It was another double-header weekend for the U18 and U16 Montreal Impact teams, who were facing the New England Revolution on Saturday and FC Boston Bolts on Sunday.
Against the Revs, the U18 won 4-0, with Junior Camara, Don-Junior Bobe (2) and Protais Mutambala scoring and goalkeeper James Pantemis making some important saves, including one on a penalty kick.
The next day, head coach Yoann Damet’s team also got the best of its opponent, this time against the Bolts, by a 4-1 score. Junior Camara scored a hat trick in the first 20 minutes, and the 4th goal came from Protais Mutambala.
“This weekend was the chance to rehearse before the playoffs with the conditions on hand, like the two games in 24 hours and the heat and humidity,” said Damet. “The players built on the previous good performances that were not rewarded by wins. To our spirit and our control of the play, we added realism, which helped us score eight goals.”
The Impact U16 side, for its part, lost 5-1 in its first game against New England, the only goal coming from Olujimi Aribido. The next day, the team tied 0-0 against FC Boston Bolts. Goalkeeper Jordan Tisseur stopped a penalty in the second half to preserve the shutout.
Both Montreal Impact USSDA teams will play their last game of the season this Sunday, June 5, at 11am for the U18 and at 1:30pm for the U16, against Beachside SC, at the Montreal Impact training centre.
“It’s important to end the regular season on a good note to prepare for both the playoffs and next season,” said Damet. “With that in mind, in the last weeks, some U16 players integrated the U18 group and showed their qualities with good performances. The group wants to keep getting stronger to arrive in Dallas with ambition and chances. This week, the goal will be to confirm the last good results and then to prepare well for our playoff week.”
“For the last game of the season, we want to apply our principles and dominate the game to be prepared for the playoffs the best we can,” said Impact U16 head coach Nicolas Gagnon. “We also want to do better than last week individually and collectively. We want to take advantage of this to address certain issues that we had, so our last game of the season is good.”
The U18s are currently in 17th position out of 74 teams in the standings, with a 13-4-8 record, while the U16s sit 15th with a 13-5-7 record.
The playoffs for both age categories start on June 22, in Texas, with a group phase including the best 32 teams. The winner of each group makes it to the quarterfinals.
