Bleu-blanc-noir looking for fifth win in a row at home
MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact will welcome rare visitors at Stade Saputo, this Saturday at 7:30pm, as FC Dallas makes its biennial trip to Quebec (TVA Sports, 98,5fm, TSN Radio 690), presented by Tim Hortons. Excellent tickets are still available at impactmontreal.com.
Another edition of the IMFC Summer will start at 5pm, as the stadium’s doors open, with two-for-one deals on all drinks until 6, as well as a DJ showdown at 5:30pm, presented by Rouge Bar.
The Impact recommends that supporters use public transit and get to the stadium early. Due to transformation work at the corner of Pie-IX Blvd. and Sherbrooke St., traffic delays may occur in the Olympic Park area, notably on Viau St. and Notre-Dame St. E.
As usual, 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).
Looking for another win at Stade Saputo
The hosts have only recorded one win in MLS against FC Dallas, but are also unbeaten at home against the Texans. The Bleu-blanc-noir will thus look for a win, which would bring its perfect home run to five games and to a total of 50 in MLS in Montreal.
The Impact’s good form at home is embodied by Blerim Dzemaili’s performances at Stade Saputo: the Swiss has provided his contribution to a goal in each of his past four games in Montreal, scoring three times and adding an assist during this prolific sequence.
“We want to continue our good sequence and have the same mentality we showed against Philadelphia,” said Impact head coach Mauro Biello. “We got the result we wanted on Wednesday, now we play again at home, against a good opponent. Dallas has a dynamic attack and a defence that does not allow a lot of goals. We expect a tough game. It will be a good test for us.”
Midfielder Hernán Bernardello will not play a part in this game, suspended due to yellow card accumulation; Canadian internationals Patrice Bernier, Maxime Crépeau and Anthony Jackson-Hamel, however, will return to the city after Canada was knocked out of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, on Thursday night.
The Impact recorded its fourth win on the trot at Stade Saputo on Wednesday and now has a second game in four days to manage, while FC Dallas has not played a competitive match since July 11.
“It was good to win on Wednesday, it gave us a lot of confidence,” said winger Ballou Tabla. “We could have been better offensively, we should have scored more goals, but defensively, we were very good. We are ready mentally for tomorrow’s game.”
Key absentees for the visitors
The Toros will have to make do without a few starters, still taking part in the continental tournament. Goalkeeper Jesse González, defender Matt Hedges and midfielder Kelly Acosta are all with the US Men’s National Team, while defender Maynor Figueroa, eliminated on Thursday with his Honduras team, could join Oscar Pareja’s team on time for the game on Saturday.
Upcoming games
The Impact will go to the Big Apple for a first visit to Red Bull Arena since the team eliminated the Red Bulls at the Conference semifinals stage, in 2016, on Saturday, July 29, at 7:30pm (TVA Sports, 98,5fm, TSN Radio 690), before returning to Stade Saputo for another game against a direct rival in the MLS Cup playoff race, Orlando City SC, on Saturday, August 5, at 7:30pm (TVA Sports, 98,5fm, TSN Radio 690 – TICKETS).
