“It’s hard, especially for soccer players, because you need at least 48 hours to recover after a game,” says head coach Nick De Santis.
This year, De Santis and his players will have at least two days of rest and preparation for the majority of their match-ups. But they will also have to play back-to-back games twice — starting with this weekend in Charleston and Virginia Beach — and put on the cleats twice in three days on two occasions. They will even have to go through three games in five days at the end of August.
“For sure, it’s not an ideal situation,” says the Impact’s physical preparation specialist Gil Orriols Jansana. “Before such a series, you have to make sure the team has had a chance to fully recuperate. Then, after the first game, you have to have nothing but rest.”
“You try to get as much fluids in as possible through the night and the next day. You have to keep your legs up and get as much rest as possible in the little time you have,” says defender Adam Braz.
Although it is an uphill battle, a team like the Impact does not approach these kinds of series with the intention of simply limiting the damage.
“You never hold back in the first game,” says Braz. “Our approach is to look to get the three points, so that you go into the second game with confidence.”
“You have to go into the series only thinking about the first game,” says De Santis. “Only when that one is over do you start thinking about the second. You have to have that mentality that you want to get good results in both games. If you do that the first night, than you can go into the second with confidence, and somehow that game becomes less draining.”
The depth of the Montreal squad allows it to aim high when facing two opponents in a short period of time.
“You have to make sure your guys are healthy and in shape, so that you can have some depth. You need a good 18 players, at least, who are ready to go,” says De Santis.
“Because of the fact we have so much depth and so many good players, the coaching staff usually makes quite a few changes in the second game, but it doesn’t affect the team at all,” says Braz. “We know that whoever is on the field, they’re going to do the job.
“So we’re going to have some guys who are playing twice in 24 hours who have heavy legs, yes. But in general we’ll be fresh, and we can look to get a good result in the second game as well.”
Last season, Montreal suffered its first loss of the season in Atlanta, July 29, but came back the next night to pick up a 1-0 victory in Charleston, proving that nothing is impossible. Still, the Impact has a 4-3-1 record over the last two years playing back-to-back games, a more modest success rate than the club’s overall record.
“It would be nicer to always play a game a week,” says Braz, who has played one season in Sweden, in 2003. “But wherever you play, you have to adjust to the conditions.”
“That’s the way the USL is. We have to go through it, as do the other teams,” points out De Santis.
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