MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact returns to its Stade Saputo home, this Saturday, starting a stretch of five home games in the next seven in all competitions by meeting with Canadian rivals Vancouver Whitecaps FC at 3pm EDT (TVA Sports [pregame show at 2:30pm], CTV, TSN2, 98,5FM [pregame show at 2:30pm] & TSN Radio 690 [pregame show at 2pm]), presented by BMO.
Excellent tickets are still available here.
“With the parity in this league, every game is difficult,” said Impact head coach Mauro Biello. “For us, it’s about being focused on what we need to do collectively to take all the points at home. We’ll be facing a Western Conference team that’s hungry to get points, and we have to be ready for everything.”
The Impact recommends that supporters use public transit and get to the stadium early – doors open at 1:30pm. Due to transformation work at the corner of Pie-IX Blvd. and Sherbrooke St., traffic delays may occur in the Olympic Park area.
As always, the MLS Bag Policy will be in effect. All backpacks, camera bags and large tote bags, as well as all bags bigger than 35 cm x 35 cm x 15 cm are prohibited.
Please also note that parking entrances have changed names since last season. Entrance PB is now called P5 (orange), while entrance PA has made way for entrances P1, P2 & P4 (yellow).
First of three games against Vancouver in the next month
In addition to facing each other this Saturday, the Impact and the Whitecaps are set to clash again in the Canadian Championship semifinal, starting on Tuesday, May 23, at 10pm EDT in Vancouver, with the return leg scheduled for Tuesday, May 30, at 7:30pm EDT at Stade Saputo. This will thus be an opportunity for the Bleu-blanc-noir to not only add to its MLS points total, but also set the stage for these two crucial matchups.
“This will be a hard battle,” said midfielder Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla. “We want to win when we’re at home. We can’t let the other team come here and take the points. We’ve worked hard in training, and we want to get the three points.”
Forward Anthony Jackson-Hamel is enjoying the best moments of his MLS career, with three goals in his last two games. Jackson-Hamel has thus closed the gap to one goal between him and former Impact defender Maxim Tissot in the goal-scoring standings for Montreal homegrown players. Jackson-Hamel also became the first player in Impact history to come on as a substitute in two consecutive MLS games and score. And no Impact player
in MLS had ever scored two goals in a single sub appearance before Jackson-Hamel last weekend.
Nacho Piatti, who has also scored in his last two games, is now only one goal away from tying Marco Di Vaio atop the Impact MLS goal scoring rankings, with 34 tallies – Di Vaio is also the Impact’s third-best goal scorer of all time
(lower divisions + MLS), tied with Lloyd Barker. In two career games against Vancouver, Piatti has scored three goals.
Whitecaps FC struggling on the road
Involved in a CONCACAF Champions League run that ended at the semifinal stage on April 5, Whitecaps FC has struggled to find rhythm, especially away from home. In five road games in all competitions, Carl Robinson’s team has suffered four losses and drawn the other game – its first competitive match of the season
,
at New York Red Bulls in the CCL quarterfinals.
But Vancouver can be hopeful, as the team seems to have finally signed a reliable striker. Former Seattle Sounders FC star Fredy Montero joined Whitecaps FC this winter, and the four goals he has scored in seven games are a positive sign for the team’s attack.
“Whitecaps FC is coming here to get points, but this is a good opportunity for us at home,” said defender Ambroise Oyongo. “If we keep the same mentality as when we came from behind in Philadelphia, we’ll do well on Saturday.”
If past games are any indication, the last quarter-hour of this Saturday’s game will be can’t-miss: in the five MLS matches between the Impact and Whitecaps FC in MLS, more goals have been scored in the last 15 minutes than in the first 45.
In all competitions, the Impact has won or tied six of its nine games against Vancouver since joining MLS. The most recent game between the two teams was a 3-2 Bleu-blanc-noir win at BC Place in the 2016 MLS season opener.
Following games
The Impact will play its third game at Stade Saputo this season on Saturday, May 13, at 5pm EDT, against Columbus Crew SC (TVA Sports, 98,5FM & TSN Radio 690). Excellent tickets for this game, as well as season tickets and mini season packages, are still available on impactmontreal.com. In the meantime, the Bleu-blanc-noir will play D.C. United in the American capital on Saturday, May 6, at 6pm (TVA Sports, 98,5FM & TSN Radio 690).
