MONTREAL – Matteo Ferrari leaving the Montreal Impact’s game against the Houston Dynamo at halftime last weekend was peculiar.
The veteran center back had been superb in the first half, dominant in the air and positionally disciplined. But the Texas heat had gotten to Ferrari, who struggled to breathe toward the end of the first half.
Head coach Frank Klopas confirmed as much on Monday. But he’s expecting Ferrari to be fit for this Wednesday’s home game against the LA Galaxy (7:30 pm ET; MLS Live, TSN in Canada).
“I think he’s ready now,” Klopas said of Ferrari on Monday. “It wasn’t an injury or he pulled something. He just didn't feel right in that moment. He talked to us about it, and he came out.”
Should Ferrari be indeed good to go, Klopas will make “very few changes” against the Galaxy. Squad rotation is more likely Saturday at the New England Revolution, with next Wednesday’s CONCACAF Champions League game at home against the New York Red Bulls in mind. Montreal sit atop Group 3 in CCL, three points ahead of New York.
“We’ve got nothing to lose [this Wednesday],” defender Wandrille Lefèvre said. “We’ve got something to prepare, which is our Champions League coming up one week later. We owe something to the supporters, all the more so since we’re at home.”
Encouraging news on Ferrari is timely, with last-placed Montreal facing the hottest team in MLS. The Galaxy thrashed Colorado 6-0 last Friday, and impressive though the score was, even more spectacular was their elegant efficiency against the 10-men Rapids.
Klopas warned his team against getting stretched on Stade Saputo’s big field and, more importantly, he insisted they remain focused for 90 minutes, which was perhaps their undoing in the second half of their 3-2 defeat Saturday at Houston.
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But the red-hot Galaxy are a different animal. Their goal differential – driven by the sensational form of Robbie Keane, Landon Donovan and Gyasi Zardes – is plus-27 to Houston’s minus-17.
LA’s big guns are all expected to be available, while injuries and international call-ups complicate matters for the Impact. Lefèvre, well-aware of Montreal's underdog status, believes they should go all-in. They have, after all, won four of their last seven games in all competitions, by far their best run of the season.
“In the end, I mean, what does it matter? Again, with all due respect, I’m not being arrogant or anything, but [their big names] don’t change anything, in the end,” Lefèvre said. “We just have to be a little more intelligent. But again, if we focus too much on the opponent, we’re forgetting about our strengths. And we can play football, too. We’ve shown that of late.”
