VANCOUVER, B.C. – The Montreal Impact gets its 2016 regular season underway this Sunday in Vancouver, British Columbia, against the Whitecaps. Kick-off is scheduled for 5:30pm ET (RDS, TSN, 98,5 FM, TSN Radio 690) at B.C. Place.
“We’ve worked very hard over the past six weeks,” said Impact head coach Mauro Biello. “We hope that the good work we’ve done will be well reflected on the field on Sunday. We have a tough challenge ahead of us, but it is important that we stay focused on the task at hand. We must apply every one of the principles we’ve been working on.”
After a memorable 2015 season when the Impact reached the CONCACAF Champions League final and the MLS Eastern Conference semifinals, the team will welcome back 24 players from that edition. Designated Players Didier Drogba and Ignacio Piatti return, as does the reigning MLS Defender of the Year, Laurent Ciman.
New acquisitions join the group: defender Kyle Fisher and forward Michael Salazar, both picked at the 2016 MLS SuperDraft, winger Lucas Ontivero, on loan from Turkish club Galatasaray, and playmaker Harry Shipp, picked up in a trade with the Chicago Fire.
“We’ve been training together for an entire month now,” said Piatti. “We’re going to Vancouver to get points. We want to win there. We also want to see how well we’ll play, and we want to start the season on the right note on Sunday.”
The Vancouver Whitecaps, for their part, finished second in the Western Conference in 2015 (16-13-5, 53 pts) before losing in the Conference semifinals to eventual MLS Cup champions Portland Timbers.
Under the continued leadership of head coach Carl Robinson, the ‘Caps notably landed Costa Rican winger Christian Bolaños, Canadian defender Fraiser Aird (on loan from Scottish club Rangers F.C.) and Panamanian forward Blas Pérez, who will play his fifth MLS season.
Vancouver has also retained several key players such as their top scorer in 2015, Octavio Rivero, midfielder Matías Laba and their defensive leader, centre back Kendall Waston.
“We’re disappointed to have lost the Canadian Championship final to them last year, so it’s good to face them early on in the season,” said defender Ambroise Oyongo. “This team knows how to play soccer, and they have a good crowd. We’ll be ready, because we’re not going there to be treaded on.”
The Montreal Impact then plays its 2016 home opener on Saturday, March 12, at 4pm ET (TVA Sports, 98,5 FM, TSN Radio 690) at the Olympic Stadium against reigning regular season champions New York Red Bulls. Excellent tickets for that game are still available on impactmontreal.com.
