The Impact signed a first win in four regular season games at Saputo Stadium, last Friday, beating the Charleston Battery 1-0. Rocco Placentino scored the first Impact goal in its new home. The Impact consequently ended a six-game winless streak (0-4-2).
“When you win a game it’s always positive,” said Montreal Impact head coach John Limniatis. “Obviously, there are a few details that we have to work on but when you win, the spirit goes up, everybody feels better physically and mentally. The important thing will be to have our rhythm. The three points against Vancouver are very important for the club for the rest of the tournament.”
In its first game of the tournament, May 27, the Impact was shut out 1-0 by the Toronto FC, in Montreal.
“If we want to continue to play in this important competition, we have to win the next games, but we have to take them one at a time,” said central defender Cédric Joqueviel, who started five games so far this season. “A great experience awaits us if we go through the next round so we will do our best. Vancouver is a good team but on our side, we are going through a good period and we are playing together once again.”
Three Impact players could be back in the lineup Tuesday: midfielders David Testo (three games missed, hip injury) and Leonardo Di Lorenzo (four games, thigh), as well as forward Roberto Brown (five games, thigh).
“It’s always fun to play Vancouver especially now because they are at the top of the league,” said midfielder David Testo, who missed the last three games due to a hip injury. “I always want to play well against my former team and even more because it is a very important game for us. We will play with a lot of confidence. I’m happy to be back and hopefully I will get back my confidence high early in the game.”
Defender Gabriel Gervais (thigh) and midfielder Antonio Ribeiro (ankle) are still injured, while defender Stefano Pesoli will serve an automatic one-game suspension due to his ejection from the game against Toronto FC.
The Impact will play the return match at Swangard Stadium on June 25. The club will then play its fourth and final game of the tournament against Toronto FC, at BMO Field, July 22.
The Montreal Impact, Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps are facing each other in a six-game tournament for a spot in the newly formed CONCACAF Champions League. The tournament winner will then face in a home-and-away series the Nicaraguan champion team.
The first-place team will also be awarded the Voyageurs Cup trophy, which has been awarded to the top professional Canadian team since 2002. The Impact has won this trophy for the last six years.
OTHER FACTS
• This is the third game between both teams this season. In the first game of the regular season, April 12, the Impact was shut out 1-0 at Swangard Stadium. Then on May 19, in the home opener at Saputo Stadium, the two teams tied 0-0.
• Since 1993, the year Vancouver joined the league (the 86ers eventually became the Whitecaps), the Impact has a regular season lifetime record of 20-8-5 against its Canadian rivals.
• The Whitecaps are currently first in the USL standings with a record of 7-3-1.
• The Impact sold all 13,034 tickets of its first four regular-season games at Saputo Stadium, which is a league high after four games. The Impact has also sold more than 10,000 tickets for each of the remaining games at Saputo Stadium.
• As part of the stay-in-school program All the Way with the Impact, more than 4,800 students from the Pointe de l’Île School Board will attend Friday’s game. To encourage excellence in school, the Impact will be awarding prior to the match the Tony Licursi Bursaries to two young students from the school board who distinguished themselves both in school and in soccer: Gabriella Espinoza Martinez, a secondary IV student, from Antoine de St Exupéry High School, who plays for Montreal Concordia AAA team and Jean-Marcel Seck, a secondary III student, from Pointe-aux-Trembles High School.
NEXT GAMES
• Sunday, June 22 – Carolina @ IMPACT – Saputo Stadium – 3:30 pm (Radio-Canada, CKAC Sports, TEAM 990, USLlive.com)
• Wednesday, June 25 – IMPACT @ Vancouver – Swangard Stadium – 10 pm
• Saturday, June 28 – IMPACT @ Seattle – Starfire Complex – 10 pm
• Sunday, July 6 – Puerto Rico @ IMPACT – Saputo Stadium – 3:30 pm (Radio-Canada, CKAC Sports, TEAM 990, USLlive.com)
Nutrilite Canadian Championship
-30-
Source: Patrick Vallée, Montreal Impact
Info: 514-328-3668, Ext. 227
