MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact's recent surge up into a playoff position from the depths of the Eastern Conference standings has made it nearly impossible to over-hype the next edition of the 401 Derby.
Montreal, who occupied last place in the East on July 1, have risen from 10th place to sixth over the course of the four-game winning streak they will ride into their Heineken Rivalry Week clash against league-leading Toronto FC at Stade Saputo on Sunday (4:30 pm ET, ESPN, ESPN Deportes in US, TSN1/4/5, TVAS in Canada).
After Montreal's 3-1 win against Real Salt Lake on Saturday, Impact coach Mauro Biello was met with cheers from his players when he wrapped up his postgame dressing room speech by referencing the next game on the schedule.
"We're on an upswing here, we're going forward, and this is a great challenge for us. We're going to play the best team in the league," Biello said of TFC. "To be able to measure ourselves against them next week here at home is great for us at this point in the season, and we want to continue to build our confidence. And having a good performance against Toronto is going to push this team in the right direction."
Toronto – who also host Philadelphia on Wednesday – lead the league with 50 points following their 3-1 win at Chicago on Saturday, seven points ahead of second-place New York City FC.
The Reds have gotten the better of the Impact in several epic matchups over the past year, defeating Montreal in the Eastern Conference Championship of the 2016 MLS Cup Playoffs and in the Canadian Championship final in June.
"We've won four in a row, they're the top team in the league right now, they had a big win tonight again," Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush said on Saturday. "Obviously with the history last year and the year before, just the history in general, the two teams, the two cities, the two clubs, you know, everything's already there. So you can try to over-hype it and try to build it up, but I think everyone's going to be excited already for it."
New midfield arrival Samuel Piette has helped spark the Impact’s winning streak, and the Montreal native will now experience his first 401 Derby after playing the past four seasons in Europe.
"We couldn't ask for a better moment to face a rival like Toronto," Piette said. "We've been playing very good in the last four games since I got here – I'm not saying it's me, just what I saw since got here, the team has been playing amazingly.
"Now it's time to rest, recover, because we had a really busy week, but of course we're looking forward to that game."
Looking to keep his squad fresh during a busy period, Biello made five changes to his lineup against RSL in the wake of the Impact's 3-0 win over Chicago on Wednesday, and got key contributions from striker Anthony Jackson-Hamel and defender Hassoun Camara.
"We're going into that game to win it,” said Biello of Sunday’s clash with TFC. “It's a rivalry, it's a huge game, it's even bigger than maybe the four we just played. It's always the next one, the next one, the next one, and we have to get those three points."
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