Sporting Kansas City – Montreal Impact
Saturday, May, 5 2012, 8:30pm (ET)
LIVESTRONG Sporting Park, Kansas City
TV Broadcast: TVA Sports
Also available on: illico Mobile, illico Web, MLS Live
Go to our Matchday Page
KANSAS CITY, Kansas – The Montreal Impact (2-5-2) will face Sporting Kansas City (7-1-0) this Saturday, at LIVESTRONG Sporting Park at 8:30pm ET. The game will be broadcast live on TVA Sports and is also available on illico Mobile, illico Web and MLS Live.
SKC-MTL: Pregame comments
News and Quotes
The Impact beat the Portland Timbers 2-0 at the Olympic Stadium last Saturday in regular season action to remain undefeated at home (2-0-1). The home team then followed that performance with a 0-0 draw versus Toronto FC at Olympic Stadium on Wednesday in the first leg of the 2012 Amway Canadian Championship semifinal.
Sporting is leading the eastern conference. The team has allowed only three goals and scored 12 in eight games played. KC is coming off of a buy weekend, but are coming off its first loss of the season, a 1-0 shutout against the Portland Timers, resulting from an own goal.
“The stadium is beautiful, it’s a great field and great environment in KC,” said Impact head coach Jesse Marsch. “They have a good team. It will be a very good test, but I expect us to go there and get a result. We’ll have to keep things tight, because they have some speed. They are physically gifted and we will have to watch out for their set pieces.”
Midfielder Graham Zusi is second in the league with six assists, while forward Kei Kamara is tops in MLS with 40 shots, second with 18 on goal and is tied for fifth in league scoring with four goals. Sporting KC is also one of the few teams in MLS without a designated player on its roster.
“They are going to have a ton of energy, as they always do at home, and they come to play hard,” said Arnaud, who could play his 250th career game Saturday, returning to where he started his 10-year career for the very first time since being traded to Montreal in the offseason. “The tempo will be high. They are coming off a buy week, so they will have even more energy. We’ll have to match that. It’s a tough place to play and with the number of games we’ve played, we’ll have to be prepared for that.”
The Impact will try to record its first road win of the season, after earning its very first MLS point on the road on April 18 in a 1-1 tie with D.C. United, but they face a Sporting KC team that is undefeated in four games at home.
With the possibility of playing seven games in just 22 days (with Canadian Championship play), the Impact technical staff plans on bringing in some fresh legs on Saturday. Defenders Nelson Rivas and Hassoun Camara are set to see their first game action of the season following lengthy injures that kept them on the sidelines since preseason.
“We’re going to have a lot of new faces on Saturday, but we are still expecting to put a good team on the field and go for the result,” added Marsch. “Hassoun has really moved himself along and he looks sharp, and so has Rivas.”
“It’s really easy to play with Nelson,” said Camara. “He has such great experience from playing in Italy. He is very confident and calm in the back. I hope that the injuries are behind us and we can contribute to the team’s success, beginning with a result on Saturday.”
The 18-man roster
Goalkeepers: Donovan Ricketts, Greg Sutton
Defenders: Nelson Rivas, Hassoun Camara, Calum Mallace, Tyson Wahl, Matteo Ferrari, Jeb Brovsky
Midfielders: Felipe, Patrice Bernier, Davy Arnaud, Lamar Neagle, Bryan Arguez, Sinisa Ubiparipovic
Forwards: Eduardo Sebrango, Justin Braun, Andrew Wenger, Sanna Nyassi
Next games
The Impact will play the decisive game of the Canadian Championship semifinal next Wednesday, May 9, at 8pm in Toronto. The game will be broadcast live on Sportsnet and TVA Sports, and is available on illico Mobile and illico Web.
The club will then return to Montreal to meet the LA Galaxy on Saturday, May 12, at 4pm at Olympic Stadium. Season tickets are still available online at impactmontreal.com or by calling 514-328-3668 while individual for all games presented at the Olympic Stadium are also available through the Admission network.
Game Notes
- Three Impact players have played all 830 minutes since the start of the season in MLS: goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, defender Matteo Ferrari and midfielder Felipe.
- Goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts is currently seventh amongst MLS goalkeepers with 27 saves.
- Before joining the team in a transaction in November, Davy Arnaud played 10 seasons with Kansas City. Arnaud left the club in first place all-time with 240 games played, in second place all-time with 43 goals and third in assists with 35, games played at 213 and minutes played with 19,390. He has played more than 2,000 minutes over a span of seven consecutive seasons and has also played in 15 career playoff games. He was the team captain in 2010 and 2011.
- Forward Justin Braun has scored four career goals against Kansas City.
- The Montreal Impact is currently first among MLS teams with 137 fouls committed and third with 45 shots on goal and third with 124 shots.
- SKC defender Seth Sinovic was selected by the Impact in the 2011 MLS Expansion Draft, and was then traded back to Kansas City for Davy Arnaud.
- Sporting Kansas City forward Teal Bunbury was born in Hamilton, Ontario, and played for the Canadian National U17 and U20 teams, before representing the United States at the senior level.
- Injury Report: OUT: D Zarek Valentin (right calf contusion); DOUBTFUL: M Justin Mapp (left hamstring strain)
