It’s good to be home.
Impact players and technical staff were repeating that phrase over and over again in conversation and during interviews at the team’s first training session in Montreal Tuesday since the team boarded a plane late afternoon on February 27.
And despite opening the season with two wins on the road, the team is relieved to be back.
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“After being on the road for 10 days to start the season, it’s good for the morale to be back home,” said Impact head coach Marco Schällibaum. “With the long flight home and the hour change, everyone is a little tired. But we’ll put in the work necessary to be ready for Saturday.”
And after such a difficult road trip, the 12th player will be even more important for the team returning home.
“It’s been tough,” said defender Jeb Brovsky. “We’ll use the next few days to acclimatize ourselves to being in Montreal and look forward to playing our season opener in front of our amazing supporters. They’ll help motivate us to have a good performance against Toronto.”
Get your tickets: IMFC vs TFC, March 16 4pm ET
Last season, the supporters helped propel the Impact to one of the best home records in the league at 10-4-3.
“Any time we play at home, we want to give our fans a good performance,” said team captain Davy Arnaud. “It’ll be a lot of fun on Saturday.”
Arnaud and his teammates are counting on the supporters to bring the noise on Saturday. With the expected group of more than 3,000 TFC supporters making the trip down the 401, the Impact is asking all in attendance to wear their Impact colours and show that the Olympic Stadium is the Impact’s fortress.
In order to help the cause, the Impact will be giving out a free scarf to all those who purchase a pair of Navy Blue or Royal Blue tickets for Saturday’s game, by calling the ticket office (514-328-3668), which will be opened from 9am to 7pm this week.
With less than four days until the much-awaited matchup, less than 5,000 tickets are still available.
