MONTRÉAL IMPACT vs NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
STADE SAPUTO, Montréal, Qué.
July 18, 2012 (WEEK 20, MLS Game #185)
8 p.m. ET (TSN2/RDS; CSN-NE)
The Montréal Impact and New England Revolution meet for the first time as both clubs look to put tough weekend losses behind them Wednesday evening at Stade Saputo. The Impact saw the Philadelphia Union score a late goal for a 2-1 result last weekend on the road. The Revolution are coming off a 1-0 home loss to Toronto FC that ended a five-game unbeaten run.
REFEREE: Fotis Bazakos. SAR (bench): Philippe Briere; JAR (opposite): George Gansner; 4th: Mathieu Bourdeau
MLS Career: 6 games; FC/gm: 24.5; Y/gm: 2.0; R: 0; pens: 1
DOWNLOAD FULL GAME GUIDE HERE (PDF)
INJURY REPORT:
- MONTREAL IMPACT – OUT: DF Matteo Ferrari (R quad strain); DF Nelson Rivas (abdomen); FW Bernardo Corradi (L knee ACL tear); FW Andrew Wenger (L hamstring strain)
- NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION – OUT: FW Alec Purdie (L ankle sprain); QUESTIONABLE: FW Zak Boggs (R ankle sprain); FW Jose Moreno (L ankle sprain); PROBABLE: GK Tim Murray (L knee menisectomy)
INTERNATIONAL ABSENCES: NE: Jerry Bengtson (Honduras; Olympic Games)
SUSPENDED: none
WARNINGS:
- SUSPENDED NEXT YELLOW CARD: MTL: Collen Warner
- SUSPENDED AFTER TWO YELLOW CARDS: MTL: Bernardo Corradi … NE: Benny Feilhaber, Chris Tierney, Shalrie Joseph
HEAD-TO-HEAD
ALL-TIME: First meeting.
RETURN MATCHES: 8/12: New England Revolution vs. Montreal Impact, 7 p.m. ET; 10/27: Montreal Impact vs. New England Revolution, 2 p.m. ET
• Coaches record: Jay Heaps vs. MTL: first game … Jesse Marsch vs. NE: first game
MONTREAL IMPACT
The Montréal Impact went down to defeat in cruel fashion, with the Philadelphia Union scoring a late winner for a 2-1 victory Saturday evening at PPL Park. The Impact are in eighth place in the Eastern Conference with 21 points from 21 matches.
LAST MATCH
HIGHLIGHTS: PHI 2, MTL 1
• The Union took the lead in the 82nd minute. Substitute Antoine Hoppenot kept the ball alive along the end line and drove it toward goal. After the ball bounced off a defender and goalkeeper Donovan Ricketts, Lionard Pajoy banged home the loose ball right in front of goal.
• But the Impact leveled the score just seven minutes later after a Patrice Bernier corner kick bounced off the head of Union midfielder Keon Daniel and into the goal.
• But the home side netted the winner in stoppage time. Sheanon Williams sent in a long throw-in from the right flank, the ball bounced off a defender, and captain Carlos Valdés pounced it and drove into the goal for the decider. Davy Arnaud and Felipe came back into the team in place of Lamar Neagle and Sanna Nyassi.
• Impact head coach Jesse Marsch made two changes to the team that came back for a 2-1 win against the Columbus Crew at Stade Saputo.
• MONTREAL IMPACT (4-2-3-1): Donovan Ricketts - Zarek Valentin (Dennis Iapichino 85), Shavar Thomas, Hassoun Camara, Jeb Brovsky - Patrice Bernier, Collen Warner (Sinisa Ubiparipovic 84) - Davy Arnaud, Felipe Martins, Justin Mapp (Lamar Neagle 69) - Marco Di Vaio.
TEAM NEWS
• After the late loss to Philadelphia, the Impact have allowed 11 goals in the final 15 minutes of matches, most in MLS, and 21 of their 38 goals from the 60th minute on, also leading the league.
• “In my mind that’s a game we should win. We fight back and now it’s actually a draw, OK. So we dig ourselves a hole then we dig ourselves out of the hole,” said Marsch. “Then you know there’s no words to describe how we gave that game away, and it’s familiar to other games that we’ve played this year. Until we figure out how to get results, I don’t know where to go. Right now it’s a little frustrating.”
• Over the last 10 games, the Impact have lost seven, and conceded 22 goals in that span.
• “There’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves. Unfortunately, that’s been the message all year, and we can’t just figure out how now to take performances and turn them into results,” said Marsch. “I’ve said that for about three months now. How do we take good performances and turn them into results?”
• Striker Marco Di Vaio made his fourth start since joining the club, and played the full match for a second consecutive appearance.
• “You could see he was frustrated, especially on the one that went just wide. You know it’s not fall for him right now, but you still see his ability to find chances and now it’s just making that final play,” said Marsch. “So I still think he’s a guy a lot of goals in this league. For sure, it’s just now get that first one for him so he can get himself going.”
• After starting the game on the left flank with the reintroduction of Felipe to the first team, Justin Mapp moved back into a central midfield role after the halftime break.
• “It didn’t bother me, I was trying to be dangerous. I was trying to move around to certain pockets,” Mapp said. “I played there last game, not a huge change. I guess trying to get a different look.”
• New signing Dennis Iapichino made his MLS debut, coming in for the final five minutes into the back four.
NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION
The New England Revolution saw their undefeated run come to an end after five games, falling 1-0 to Toronto FC on Saturday evening at Gillette Stadium. The Revolution are in sixth place in the Eastern Conference with 22 points from 18 games.
LAST MATCH
HIGHLIGHTS: NE 0, TOR 1
• The game's lone goal came after eight minutes. Neat buildup play between Reggie Lambe, Koevermans and Silva prompted a quick one-two on the edge of the penalty area between Koevermans and Silva. The return pass played Silva through into the penalty area, and the rookie made no mistake on the close-range finish.
• Revolution head coach Jay Heaps made one change to the team that defeated the New York Red Bulls 2-0 at Gillette Stadium. Fernando Cardenas came into the team for the suspended Kelyn Rowe.
• NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION (4-2-3-1): Bobby Shuttleworth - Kevin Alston, A.J. Soares, Stephen McCarthy (Shalrie Joseph 6), Chris Tierney - Clyde Simms, Benny Feilhaber - Saer Sene, Lee Nguyen, Fernando Cardenas (Diego Fagundez 72) - Blake Brettschneider (Jerry Bengtson 46).
TEAM NEWS
• The loss to Toronto FC was the first loss for the Revolution since May 26, having gone 2-0-3 in between.
• The loss also ended a seven-game unbeaten streak at Gillette Stadium for the Revolution, their longest since the 2006 season.
• “It’s a tough one getting hit like that. Hit with an early sub early really changes what you need to do the rest of the game and how you utilize your subs,” said Revolution head coach Jay Heaps. “The shape at the end got too narrow. They packed it in and we couldn’t break them down wide. Credit them: they defended all their set pieces well and we had a lot of them. They did a nice job on all the crosses.”
• The Revolution were forced into a very early change when Stephen McCarthy had to come off after just six minutes with concussion-like symptoms.
WATCH: New England preview the Montreal Impact
• “[Losing Stephen McCarthy] hurt us,” Revolution defender Chris Tierney said. “We kind of lost our rhythm after that. To start the game, I thought we were OK and then he went down and it took us a little while to get [Joseph] on. [Shalrie is] obviously a fantastic player, and credit to him for coming in cold, but it threw our rhythm off and we had to adjust from there. We should have been able to get the job done and we didn’t.”
• Said Clyde Simms: “It's very simple for me: I think the injury hurt us. You're never ready for an injury or for a substitution that early in the game. We've had a lot of continuity with our back four. I think that threw us off a little bit and there was a little bit of an adjustment period switching things around.”
• Sharlie Joseph was pressed into service at center back, the second consecutive game he’s come off the substitutes’ bench.
• “[Joseph] had some swelling in his knee. He missed the first couple of days of training – and it was precautionary – and then I thought he did a really nice job in the minutes he played the other night and I didn’t want to risk him going forward on an injury,” said Heaps.
• Bobby Shuttleworth started in goal for a second consecutive match in place of Matt Reis.
• Jerry Bengtson made a second consecutive appearance for the Revolution off the substitutes’ bench, his last before joining Honduras for the 2012 London Olympic Games.
• We worked [Bengtson] with the first team a little bit. When you add new players, the cohesion takes a little bit of time,” said Heaps. “Fortunately for him, he’s leaving to go the Olympics, unfortunately for us we lose him for a couple of weeks.”
