New England Revolution vs. Montreal Impact
2018 MLS Regular Season — Week 35
Gillette Stadium — Foxborough
October 28 — 4:30 pm ET
WATCH: TVAS, TSN5, ESPN+
The Montreal Impact need a win over the New England Revolution and Columbus Crew SC to tie or lose to Minnesota United FC on Decision Day presented by AT&T to book a berth in the Audi 2018 MLS Cup Playoffs.
The Impact kept their playoff hopes alive by beating rival Toronto FC, 2-0, at Stade Saputo Sunday, while the Revs are hoping to bounce back from a 4-1 loss to Real Salt Lake.
This is the third meeting this season, with the teams splitting the first two games played a month apart early in the campaign. The Revs cruised to a 4-0 home win on April 6 as Montreal played the final 76 minutes with 10 men after a straight red card on Saphir Taider. The impact earned a measure of revenge with a 4-2 win back at home on May 5 as Anthony Jackson-Hamel struck for a brace.
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New England Revolution
New England (9-13-11) fell in a three-goal hole before 30 minutes en route to a 4-1 loss at Real Salt Lake last Thursday.
Nick Besler and Sebastian Saucedo scored 10 minutes apart and Corey Baird made it 3-0 in the 29th minute. Damir Kreilach increased the lead to 4-0 in the 50th minute before Kelyn Rowe scored a cosmetic goal in the 69th minute for the Revs, who have just one win in their last six games.
“The first half was awful,” head coach Brad Friedel said. “A lot of the players were obviously on their vacations. All they did was outwork us. We knew they hit a lot of direct balls, they do every game and quite frankly it has nothing to do with a tactical thing, this was a team that outran us. It’s one of our strengths and one of our good mentality traits, but it wasn’t there at all.”
- Suspended: None
- Suspended after next caution: None
- International duty: None
- Injury Report: OUT: D - Chris Tierney (torn right ACL), D - Andrew Farrell (hamstring injury)
Projected Starting XI
(4-1-4-1, right to left)
GK: Brad Knighton — Brandon Bye, Michael Mancienne, Jalil Anibaba, Kelyn Rowe — Wilfried Zahibo — Diego Fagundez, Luis Caicedo, Scott Caldwell, Cristian Penilla — Teal Bunbury
- Notes: In their last game, the Revolution conceded four goals on just 11 total shots. They are the sixth team this season to allow that many goals on 11-or-fewer shots. … Since July 1, the Revolution have picked up just nine points at home in league play, going 2W-2L-3D. Only two teams have fewer in that time.
Montreal Impact
The playoff chances for Montreal (14-15-4) were given a lifeline when the Impact defeated Toronto FC, 2-0, at home and Orlando City SC upset Columbus Crew SC on Sunday.
Ignacio Piatti opened the scoring with a 74th-minute penalty kick and the forward followed with his second one minute before full time, capitalizing on a defensive blunder, to seal a massive win for the Impact — their second straight.
“The momentum is good for us and we will see later, but for sure all these points that we have won the last weeks, the last games are very important,” manager Remi Garde said. “I prefer to have this scenario, to have started the season lower and to increase our level than the opposite, for sure. If we have the chance, if we have the opportunity to go to the playoffs, of course it would be with good momentum because it means we would have won the last game.”
- Suspended: None
- Suspended after next caution: None
- International duty: None
- Injury Report: OUT: M - David Choiniere (ankle surgery), D - Kyle Fisher (quad injury), D - Victor Cabrera (knee injury)
Projected Starting XI
(4-3-3, right to left)
GK: Evan Bush — Bacary Sagna, Rod Fanni, Rudy Camacho, Jukka Raitala — Michael Azira, Samuel Piette, Saphir Taider — Alejandro Silva, Quincy Amarikwa, Ignacio Piatti
- Notes: Last weekend, Piatti recorded his 13th brace since joining MLS in 2014, tied for the fourth most for a single player over that span. … The Impact have taken 37 points from MLS play since June 1 (11W-5L-4D), the fifth most of any club in that time. Eight of their 10 clean sheets this season have come during this stretch.
All-Time Series
- Overall: New England Revolution 8 wins, 27 goals … Montreal Impact 8 wins, 26 goals … 2 draws
- At New England: Revolution 4 wins, 12 goals … Impact 3 wins, 7 goals … 1 draw
- Last meeting at New England: New England Revolution 4, Montreal Impact 0 (April 6, 2018)
Officials
Referee: Armando Villarreal
Assistant Referees: Oscar Mitchell-Carvalho, Logan Brown
4th Official: Marcos DeOliveira
VAR: Younes Marrakchi
