Last weekend, the Impact U16 was the only Montreal team in action in USSDA play, as the U18s had a weekend off and took this opportunity to play a friendly game against AS Blainville, from the Première ligue de soccer du Québec (PLSQ).
The Impact U16 faced New York City FC, whose U16 team is playing its first USSDA season. Head coach Nicolas Gagnon was excited to face them for the first time, and he can be satisfied with a win in his first meeting against the New York team, by a 2-1 score.
New York scored first in the opening half, but the Impact came back with a goal from outside of the box by Calin Calaidjoglu. The winning goal came in the last minutes of the game, when Montreal was awarded a penalty, scored by Xavier Neuville.
“We had problems finding solutions, mostly offensively, against an opponent that pressed us well and did well in attacking transition,” said Nicolas Gagnon. “We were expecting better from the positioning of our players and wanted to play quicker. The result could have gone both sides and we need to be more careful in the future. But we were also supportive of each other and when we found solutions, we often became dangerous and that’s why we won the game. Players that came in also made the difference.”
The U18 team had no USSDA game this weekend, but still played a friendly game against AS Blainville, currently second in the PLSQ standings, to refine its play in the beginning of the season.
The team won 3-1 on goals from Gabriel Balbinotti, Giovanni Pulitano and Moulay Kanzi-Belghiti.
“The goal, this week, was to keep preparing for the rest of the season in maintaining a high work rate while staying collectively motivated,” said Impact U18 head coach Yoann Damet. “We wanted to face a team that was interesting in the way they play, but also imposing physically, to keep challenging our players and that’s what we got. A quality opponent helped us reinforce what we worked on during the week and keep a positive dynamic, while taking a look at the full roster once again.”
The Impact U18 will be able to test what they learned in this friendly game as soon as next Saturday, as they will face BW Gottschee Academy at 11am at Centre Nutrilait. The U16 team will follow at 1:30pm.
