MONTRÉAL IMPACT vs NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
STADE SAPUTO, Montréal, Qué.
Oct. 11, 2014 (WEEK 31, MLS Game #298)
4 p.m. ET (TSN/RDS; UDN; CSN-NE)
A vital match in the Eastern Conference playoff picture kicks off when the Montréal Impact play host to the New England Revolution on Saturday afternoon at Stade Saputo. The Impact have the opportunity to play spoilers, having already been eliminated from playoff contention, coming off a scoreless draw at the Chicago Fire last weekend. The Revolution are looking to nail down a place in the MLS Cup Playoffs this weekend, following their second consecutive late win last weekend, a 2-1 home defeat of the Columbus Crew.
REFEREE: Geoff Gamble. AR1 (bench): Joe Fletcher; AR2 (opposite): Richard Gamache; 4th: Mathieu Bourdeau
MLS Career: 31 games; FC/gm: 23.8; Y/gm: 3.1; R: 4; pens: 14
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: MTL: Matteo Ferrari, Krzysztof Krol, Karl Ouimette … NE: Darrius Barnes, Daigo Kobayashi, Lee Nguyen, A.J. Soares
SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: MTL: Hernan Bernardello, Andres Romero, Dilly Duka, Wandrille Lefevre, Hassoun Camara … NE: Kelyn Rowe, Charlie Davies, Jose Goncalves, Chris Tierney, Scott Caldwell
DISABLED LIST: none
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: MTL: Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé, Issey Nakajima-Farran, Karl W. Ouimette (Canada, vs. Colombia, Oct. 14); Eric Miller (U.S. U-23)
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME (7 meetings): Revolution 3 wins, 7 goals … Impact 4 wins, 10 goals … Ties 0
AT MONTREAL (4 meetings): Impact 2 wins, 4 goals … Revolution 2 wins, 3 goals … Ties 0
2014 (MLS)
5/31: MTL 2, NE 0 (Romero 3; McInerney 38)
9/13: NE 2, MTL 1 (Rowe 23; Nguyen 25 – Mallace 13)
• The teams are meeting for the third time this season. Kelyn Rowe and Lee Nguyen scored two minutes apart to send the Revolution on their way to a 2-1 victory Sept. 13 at Gillette Stadium; on May 31, Andrés Romero and Jack McInerney scored first-half goals to lead the Impact to a 2-0 win at Stade Saputo.
• The first meeting was Montréal’s second home win vs. New England; the Revolution had won on their two previous trips to Stade Saputo, both coming by 1-0 scorelines.
• The last meeting was the Revolution’s first-ever home win against the Impact.
• Coaches record: Frank Klopas vs. NE: P10 W4 L5 D1 … Jay Heaps vs. MTL: P7 W3 L4 D0
LAST MEETING (MLS)
• The Impact took the lead just 13 minutes in. Mamadou Danso sent a ball over the top to Jack McInerney in the box, and when he was left with just Revs goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth to beat, McInerney slid the ball square to Calum Mallace, who slotted home into a wide-open goal.
• The Revs responded in the 23rd minute when Kelyn Rowe beat Anthony Jackson-Hamel to a loose ball outside the box, pushed it to his left and stepped into it, firing a dipping strike was just hard enough to sail past the hands of Montreal goalkeeper Troy Perkins.
• Two minutes later New England pulled ahead. From a quick buildup out of midfield, Jermaine Jones lofted a pass up to Charlie Davies, who in turn flicked a header over to Lee Nguyen. He then carried into the box and after Perkins went to ground, chipped a floater over the 'keeper for the eventual game-winner.
• The Impact finished the game a man down after fullback Krzysztof Krol was sent off in the 62nd minute by referee Alan Kelly for a second bookable offense.
• NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION (4-2-3-1): Bobby Shuttleworth - Andrew Farrell, Jose Goncalves, A.J. Soares, Darrius Barnes - Jermaine Jones (Scott Caldwell 46), Daigo Kobayashi - Teal Bunbury (Diego Fagundez 76), Lee Nguyen, Kelyn Rowe - Charlie Davies (Geoffrey Castillion 76).
• MONTREAL IMPACT (4-2-3-1): Troy Perkins - Eric Miller, Wandrille Lefevre (Heath Pearce 81), Mamadou Danso, Krzysztof Krol (ejected 62) - Jeremy Gagnon-Lapare, Calum Mallace - Anthony Jackson-Hamel (Louis Beland-Goyette 75), Andres Romero (Issey Nakajima-Farran 61), Dilly Duka - Jack McInerney.
MONTREAL IMPACT
The Montréal Impact remained winless on their travels for the season, reaching a scoreless draw with the Chicago Fire on Sunday evening at Toyota Park. The Impact are in 10th place in the Eastern Conference with 25 points from 31 games.
LAST MATCH
• Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush made eight saves in keeping the clean sheet, including stopping a point-blank shot Florent Sinama-Pongolle in the first half, and turning aside substitute Gonzalo Segares in the dying moments.
• Fire goalkeeper Sean Johnson made three saves, coming up with an alert stop to keep out Impact substitute Marco Di Vaio with almost the final play of the match and save the single point.
• Impact head coach Frank Klopas made three changes to the team that fell 2-0 to the Columbus Crew at Crew Stadium. Eric Miller came into the back four for Jeremy Gagnon-Lapare, and Gorka Larrea and Justin Mapp came into the midfield to replace Felipe Martins and Maxim Tissot.
• MONTREAL IMPACT (4-2-3-1): Evan Bush - Hassoun Camara, Matteo Ferrari, Heath Pearce, Eric Miller - Calum Mallace, Gorka Larrea - Justin Mapp (Felipe Martins 72), Dilly Duka (Issey Nakajima-Farran 90), Andres Romero - Jack McInerney (Marco Di Vaio 65).
TEAM NEWS
• The Impact remained winless away from Stade Saputo following the draw. The Impact are 0-12-4 on the road this season with one road games remaining, at Toronto FC (Oct. 18). Now with an 19-game road winless streak in league play, they are trying to avoid becoming the sixth team to finish a season without a road win.
• “I think before you can win on the road, you have to learn how to tie. I think tonight we tied a game, a very difficult game because they were pressing us at the end. I think it will give us confidence,” said Impact assistant coach Mauro Biello, who performed bench duties in place of the suspended Frank Klopas. “We can’t give things away or that easy.”
• The Impact were shut out for a second consecutive match, the second time this season they had suffered back-to-back attacking blankings (the first back on March 15-23).
• The first 10, 15 minutes, I think they had a lot of possession but I think as the game went along, we grew. I think in the second half we were probably the better team in terms of possession and creating a couple of chances,” said Biello. “Overall, it was a hard fought tie. We are happy to finally get a tie, and break that streak of losing.”
• Justin Mapp returned to the starting lineup with his first appearance since Aug. 16, a span of seven matches out of action with a groin injury. In his 72 minutes of play, Mapp became the 54th player to reach 20,000 minutes in MLS play.
• “I guess I've been doing something right to play that long, that many games,” Mapp said. “I'm thankful for the opportunities to play that long. It’s pretty cool. It’s something I’m sure I’ll think about a little bit more after my career, but I think I have some good years left.”
• The Impact did record their eighth defensive shutout of the season. Evan Bush was between the posts for his third shutout; Troy Perkins has five.
• “I think Evan had two or three key saves. I’ve seen him pull off those saves before and I’m happy he’s able to have a game like this because it’s going to continue to build his confidence,” said Biello. “It was an excellent game on his part. I think we saw a confident Evan Bush. Hopefully he can continue with this type of performance.”
• Gorka Larrea also returned to the starting lineup for the first time since Aug. 16, playing the full 90 minutes in a deep-lying central midfield role.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
The New England Revolution won their second consecutive match in dramatic circumstances, hitting for a second-half game-winner for a 2-1 victory against the Columbus Crew on Saturday evening at Gillette Stadium. The Revolution are in second place in the Eastern Conference with 48 points from 31 games.
LAST MATCH
• The opening goal came in the 20th minute. Teal Bunbury sent in a cross from the left side which was redirected by a Charlie Davies header and Lee Nguyen slotted from the right side of the box to give the Revolution the lead.
• It took the Crew just five minutes to equalize. Midfielder Tony Tchani beautifully threading a lead pass to Ethan Finlay, who split two Revolution defenders in the right side of the box before slotting home under goalkeeper Bobby Shuttleworth.
• The eventual game-winner came in the 67th minute. Chris Tierney sent a left-footed free kick from the left bouncing through the box before Jermaine Jones ran onto it to head home from the back post.
• The Crew went down to 10 men just three minutes later, when defender Waylon Francis picked up a second yellow card after impeding an attempted throw-in in the 70th minute.
• Revolution head coach Jay Heaps made two changes to the team that defeated Sporting Kansas City 3-2 at Sporting Park. A.J. Soares came into the back four for Kevin Alston, and Scott Caldwell started in midfield in place of Daigo Kobayashi.
• NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION (4-1-4-1): Bobby Shuttleworth - Andrew Farrell, A.J. Soares, Jose Goncalves, Chris Tierney - Scott Caldwell (Daigo Kobayashi 59) - Teal Bunbury (Steve Neumann 86), Jermaine Jones, Lee Nguyen, Kelyn Rowe (Kevin Alston 69) - Charlie Davies.
TEAM NEWS
• The Revolution won their second consecutive contest, their seventh victory in their last eight games overall.
• “It was a hard-fought game and you’re going to see these types of games as everything gets tighter and so much is at stake and playoffs implications are everywhere, six-point games,” said Revolution head coach Jay Heaps. “I was really happy with our week of preparation. I thought we went out and really set up a good pressing system and we worked on free kicks. In the end, I thought we had a lot of chances from their turnovers and I thought that it was going to take a little bit of special play.”
• It was also the Revolution’s fifth consecutive home victory, their longest winning streak at Gillette Stadium since 2004-05, when they won a club-record seven home matches in a row.
• “We made the sub to go from Scotty (Caldwell) to Daigo (Kobayashi) to really go for it. But at the same time, you’re opening yourself up … I think that when you’re at home, you’ve got to take those risks and we took the risk,” said Heaps. “We don’t have many ties for a reason, because we’re going for it and unfortunately it costs us sometimes, but tonight, we were rewarded.”
• Jermaine Jones scored his second consecutive goal, his second consecutive game-winner in the second half to pull the Revolution back for a victory.
• “I thought Jermaine timed it so well. To me, he just has a really great sense of the game and so to get that open on a free kick is really good,” said Heaps. “I think that he’s a danger – you need to mark him on free kicks and I thought he did a nice job of getting open.”
• Lee Nguyen scored his 14th goal, his first goal since Sept. 13. The 14 goals are the most by a Revolution player since Taylor Twellman scored 16 in 2007.
• “You have to call (Jurgen) Klinsmann about Lee. He scores a lot for the Revolution and he is playing well. If he keeps going at this pace, his time will come,” said Jones.
• Teal Bunbury recorded an assist for a second consecutive match, now with six for the season. Bunbury has two goals and three assists over his last nine matches.
• A.J. Soares returned to the back four after a one-match absence. Chris Tierney also had his second consecutive start, at left back, following an eight-match absence; Tierney recorded his fourth assist of the season.
• “We played well last week and I thought (Andrew) Farrell did a great job sliding in. But A.J. (Soares) and Jose (Goncalves) have just had a great partnership and communication and I thought A.J. and Jose were really good,” said Heaps. “I think we risked a lot in our pressure so they were stuck one on one a lot and I thought both guys, Jose and A.J. were excellent.”
