DC United vs. Montreal Impact | 2018 MLS Match Preview

Dylan Butler

D.C. United vs. Montreal Impact
2018 MLS Regular Season — Week 31
Audi Field — Washington D.C.
Sept. 29 — 7 pm ET
WATCH: TVAS, ESPN+

D.C. United host the Montreal Impact in a match with massive playoff implications Saturday night at Audi Field.

Coming off a bye in Week 30, D.C. United are five points below the playoff line in the Eastern Conference with two games in hand on sixth-place Montreal, which played New York City FC to a 1-1 home draw Saturday night and have lost just once in their last seven games.

This is the second meeting this season, with the teams playing to a 1-1 draw Aug. 4 at Stade Saputo. Yamil Asad leveled late for the visitors after Matteo Mancosu put the Impact in front after five minutes.

D.C. United

Well rested, D.C. United (9-11-8) continue a seven-game homestand with a six-pointer against the Impact.

United are coming off a wild 3-3 draw against the New York Red Bulls on Sept. 16. Three times D.C. took the lead on goals by Paul Arriola, Wayne Rooney and Luciano Acosta, but the Red Bulls leveled each time on three goals by Bradley Wright-Phillips.

“There is a task at hand and that’s to first rest a little bit,” Ben Olsen said after the match. “This has been a grind for these guys. They put a lot of games in over this stretch, and it took a lot out of them.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: M - Paul Arriola, M - Russell Canouse, M - Chris Durkin
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: D - Taylor Kemp (labrum surgery), D - Nick DeLeon (knee injury), GK - David Ousted (elbow surgery), D - Chris Odoi-Atsem (fatigue), D - Vytas (hip injury), D - Jalen Robinson (undisclosed injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-2-3-1, right to left)
GK: Bill Hamid — Oniel Fisher, Kofi Opare, Steve Birnbaum, Joseph Mora — Russell Canouse, Junior Moreno — Paul Arriola, Luciano Acosta, Yamil Asad — Wayne Rooney

Montreal Impact

Montreal (12-14-4) stretched an unbeaten streak to three games, rallying to tie NYCFC, 1-1, at home Saturday night.

After the visitors took the lead on a Rudy Camacho own goal in the 17th minute, Michael Azira leveled 10 minutes later with his first MLS goal.

“There was a sense of disappointment in the locker room after the game," Rémi Garde said. “Especially in the second half, more than vagueness, we did not make the right choices. The balls that we managed to recover, we lost them too quickly. We did not manage to cause enough problems and we were not wise enough in our choices in the opposing half.”

Suspended: None
Suspended after next caution: D - Chris Duvall
International duty: None
Injury Report: OUT: M - David Choiniere (ankle surgery), D - Kyle Fisher (quad injury)

Projected Starting XI
(4-3-3, right to left)
GK: Evan Bush — Bacary Sagna, Rod Fanni, Rudy Camacho, Daniel Lovitz — Michael Azira, Samuel Piette, Saphir Taider — Alejandro Silva, Quincy Amarikwa, Ignacio Piatti

All-Time Series

Overall: D.C. United 5 wins, 19 goals … Montreal Impact 5 wins, 19 goals … 6 draws
At D.C.: D.C. United 3 wins, 10 goals … Montreal Impact 1 win, 5 goals … 3 draws
Last meeting at D.C.: D.C. United 0, Montreal Impact 1 (May 6, 2017)