The Atlanta franchise, which only had three winning seasons in the A-League before this year, is currently having its best year ever, with a record of 11-4-2. The result is that contrary to the last two seasons, the Eastern title race is more than a Montreal-Rochester affair.
"This will be a battle for first place and Atlanta is also a team we might face in the playoffs, so it’s an important match," said Impact captain Mauro Biello before the team’s departure. "They have one of the most skilled teams in the league, they have players who can hurt you."
Key players for the Silverbacks include John Ball, an experienced midfielder who has played in Major League Soccer, midfielder Alex Pineda-Chacon, a 34-year-old veteran from Honduras who was the MLS MVP with the Miami Fusion in 2001, and Mac Cozier, the team’s leading scorer with nine goals and three assists.
The Impact came up with a 2-0 win on May 1st earlier this year in Atlanta, but as Impact defender Lloyd Barker points out, the Silverbacks are no longer the same team. At that time, they were only into their second game of the year, on the heels of one of their most unsuccessful seasons ever, posting the third worst record in the league in 2003 (4-17-4). Since then, they have had a string of 10 straight victories and have gone 11 games undefeated, a stretch that came to an end only last Sunday in Puerto Rico, against the Islanders.
The influence of their new head coach, David Vaudreuil, a former DC United player in MLS, has therefore come into effect.
"They had a good run. As a team, they’ll be more organized than the last time we played them," said Barker. "And it’s not easy to play in Atlanta, especially at this time of year. It’s very hot, and they’re used to that."
The Impact, who had a 12-game undefeated streak to start the season, has a 7-3-2 road record, however.
"We’ve done well on the road so far, and we only have two more away games to go, so we need to keep the same pace," said Biello. "The race is going to be tight until the end, so we have to keep taking points away from other teams on their turf."
The game in Atlanta will be the Impact’s next-to-last road match-up this regular season. Montreal will then play seven of its last eight games at home.
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SOURCE:
bcomm
INFO:
Stéphane Banfi
514-328-3668 (ext. 27)
