Four games in, and the Montreal Impact is hitting its stride.
It wasn’t the best start to the season. Two losses in two games in Vancouver and Columbus respectively had some people writing off the Bleu-blanc-noir for the entire season, despite generally positive play. But with two wins in two games against the last two MLS Cup finalists and winners, the Impact is starting to look like a team to be reckoned with.
“We knew we had a tough schedule in the beginning, and we knew we had to get points in whatever way we could,” said full-back Chris Duvall. “Dropping the first two games put a little bit of pressure on us, and I think we responded well. We’re still working towards controlling games a little bit more.”
Although two straight wins is great for the group, doing it against some of the most established teams in the league, and allowing no goals in the process, is even better.
“We knew Toronto and Seattle were some of the league’s better teams,” said midfielder Samuel Piette. “The coach even told us before this game that if we don’t concede, we’ll have a good chance of winning this game, and he was right.”
The Impact has now scored in every single game to start the season, with Jeisson Vargas netting the winner in two straight games for the club. For head coach Rémi Garde, seeing his team win two straight games against strong opponents is satisfactory in itself, but the bigger picture still needs to be worked on.
“The team is progressing well,” said Impact head coach Rémi Garde. “There’s still a lot of work to do. The first half in Seattle was interesting, but the second wasn’t up to par compared to what I know we can do and compared to what we need to do if we want to maintain these results.”
The Impact will try to make it three straight wins, and two on the road, this Friday night against the New England Revolution at Gillette Stadium, a game kicking off at 7:30pm (TVA Sports, TSN, 98,5fm, TSN Radio 690).
