NEW YORK, New York – The Montreal Impact embarks on a three-game road stretch this Saturday at 2pm when it pays a visit to New York City at its Bronx home, Yankee Stadium (TVA Sports, 98,5FM & TSN Radio 690).
“We’re facing a difficult opponent that has clear principles in all phases of play, which we have to be ready for,” said Impact head coach Mauro Biello. “But at the same time, we need to continue to improve from one game to another. We improved from the San Jose game to the Seattle game, and we want to continue to get better as we go to New York and try to get a result.”
Nacho Piatti, who scored a goal and assisted another against the Sounders, now ranks 10th all-time in Impact history for assists with 16, tied with Grant Needham and Patrick Leduc.
More Montreal players reached personal milestones last Saturday. Defender Laurent Ciman became the 10th player in Impact history to play 5,000 MLS minutes, while Ambroise Oyongo started a 50th game with the club. Evan Bush, meanwhile, became the second goalkeeper in club history to play 100 regular season games (lower divisions and MLS).
Team captain Patrice Bernier, who now sits alone in fifth place for games started with the Impact – in the lower divisions and in MLS – after starting his 164th game last Saturday against Seattle, could become the fifth player in club history to play 200 games with the club, should he play against NYCFC. And with 84 minutes at Yankee Stadium, he would become the sixth player in club history to play 15,000 minutes with the first team.
Villa, Morález, Wallace get season going
NYCFC’s last outing was a resounding 4-0 win over D.C. United at Yankee Stadium. David Villa scored a brace, while Rodney Wallace and Maxi Morález both tallied once for the home team.
Montreal’s record against NYCFC stands at one win, three losses and one tie. The Bleu-blanc-noir’s last trip to the Bronx yielded a 1-1 draw when Dominic Oduro’s diving header salvaged a point in second-half stoppage time. In three games at NYCFC, the Impact has managed to take four points from the locals.
“This will be a difficult game,” said Nacho Piatti. “NYCFC has been playing well. We’ll need to be really focused. We also have to be ready for all kinds of weather conditions, but we’ve worked well during the whole week, and we can go and pick up a win there.”
In four games against New York City, Piatti has already scored three goals. Dominic Oduro and Laurent Ciman, have respectively picked up two goals and two assists in four games.
Following games
The Impact will play the second of three straight games on the road on Saturday, April 1, at 3pm at Toyota Park in Chicago against the Fire (TVA Sports, 985sports.ca & TSN Radio 690). Following these three games, the Bleu-blanc-noir will play its first game of the season at Stade Saputo on Saturday, April 15, at 3pm against Atlanta United FC (TVA Sports, CTV, 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.
