THE GAME AT A GLANCE
• It is the last match-up of a three-game homestand.
• After playing its first three games on the road (1-1-1), Montreal came up with a convincing 4-0 win against the Minnesota Thunder, on May 21, in the club’s 13th home opener in history. Montreal then tied the Miami FC 0-0 last Sunday.
• It will be Impact forward Mauricio Salles’ second game against his former team. On April 30, the Impact collected a 1-0 shutout win against the Islanders. Salles scored the game-winning goal at the 11th minute of play.
• The Impact has never lost a game against the Islanders (6-0-2) and and is leading 12-3 in goals scored.
• The Impact has shut out the opponent in four of its five games so far this season. All three goals allowed by the team came in a 3-1 loss to the Battery, May 13 in Charleston. Goalkeeper Greg Sutton has already four shutouts this season.
THE OPPONENT
• The Islanders (3-2-1) are fifth in the USL standings.
• The Islanders picked up a 1-0 win against the Battery in Charleston, on May 20, in their first road game of the season. Head coach Jorge Alvial’s team has not played since.
• After missing the playoffs by only one point in 2005, their second season in the league, the Islanders made several changes to their line-up during the off-season. Have left: Islanders head coach Hugo Maradona (dismissed), defender Chris Gores (Charleston), midfielder Sebastian Rozental (Columbus/MLS), as well as forwards Corey Woolfolk (Vancouver), Drew McCathy (Portland) and Mauricio Salles (Montreal).
• The Islanders signed several international players: defender Mauricio Segovia (Chile), midfielders Gustavo Schelotto (Argentina) and Kormac Valbenitto-Gomez (Chile), and forward Arturo Norambuena (Chile). Amercain forward Mark Oehlman, who played in Sweden in 2004 and 2005, also signed with the Islanders.
PRE-GAMES COMMENTS
IMPACT HEAD COACH NICK DE SANTIS
“It’ll be up to us to dictate the flow of the game right from the start. We played well last week against Miami, but we weren’t able to score. This time, we absolutely have to score. We have to attack and attack until we get one. Just one goal would make things much easier for us after that.”
CAPTAIN MAURO BIELLO
“Our number one objective is to score. We’ll have to focus on making that last, decisive pass and on getting good shots on net, while playing with more urgency, if we want to be more productive offensively. But we’re facing a team that gave us problems in the second half when we played them earlier this season in Puerto Rico, so it won’t be an easy game.”
DEFENDER NEVIO PIZZOLITTO
“I expect another tough battle because they have physically strong players up front. Our goal is to force them to open up the game by scoring early. A quick goal would make our lives easier and that’s what we weren’t able to do last Sunday against Miami. We’ll also try to put a lot of pressure on their players, to force them to make mistakes.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
IMPACT
• MAURICIO SALLES (F) - Scored his first goal with the Impact against the Islanders (1G, 0A – 2 PTS).
• GREG SUTTON (G) - Has four shutouts in five starts this season.
PUERTO RICO
• ALLEN MARCINA (F) - Scored two goals in the first game of the season against Atlanta (2G, 0A – 4 PTS).
• MARK OEHLMAN (F) - Scored a goal and added an assist in his first two games with the Islanders (1G, 1A – 3 PTS).
• CALEB NORKUS (M/F) Islander’s leading scorer this season (3G, 0A – 6 PTS).
FACTS TO FOLLOW
• Defender Nevio Pizzolitto’s next game will be his 191st career match-up with the Impact. That would allow him to move alone in third place in club history in that category, ahead of former player Lloyd Barker. The club leaders are Mauro Biello (269) and Nick De Santis (219).
• Jason DiTullio is 71 minutes away from the 5,000 minutes played mark with the Impact.
• Darko Kolic, 98 career games with the Impact and 99 points in the league
• Greg Sutton, 62 career shutouts with the Impact
INJURIES
Team – Player (Position) – Injury – Status
MTL - Masahiro Fukasawa (M) - sprained foot - could be back Sunday
MTL - Kirk Wilson (M) – ankle - could miss Sunday’s game
MTL - Leonardo Di Lorenzo (M) – foot - return date TBD
MTL - Gerry Argento (G) – concussion - return date TBD
IMPACT LAST GAME
Sun. May 28: Miami 0 - Impact 0 (@ Montreal)
12,242 spectators, the third largest crowd in the club’s regular-season history.
NEXT GAMES
Sun. June 11 - Impact @ Toronto Lynx - Centennial Stadium - 6 pm
Wed. June 14 - Atlanta Silverbacks @ Impact - Claude-Robillard Sports Complex - 7 pm
Sun. June 18 - Portland Timbers @ Impact - Claude-Robillard Sports Complex - 4 pm
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Source: Patrick Vallée, Montreal Impact
Info: 514-328-3668, ext. 27
