MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact (3-8-5) has no choice but to put last week’s game in LA behind them, shifting its focus to this Saturday’s tilt with Sporting Kansas City (7-5-5) at Stade Saputo, but not without holding on to some of the lessons learned from the 1-0 loss.
“We aren’t pleased with the result from last week, because we didn’t deserve to lose that game. We learned from it and moved on,” said striker Marco Di Vaio. “This Saturday, a win against a big team like Sporting KC, second in the division, can be an important step for us, but to do that we need a huge team effort.”
And playing a strong game defensively is the key to topping one of the best teams in the league.
“We have to continue to defend well because that gives us an opportunity to win every game,” said Impact head coach Frank Klopas. “SKC is probably the best team in the league. But if we defend the way we’ve been in recent weeks and score on our chances, we can be successful.”
Despite a good record historically versus Kansas City, the Impact has lost its two matchups so far this season by a combined 7-0 score. However, Impact defender Hassoun Camara feels that the team today is very different from the team that faced the defending champs last time at home.
“We’ve had some difficult results against this team, but there were circumstances that didn’t play in our favour recently,” said the Frenchmen. “We were down to 10-men the last time we faced them (red card), and our momentum is very different today. We’ve had a string of good performances and a very different roster with changes coming from management. We know we are a good team too.”
SKC’s roster is almost back to 100% with the return of US World Cup starters Matt Besler and Graham Zusi, but in their absence, striker Dom Dwyer has continued to shine.
“You can’t lose focus on him for the whole 90 minutes,” explained Klopas. “He’s going to work hard, he’s going to make hard runs in the box, close down and fight for everything. When you are in a good moment like he is, you lose focus and he’ll hurt you. We have to stay compact as a team, be good with the ball and be aware where he is in the box at all times.”
GAME NOTES
- Striker Jack McInerney is leading the Impact and tied for seventh in MLS with seven goals.
- Defender Heath Pearce needs 64 minutes to reach 10,000 career minutes in MLS.
- The Impact has recorded three shutouts in its last five MLS games, against New England, Vancouver and Houston.
- Dom Dwyer leads SKC in scoring with 12 goals this season, four of which have come against the Impact.
- Sporting has lost just once in its last five games, going 3-1-1 over that span.
- Andy Gruenebaum will make his first start of the season in MLS, replacing the injured Erik Kronberg in goal.
