In any line of work, there a few defining moments that stand out, that you’ll remember forever.
For a professional football coach, one of those moments is the first home game.
That’s what awaits Rémi Garde and the rest of his coaching staff this Saturday, when the Impact plays its 2018 home opener. If the stage needed to be set a little more, the Bleu-blanc-noir plays against its biggest rival, Toronto FC. Excellent tickets are still available here.
“We’re impatient for this game because we’ve received so much support,” said Montreal Impact head coach Rémi Garde. “Everyone has been welcoming and sympathetic since we’ve been here. Now, we want to pay that back in the best way possible.”
This may be Rémi’s first home game as Impact manager, which is special in itself, but the fact that it comes against our rivals down the 401 makes it that much more unique.
“I was told very quickly that Toronto is public enemy number one,” said Garde. “As you know, when I was in France, derbies between Lyon and our friends in Saint-Étienne often got very heated. These are situations I know well and love because they’re part of the healthy rivalries present in sports.”
Finally coming home
The Impact played its first two games of the season on the road, first against Vancouver and then against Columbus a week later, showing signs of positivity and outplaying its opponents in the second half, but losing both games 2-1 and 3-2 respectively.
“We’ve progressed a lot,” added Garde. “We started off at a point where there was a lot of uncertainty and feeling of unknown. We worked hard, and the players responded well. We still need to improve on a lot of points, especially in the consistency of our game for 90 minutes, which right now isn’t consistent from one half to another. But I’m positive and we’ll see how it goes on Saturday.”
The Impact will play its home opener right before the international break and will then travel to Seattle to face the Sounders FC on March 31, at 10pm (TVA Sports, TSN 690). If you’re planning on being at Olympic Stadium for the game tomorrow, make sure you’re prepared. You can find everything you need to know here concerning how to get there, bag policies, entertainment, and other useful information.
