MONTREAL - For a second year in a row, the Montreal Impact U21 team will tour France to play three friendlies from July 24 to August 4. The Impact U21s will be hosted by A.S. St. Etienne, at the club’s training facility, where the team will stay and train during the whole trip.
The Impact will take on the reserve sides (CFA) of Olympique Lyonnais on July 27 and AS Saint-Etienne on August 3, while facing off against the reserve side of one of head coach Marco Schällibaum’s former teams, Servette FC Geneva on July 30.
“Last year, this experience was a turning point in the season for the team as it went on to win 11 consecutive league games, but most of all, it helped the players confidence by seeing where their level truly was,” said Academy director Philippe Eullaffroy. “This year, the U21s are younger and inexperienced. This international experience will help accelerate their development.”
U21 head coach Wilfried Nancy will be joined by U18 head coach Jason DiTullio, Academy fitness coach Yannick Girard, athletic therapist Vanessa Contenta and by Nicolas Coupleux, the Academy administrative manager.
“These 10 days in France will give the players an opportunity to discover a different type of soccer against reserve teams of professional clubs from a very high level,” said Nancy. “What will be important is to see if we will be able to respect the foundation of our playing style against opponents who are at a higher level as we began a new cycle in January with our U21 team, made up of a number of players born in 1994 and 1995. It will be a really good step in terms of progression for the group.”
On June 22 at Stade Saputo, against a high level team, the Impact U21 did well in a 2-0 loss to the Haitian National Team at Stade Saputo.
