TORONTO, Ontario – The Montreal Impact will play a third game in eight days this Saturday night at BMO Field when it faces archrivals Toronto FC at 7:30pm EDT (RDS [pregame show at 7pm], TSN, 98,5fm [pregame show at 6:30pm] & TSN Radio 690 [pregame show at 7pm]).
“Toronto is on a good streak,” said Impact head coach Mauro Biello. “They show that they are the best team in the league: they win on the road and they win at home. They are finding good cohesion and rhythm in their group. It will be a big challenge for us, but we prepare ourselves and we work to have success over there.”
Impact boosted by United performance
Despite the 1-1 result, this past Wednesday against D.C. United, the Impact could have picked up three points had it not been for Bill Hamid’s feats. The Bleu-blanc-noir put in a dominant and bold showing while also managing defensive transitions smoothly.
The Bleu-blanc-noir will try to right a wrong this Saturday after three unsuccessful attempts to defeat TFC this season. The Reds won 2-0 at Stade Saputo on April 23 and later knocked Montreal out of the Amway Canadian Championship semifinal in early June by a 4-2 aggregate score. The Impact, however, showed great drive against Toronto in the second leg at Stade Saputo – a 0-0 tie –, even after Lucas Ontivero was harshly shown a red card at the hour mark.
“We have nothing to lose,” said defender Laurent Ciman. “They are the favourites, they are at home. It has been a while since they lost. This is a solid team which is finding back good individual players, with the likes of Altidore and Bradley returning, as well as Giovinco who is true to himself. We go without pressure, we know our qualities. We travel over there with the aim to install our style of play and to try and come back with a result.”
“We are on the road and hopefully the referee won’t play a role like in the last few games, where they were decisive,” added Mauro Biello. “We have certain players who attract a lot of attention, but in the end we just want to be respected when we play on the road as well.”
TFC top of the East
Toronto climbed to first place in the Eastern Conference on Wednesday night, defeating Orlando City SC at Camping World Stadium, 2-1. Tosaint Ricketts, who opened the scoring, made way in second half for Jozy Altidore, who then tallied the game-winner four minutes from full time. Sebastian Giovinco, who leads the team in scoring with 16 goals, picked up two assists.
“Altidore pushes hard on the defence,” analyzed Hassoun Camara. “He creates a lot of openings for Giovinco, even when he does not score. He is an asset for them. Now, we also have answers for them. If, collectively, we are very serious and we get on with the job, I think we can do something good against this attack.”
The Impact will look for a first win at BMO Field, where its MLS record stands at three losses and three ties, but the Bleu-blanc-noir does score a goal per game on average at BMO Field. On its most recent visit there, for the first leg of the Canadian Championship, Montreal displayed tremendous character by cutting a deficit in half with two late goals from Michael Salazar and Didier Drogba.
Former TFC man Dominic Oduro, who just made his 50th appearance for the Bleu-blanc-noir, enjoys facing its former team, against which he has recorded five goals and an assist in MLS. Didier Drogba, for his part, has tallied twice in two MLS regular season games against the Reds.
Midfielder Benoît Cheyrou is nursing a hamstring injury but may recover in time for Saturday’s game – so could goalkeeper Clint Irwin, who has been dealing with a quad injury. Reports suggest, however, that Irwin may get an extra week to rebuild his fitness. Defender Mark Bloom, for his part, has suffered an ankle injury and is set to skip this game.
Following game
The Impact’s next home game will take place on Wednesday, September 7, at 7:30pm against Orlando City SC (TVA Sports, TSN, 98,5fm & TSN Radio 690). Excellent individual tickets are still available for this game on impactmontreal.com.
