MONTREAL – Holding a 1-0 lead and a man advantage in Wednesday night’s CONCACAF Champions League match against the New York Red Bulls allowed the Montreal Impact to start thinking ahead.
After the 76th-minute dismissal of New York’s Connor Lade, Montreal pulled off the two architects of their only goal: Marco Di Vaio and Ignacio Piatti. And while it may have cost Montreal a chance to build their goal differential in Group 3 in the eventual 1-0 win, Piatti felt knee pain and the 38-year-old Di Vaio can always use the rest.
“It’s just something bothering him,” Montreal assistant coach Mauro Biello told reporters on Thursday on Piatti’s knee. “It’s been a few weeks, and we didn’t want to take any chances.”
If Piatti sits out of Montreal’s home game Saturday against the San Jose Earthquakes at Stade Saputo, Biello said it would be nothing but caution on the Impact’s part.
Di Vaio, for his part, is fine and available against San Jose, but he may not play 90 minutes and could even be among the substitutes.
Though the Impact are out of contention for an MLS postseason spot and Di Vaio will miss their final CCL group match Oct. 22 because of caution accumulation, he does want to contribute until his likely retirement at the end of the year. He still wishes for Montreal to prepare for next year by focusing on avoiding past mistakes.
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“We have to show that everyone within the team is really important,” Di Vaio said. “Every game can help maintain our confidence for the future. I think the coach can, for the MLS games, test out a number of youngsters and a number of situations with a view on the future.”
As was the case last weekend in New England, for example, when the average age of the Impact’s 14 players was 24.9 years. But apart from confirming that captain Patrice Bernier (foot) is, like Justin Mapp (groin) and Gorka Larrea (calf), still nursing an injury, Biello didn’t offer lineup details.
“We’re probably going to rotate a couple of guys,” Biello said. “We have some guys that have played a lot of minutes, and we’re expecting a physical game.”
