MONTREAL – Raheem Edwards has plenty of reason to be looking forward to the Montreal Impact’s MLS home opener at Olympic Stadium on Saturday (3 pm ET | CTV, TSN4, TVAS in Canada | MLS LIVE in US).
Not only will Edwards be playing in front of the Montreal crowd for the first time as a member of new head coach Remi Garde’s revamped Impact, he’ll do so facing his former team, Toronto FC, on the other side of the 401 Derby.
Edwards, who scored a gorgeous volley in Montreal’s 3-2 loss in Columbus on Saturday, was traded to the Impact by LAFC, who selected him from his hometown club in the MLS Expansion Draft.
“It’s a better opportunity for me to develop, so I came here with a clear head and a clear conscience, ready to work and develop with the coaching staff,” Edwards said. “And the players too, who hold me accountable and want to see me and themselves improve, and the team improve from last season. So I think I’m in a good situation here.”
The Toronto native and Canadian international keeps tabs on his former team, following their progress to the Concacaf Champions League semifinals. But his focus on the field is adapting to a new position and more playing time under Garde.
“Obviously the biggest difference is position-wise, me playing right wing as opposed to left wing back, and TFC more harping on me more defensively because they know what I can give offensively,” Edwards said. “And here, it’s kind of the same, they know what I can do offensively, but it’s me coping with the defensive stuff on the winger side, and me staying solid there. Remi’s a coach where he knows what I can do attacking-wise, and he harps on me on showing my true self and showing my talents and playing the way I play and being who I am.”
Edwards is particularly looking forward to the opportunity for the Impact to deliver a result in front of their home fans after losing their first two games on the road.
“We were disappointed, obviously, to lose in Columbus,” Edwards said. “We felt like we should have had a draw or even better. We’ve been playing good soccer, but it’s just us playing good soccer for 90 minutes that’s the only thing that’s stopped us is ourselves. So we obviously looked at video and whatnot, and we’ll be buzzing to go in front of the home crowd … that will be a big boost for us as well, so we’re looking to go in there and play the soccer that we know we can play.”
