Bleu-blanc-noir looking for fifth straight win at Stade Saputo
MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact will be looking for a fifth straight win at home, this Saturday at 7:30pm at Stade Saputo (TVA Sports, 98,5fm, TSN Radio 690) against the San Jose Earthquakes, during the fourth and last 25th anniversary thematic game, underlining the club’s internationals selections. Excellent tickets are still available on impactmontreal.com.
“We are conscious of how important the result will be on Saturday,” said Impact head coach Rémi Garde. “I mentioned the number of victories we would need to make sure we qualified for the playoffs. We can’t slow down. We can do better, we must do better and have more confidence in ourselves, collectively and individually, to make the opposing team’s defensive block move more. I want us to focus on that, Saturday at home.”
IMFC Summer will once again shine bright in the stadium’s corridors, from the second the doors open at 5:30pm. The 2-for-1 special on all drinks will be in place until 6:30pm, and a DJ, accompanied by a host, will set the atmosphere. Also, by arriving early, supporters can take advantage of a plethora of activities offered by our partners.
The MLS bag policy will be in place for this game. Backpacks, camera bags, and big tote bags, as well as any bag larger than 35cm x 35cm x 15cm will not be accepted inside the stadium.
Also, please note that more traffic than usual is expected in the Sherbrooke/Pie-IX/Pierre-de-Couberton/Viau area, as Viau Street will be closed southbound between Beaubien Street and Rosemont Boulevard. The Impact strongly suggests using public transportation to get to the stadium and exit at Viau metro station. Drivers are welcome to use P1 parking lot, on Pierre-de-Coubertin, P3 on Pie-IX, and P4 on Sherbrooke.
Moving forward with the same spirit
Despite the loss in the Bronx on Wednesday, the Impact is still ranked sixth in the Eastern Conference, the last position giving access to the playoffs. With five wins in its last seven games, and four straight victories at Stade Saputo, Montreal is confident before its annual meeting with the Californian team.
“The body of work that we put together over the past month or so, you can’t throw that out the window,” said full-back Daniel Lovitz. “We’ll take the positives from that and move forward, but every loss is an opportunity to look at ourselves individually and a as a group, and to adjust certain things. It’s great to have such a short turnaround. It doesn’t give us a lot of time to dwell on it, so we’re lucky in that respect.”
The Bleu-blanc-noir will need to fall back on its good defensive habits against the Quakes: the team hadn’t conceded more than two goals in a game since April 28, a period in which Rémi Garde’s troops beat a club record for most minutes without conceding a goal. The Impact has still not allowed a goal in the first half in its past five games, a habit worth being repeated.
Nacho Piatti is obviously still part of the elite in MLS, he who is seventh in Garber’s league with nine goals and 10th with seven assists. Goalkeeper Evan Bush is still first in the league in saves, having made 82 thus far in 2018. He’s also started every Impact game this season, just like midfielder Samuel Piette.
“I think we’re somewhat in the same situation we were in before our game against Colorado,” said Samuel Piette. “It’s a game against a team at the bottom of the standings, but it can be a trick game. We most certainly can’t lay back at home and think it will be an easy matchup. We need to win to forget Wednesday’s result and start another good sequence. We need to be careful against a team like this.”
Difficult times for San Jose
Saturday’s visitors, led by Mikael Stahre, are going through a difficult period. The Quakes haven’t won in two months, and only have two wins this season, both against Minnesota United FC. This sequence of 10 games with no success was however highlighted with the absences of Panama internationals Anibal Godoy and Harold Cummings, who were World Cup bound to represent the Central American country. Although both are back now, San Jose may be without its best goal scorer, Danny Hoesen, who left last week’s game in Oregon in the 33rd minute.
“They’ve got good players, just like every team in this league, and they’ve played well against good teams, without getting results, said full-back Chris Duvall. We need to be careful, especially considering our start to the season. We’re happy to be back home, in front of our fans, in a place where we’ve been playing well recently. We’re aiming for three points.”
Highlighting international connections
The Impact will celebrate its 25th anniversary with its last thematic game on Saturday. The Bleu-blanc-noir’s international connections will be honoured, thanks to the presence of the club’s first ever Designated Player, Marco Di Vaio, and of important actors from the club’s Concacaf Champions League run in 2008-2009, Eduardo Sebrango and John Limniatis.
Upcoming games
The Impact begins its road to the Concacaf Champions League on Wednesday, July 18 at 7:30pm with the first leg of the Canadian Championship semi-final against the Vancouver Whitecaps FC at Stade Saputo (TICKETS – canadasoccer.com, Yahoo Sports Canada). Montreal will then head to the West Coast, in the heart of Cascadia, to face the Portland Timbers on Saturday, July 21 at 11pm EST (TVA Sports), before returning to Canada for the second leg of the Canadian Championship semi-final against the Vancouver Whitecaps FC, on Wednesday, July 25 at 10pm EST at BC Place (canadasoccer.com, Yahoo Sports Canada).
