's a little bit extra there because of what happened last year, but you can't oversell that part."

The Impact scored for the first time in three matches, to the delight of the 22,053 fans at Olympic Stadium. Montreal was shut out in its last two encounters -- road losses in Dallas and Seattle.

Kyle Bekker made it 2-0 for Montreal in the 86th minute, beating goalkeeper Steve Clark with a header after a cross by Oyongo.

Columbus (0-3-2) was kept off the scoresheet for the second time this season. Gregg Berhalter's men have scored just three goals in their first five games of the MLS season.

The Impact were also the better side in the first half, with Ignacio Piatti threatening the Columbus backfield with nearly every touch of the ball.

The Argentine's horizontal runs opened up space in the final third, but neither he nor his teammates could capitalize.

Montreal's best first-half chance came in the 21st minute, when Ontivero curled his shot off the woodwork to Clark's right.

Justin Meram and Kei Kamara, who led MLS with 22 goals last season, were dangerous for the Crew in the first 45 minutes, but they combined for three misses.

Shots were 10-5 for the home side at the interval.

"The efficiency in front of goal has been lacking," said Berhalter. "We have been creating enough chances. We came on really strong in the second part of the first half. It looked like a game where we were starting to dominate.

"They got the goal and it hurt. It put us in a hole."

Ontivero, showing signs of discomfort in the second half, was substituted in the 67th minute for Johan Venegas.

Venegas came close to doubling Montreal's lead in the 80th minute but he lost control of the ball just outside the six-yard box.