The Lions in the middle of a rough stretch
The Impact will kick off a home-and-away series against Orlando City SC, this Wednesday at 7:30pm at Stade Saputo (TICKETS – TVA Sports, 98,5fm, TSN Radio 690). The matchup against the Floridian team, led by Jason Kreis, comes at a good time for the Bleu-blanc-noir: the violet Lions are sixth in the East, having lost their last five MLS games. The sequence began at home, when their neighbours from Georgia, Atlanta United FC, paid a visit. The 2-1 loss hurt more in the context of a rivalry and was followed by two more losses of the same score, with the winning goal being scored in the last 10 minutes of both games. Since the beginning of June, Sacha Kljestan, Dom Dwyer, Justin Meram and company lost 3-0 against NYCFC, and then 5-2 on the West coast, against Vancouver. But watch out, to beat Orlando, the Impact will have to be as fired up as possible.
- Play in behind the defense
We’ve spoken at length about the Bleu-blanc-noir’s defensive issues, but they seem to be taken care of as of late: the Impact has only conceded three goals in its last three home games. On the visitors’ side however, the back line is leaking and no signs are pointing towards improvement. The weakness is stemming from when the opponent plays deep in its own end and breaks the defensive lines, something the Impact will need to exploit to cause Orlando some problems.
- Exorcise its demons
With Kaká retiring and Cyle Larin departing for Turkey, Orlando City SC had to overhaul its group, spending quite a bit of money to add some talent to its starting 11: Dom Dwyer, always a nuisance for the Impact, was traded for an amount that could well exceed $1.6 million in allocation money; Justin Meram, another who takes pleasure in facing the Bleu-blanc-noir, was brought in from Columbus for the not-so-modest sum of over a million dollars in allocation money; Sacha Kljestan, on his end, left the Red Bulls to join the violet Lions, in exchange for Carlos Rivas and Tommy Redding heading towards the Big Apple. Time to ward off the spell.
- Score.
Simple as that. The Impact needs goals. The players find themselves in good positions, the ball is delivered with enough quality, but one way or another, finding the back of the net remains difficult. What do we do in times like these? Persevere. Montreal’s players cannot get discouraged and must continue believing in their ability.
